Oil leaks?

[MuseX13457]

I have an oil leak coming out from behind and all around the plenam i can see the oil on the exhaust maifold, what could be the cause of this?

[t.mcginley.jr]

There's a 99% chance its your valve cover gaskets leaking. On almost every car, the valve cover gasket(s) get old and let oil leak by. Since they're at the top of the engine, they tend to coat the whole damn thing eventually.

You'll have to pull the upper plenum to get to them. Intake valve covers get a preformed rubber gasket, exhaust valve covers just get silicone RTV.

[MuseX13457]

Thats what my dad suspected, he had ordered the parts already so im glad he was on the right track.

[t.mcginley.jr]

Thats what my dad suspected, he had ordered the parts already so im glad he was on the right track.

Dads ftw

[300ZXing]

Just looking around the forum for information on oil leak from top side rear of z32. I have a very small leak that started when I decided to go synthetic oil. I quickly changed it back to regular type of oil but still has a little leak.
Is there anyway to get to the valve cover bolt to just tighten them a little?

[Ace2cool]

Nope. Replace the seal. If you just snug the bolts up more, you risk breaking stuff. Cracking the seal further, stripping out bolts, ect.

[MuseX13457]

we replaced the seals and in doing so we found that the timing tensioner was bad.

[Ace2cool]

Whew, that could've been bad. Good thing you went through it. I'd check the water pump now, in all honesty. If they skipped the tensioner, no telling what else they skipped doing a timing belt service job. How many miles are on it?

[t.mcginley.jr]

we replaced the seals and in doing so we found that the timing tensioner was bad.

[MuseX13457]

Whew, that could've been bad. Good thing you went through it. I'd check the water pump now, in all honesty. If they skipped the tensioner, no telling what else they skipped doing a timing belt service job. How many miles are on it?

175k and we did replace the water pump and the thermostat. My dad picked up the tensioner and pulleys from work today hopefully we will have her running tonight.

[Ace2cool]

One last thing I'd recommend since you're doing it yourself and all liability is on you is Ramey Z idler studs for the idler pulleys. They're way stronger than stock, which could break if everything isn't exactly perfect.

[MuseX13457]

We have already ordered the parts, my dad is a nissan technician at greer nissan...so im not going in totally blind with it. thanks for the heads up though.

[Ace2cool]

No, what I meant by that is that if a stud breaks, you can't pursue damages from a shop, since you're doing it yourself. The Ramey Z idler studs are way better than stock. If one of those studs breaks, it's game over for your engine.

[MuseX13457]

Oh, i had misread your first post. Thought you meant it would break when installing because i was doing it my self.

Also pick of my engine as it sits right now.

[Ace2cool]

Looks familiar. Mine looks exactly the same right now.

[MuseX13457]

I had a nasty valve tap after we put her back together, but it pumped back up i guess.

Thanks to my dad, 20 year experience Nissan master technician.We did this job in our drive way.

After all the new parts where put on.