Smoke under hood

Post by **Mr_Q45t** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 5:28 pm

After a short trip, I turned off the car and popped open the hood. I saw some white smoke emanating from the passanger side near the back of the engine.

It seemed to be coming from the bottom of the engine. I could not pinpoint exactly where it was coming from, it seemed to be spread out. Could this be a result of leaking valve cover gaskets?

Post by **CrimsonQ** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 5:32 pm

Did you just buy the car?Possibly some sort of cleaner/degreaser still left from their cleaning?

Post by **maxnix** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:35 pm

Oh oh! Imploded turbonator!

Post by **nuQ** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 6:57 pm

maxnix wrote:Oh oh! Imploded turbonator!

c'mon,,,,,,we were all noob's!!!!!

Post by **CrimsonQ** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 7:57 pm

maxnix wrote:Oh oh! Imploded turbonator!

Aww crap! I forgot he did that, lol. You have been turbonated!

Post by **Mr_Q45t** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 8:02 pm

CrimsonQ wrote:
Aww crap! I forgot he did that, lol. You have been turbonated!

Actually, I smelled this smoke a while back ago, and I thought I saw a puff of smoke coming out of that area the day I bought the car. I only confirmed it today.

Post by **Jeff Williams** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 2:44 am

It is the INFINITI gremlins. They like to smoke pot while you are driving. It gives them ideas on how to screw with you next.

No, really, it IS the valve cover gaskets. It is $25 in parts and 4 to 8 hours of labor, depending on your skill level or pocketbook.

Do a search on valve cover. There has been a few good writeups about it.

Post by **TBrack** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:15 am

Is it just me or has this valve cover gasket been going out alot for people recently?

Post by **Aus94Q45** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:17 pm

Funny, before I opened the thread I guessed '94 or '95 Q with leaky valve covers. One thing is certain from reading this forum for years is that there are certain "givens" with the Q. You can almost count on them like clockwork -- the valve cover is a given. Next up -- it stumbles and dies at idle . . . . .

Post by **miata007** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 6:07 am

Try tighten them bolts first. Be sure to use a torque wench. Learn from my mistake.

007

Post by **Aus94Q45** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 8:58 am

If it works, it is strictly a temporary fix. Once leaking, it will continue. I initially slowed the leak by tightening. However, as reported by many others, it will continue. Best to get them fixed.

Post by **Rex** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 9:13 am

lasoyafan wrote:Is it just me or has this valve cover gasket been going out alot for people recently?

The gasket on all our cars is ~12 yrs old. The gasket is just starting to deteriorate from the time and heat cycles. I wouldn't consider it a "above average wear item".

Post by **maxnix** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 10:04 am

Aus94Q45 wrote:If it works, it is strictly a temporary fix. Once leaking, it will continue. I initially slowed the leak by tightening. However, as reported by many others, it will continue. Best to get them fixed.

The problem is the lack of resilience in the gasket material. If they were not leaking before, then they were torqued to the correct specification and in the correct sequence.

Trying to torque a brittle gasket with no resilience will lead very quickly to stripped receiver threads in the head and a whole new set of problems.

Post by **DuDro** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 10:09 am

....

Post by **qsiguy** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 1:20 pm

Wecome Mr_Q45t. I live in Queen Creek and work in East Phoenix and am in Tempe often. I'll have to keep an eye out for that nice Q of yours.

My '94 needs them too. I rarely, if ever, see smoke but I hate the smell pretty much every time I stop. If I'm at a light I have to put the a/c on recirc so I don't pull in the smell.

Get the parts and change yours then I'll drop off my '94 and you can change mine

Post by **Peterofdevon** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 2:57 am

Mine are going as well...

I'll have a tech do it so I'm saving up in my Q-piggy bank for it. Funny, my 93 went 217K without needing them.

I read hear that this is a very common from guys who have 94+

Peter

Post by **Rex** » Fri Feb 17, 2006 3:08 am

Peterofdevon wrote:Mine are going as well...

I'll have a tech do it so I'm saving up in my Q-piggy bank for it. Funny, my 93 went 217K without needing them.

I read hear that this is a very common from guys who have 94+

Peter

IIRC, the 90-93's used RTV instead of a preformed gasket on the 94-96's. The trade off is longer life versus hand making your gasket when you do have to replace it.

Post by **texasoil** » Sat Feb 18, 2006 9:30 am

I notice on the Infiniti parst web site that now only the gasket maker is shown--no more gaskets for 94-96.

I got 2 cars now to deal with--my own 94 active(150K miles) and a customers 95 active (52K miles!!!! ) with both sides now leaking.

Post by **BlackBirdVQ** » Sun Feb 19, 2006 8:08 pm

texas- I got a set of gaskets that are still in the OE Infiniti wrapper. Before my engine rebuild I got a set of gaskets from Infiniti to repleace them, and then when I got a full engine gasket kit it came with a set again (kit comes with all necessary seals, gaskets to rebuild your VH45)... so now I have a set of spare ones laying around. I also have a buncha associated gaskets and seals for the intake manifold if you are interested... could cut ya some kinda better deal than Infiniti would that is for sure. Hit me up on my Email for details- anyone who might be interested.

My gaskets on my Q45 where leaking pretty bad. I would get stares from people at the lights who would think my car was on fire. You can't expect the gaskets to last a life time. We are lucky that we can get 10+ years out of them, Land Rovers tend to leak from every imaginable gasket after a year of ownership !

Post by **maxnix** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 3:38 am

texasoil wrote:I notice on the Infiniti parst web site that now only the gasket maker is shown--no more gaskets for 94-96.

I got 2 cars now to deal with--my own 94 active(150K miles) and a customers 95 active (52K miles!!!! ) with both sides now leaking.

Call Joe. He still has them.

Post by **Q45denver** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 9:43 am

I wonder if using RTV in addition to the gasket would prolong the seal?

Post by **squeefoo** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:40 pm

Q45denver wrote:I wonder if using RTV in addition to the gasket would prolong the seal?

I always do and have for two decades, Yikes !I used to take care of 30 plow trucks with salters for my friends company (Fords, Chevy, and Dodge pickups) they all leaked when I started and didn't leak again until many years later.

Just no oils or old gasket and use a thin coat of hi-temp RTV.

Post by **maxnix** » Mon Feb 20, 2006 1:25 pm

maxnix wrote:Call Joe. He still has them.

Free shipping until the end of the month and I think $12.83 each.

Post by **JedCoop** » Tue Feb 21, 2006 9:21 pm

Mr_Q45t wrote:After a short trip, I turned off the car and popped open the hood. I saw some white smoke emanating from the passanger side near the back of the engine.

It seemed to be coming from the bottom of the engine. I could not pinpoint exactly where it was coming from, it seemed to be spread out. Could this be a result of leaking valve cover gaskets?

Grey smoke is oil, white smoke is Transmission fluid.... they can look similar.I'd worry about tranny fluid more if this were the driver's side.. so it is probably oil lik eyou said.

Smoke under hood

Smoke under hood

Re: Smoke under hood (Mr_Q45t)

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Re: Smoke under hood (CrimsonQ)

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Re: (Aus94Q45)

Re: (lasoyafan)

Re: (Aus94Q45)

Re: Smoke under hood (Mr_Q45t)

Re: (qsiguy)

Re: (Peterofdevon)

Re: (texasoil)

Re: (texasoil)

Re: (Rex)

Re: (Q45denver)

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