qx4 valve covers

[AlabamaDan]

I've been having a problem with my qx4. I had oil down on the engine and I thought my valve covers were leaking and then burning off. Awful smell and some smoke. So I cleaned the engine off so I could specifically identify the leaks.

Well I was surprised to see that smoke was actually coming out from under the valve cover rather than oil leaking onto the exhaust. I was further surprised to find out how loose those phillips head screws holding down my valve covers were! Phillips Head Screws!

Hopefully now that they're tighter my problem will be solved. There were a few under the plenum that I couldn't reach. Anyone know any tricks about this?

Has anyone replaced those screws with actual bolts?

[nissandoms47]

those phillips head bolts don't need to be that tight. if your valve covers are leaking, most likely your gaskets are messed up. after 200k mine were pretty much hard as a rock. the new ones come pretty soft and all that.

[fueler]

I had bad valve cover gaskets at only 125k miles but they didn't pose any major problems. I changed them while doing the timing belt since I already had the motor all taken apart.

I had to take off the intake plenum for access. The stock screws seem to be working fine.