replacing crank pulley gasket

[matt4pl]

well my pulley is spraying oil all over my engine bay, causes my car to smoke up after extended highway drives and worst of all its assasinanted two alternators. i now have an upgraded 100amp alternator that cannot die (they said my warranty wont cover another oil damage incident).

1. do i have to pull the engine to do this?2. what parts would i need for this repair? i've been told i would need a new oil pan gasket, a new valvecover gasket, etc.3. what would i have to take apart?

Thanks,Matt

[Touchdown038]

It's not too hard of a fix, as long as you have jacks and can get under your car.

You need to go to the Nissan dealer and pick up a front main seal. It sits in the front cover in the hole right behind your crank pulley, so you also need to pick up a 2 or 3 jawed puller for the pulley, plus a long breaker bar for the bolt.

Remove all the belts, get under the car and loosen the bolt; you can also use the starter trick to remove it, although that won't help you tighten it back up when you're done. Use the puller to remove the pulley, and once it's off, remove the oil seal from the front cover and tap the new one in flush with the front of the cover. Reinstall pulley (bolt goes to 150 ft. lbs or so) and belts. Enjoy clean engine bay.

[matt4pl]

cool beans, thanks a lot. its wierd that my auto parts pale has the oil pan gasket listed as a requirement for this fix, any insight on this?

[Touchdown038]

Uh yeah, that's weird. First of all, the oil pan doesn't require a gasket, just RTV. Second, the oil pan will not even be touched during this fix, unless you're replacing the timing chain too (front seal is a fix usually done when the chain is being replaced.)

Also I looked up the torque specs for the pulley bolt too, and it's 87-116 ft. lbs. Disregard the 150 above.