New Orleans-Looking for a 1995 Q45 Mechanic, Need Valve Cover Gasket Replacement

[brx1]

Looking for a 1995 Q45 Mechanic, New Orleans, Need Valve Cover Gasket Replacement

My regular mechanic is an all purpose guy, all car types and models. Does a great job on oil changes, etc. But I have been having problems over the past several months with that burning smell -- "smells like your engine is on fire". Most days, barely notice it. Some days, or if I drive a lot, can be pretty pungent.

We think the small oil leaks onto the manifold are doing it. He has tightened the ?gaskets multiple times. Never have seen oil dripping in my parking spot.

Although I can live with the occ fire smell, I would like to get this fixed, for under 1-2K. The car is not exactly new, but has only 80k miles on it-short commutes. This kind of repair is beyond what he feels comfortable with, and isn't sure where to send me. We both prefer to avoid the local Infiniti dealer.

So, does anyone know of a reputable Infiniti / nissan mechanic around here?

Thx

[maxnix]

He has tightened the ?gaskets multiple times.

Hope he was using a torque wrench in the correct sequences!

This is a very bad idea since the gasket has lost its elasticity and thus the torque value has changed. These bolts go into aluminum, so stripping them receptors is a very bad outcome.

Read the posts by Dabizzo (Boris). It can be done by oneself with a little preparation, an accurate 1/4" drive torque wrench and common handtools.

[qship96]

Do the sparkplugs while you are in there- use factory specified plugs only which can be purchased at discount from Infiniti of Scottsdale, along with the valve cover gaskets. http://WWW.everythinginfiniti.com

[goody90q45]

......The car is not exactly new, but has only 80k miles on it-short commutes. This kind of repair is beyond what he feels comfortable with, and isn't sure where to send me. We both prefer to avoid the local Infiniti dealer....

The best benefit of NICO is being able to use the search function and read the inputs from the many members who have taken the time to post their experiences with changing valve cover gaskets. Whenever I take one of my Q's to the shop I print up the best write-up for that fix from NICO and give it to the service writer. It makes the mechanic's job easier if they'll take the time to scan through it.

Changing valve cover gaskets is not rocket science and except for having to torque a lot of bolts putting it back together it's all righty tighty, lefty loosey (no adjustments or tuning required). The stealership is going to charge you at least 8 hours labor at $100+/hour and mark up all the parts. If you do the math you can get a lot more done for the same price (spark plugs) using your mechanic and feeding him the written instructions. Save even more $$ by buying the parts through IOS ahead of time at 25% off.

[brx1]

I really appreciate the comments so far, thanx

I will plan to ask my mechanic about the torquing of the bolts.

However, I think he was just trying to be honest when indicating that he is not comfortable about performing such a repair. He did look it up in order to denote the estimated 9.8 hours of labor found in "the book". He did make a couple of calls, but the people he spoke to at other shops were equally unfamiliar with this engine. He knew of a couple of places in the area that did Nissan repairs, but steered me away from at least 1 of them, and knew nothing about the reputation of the others.

As is, the car is readily drivable and my longest trips are still under 30 miles per day.

If I find someone locally to do this repair (anyone know of a mechanic?):

- I will look for further instructions (I guess I missed those on the original search)- I will get some Infiniti spark plugs and gasket parts ahead of time from Scottsdale. I have bought parts from them before, about a 25% discount as I remember.

Further comments and advice appreciated.

[maxnix]

To really enjoy your car, you need to take a road trip. If you don't go to Houston very often (TexaOil knows a decent tech there), then I would recommend T-3 in Atlanta.

Cannot caution you enough on letting anyone not expert and practiced on a VH45DE learn on your car. The pilgrimage to the Q45 godhead in Atlanta will bear many long term benefits as they do know the car thoroughly.

[brx1]

Thanks for the suggestion. I was in Austin a while ago, nice town (I am also an audio-head, often on the Klipsch speaker forums) with great music-like here.

I lived in Houston 10 yrs ago, before moving here; no problem with repairs in a big city. The main problem for me in going to Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Memphis, etc. is the travel time-having take vacation time off work. Between that and the costs of such travel, the cost to do this at the NO LA dealer just makes it easier to do this locally, especially if there are ANY post repair probs. A Baton Rogue or Gulfport/Biloxi mechanic would be a viable alternative as the drive is only about 90 minutes, and I could rent a car for a day or 2.

I think my mechanic may deserve a gold star for his honesty. Maybe I am lucky to have found him.

Do the forum members maintain a list of mechanics or repair shops that people have had good experiences with? The search continues.

[Logan76]

I have nothing of importance to say other than you just had a damn good idea.

Nico should start a list of capable mechanics in all area's with a quick review or something. There's lots of people on Nico who don't do their own repairs, were all not gearheads.

[3Q Jay]

might try to contact Boris (dabizzo) from the forum--he did this himself on his '94 as i recall.i would be careful of even going to an infiniti dealer. TALK to the tech first, find out his credentials for the G50. think i'm overboard? when i bought my second active, one of the selling points was that there were copious records from the po's infiniti dealer, including the dreaded valve cover job less than 12 months prior to my purchase. however, and on close inspection--they did not change the plugs, they 'forgot' to reinstall several brackets including the right bank sling bracket, and worst of all, it seeps oil. not enough to catch fire, but i will have to redo this job because of mediocre tech incompetence.

find someone who has actually done this, or take 3 days with a lot of patience and do it yourself.

[maxnix]

The list is T-3 in Atlanta, Van Meter in NJ, Jerry Tucker in SD, and the guy Qship has in B'more.

[AlabamaDan]

There's a very good article by Jeff Williams around here somewhere on how to change the valve cover gasket. It's really not that hard. I'm a novice mechanic at best and I've done mine and a friends. You're too far away or I'd help you to Bro.

Read around here and you can learn all about it. I was nervous too.

Be careful about all these people saying, "While you're doing that..." :lol: