Valve cover replacement/major surgery

[abnrjd]

Replaced the valve covers on my 2004 3.5L LE Pathfinder. First off I think I'd rather had root canals done on all my teeth without pain medicine. First off DO NOT PERFORM THIS WITHOUT NEW GASKETS!!!! My "Nickie" (My name for my Nissan Pathy) has 260K+ miles and she was leaking oil bad onto the exhaust manifold. I went to Rockauto.com bought two valve covers and they came with the rubber seals also. Yes mine were plastic. I had to perform major surgery on Nickie. I had to remove the entire plenum assembly, airbox, and several other components to get to the valve covers.I also have to replace a few rubber hoses due to stiffness and cracking due to age. Also I went back to rockauto.com and ordered the gasket set for the upper and lower plenum, they are priced excellent compared to Autozone, Advance and Oreillys. I will be going back under the hood and replacing those seals this weekend cause my baby has a leak. One more thing, when dealing with the removal of the plenum assembly there are two bolts located on the back by the firewall that are extremely difficult to remove, So in the Haynes manual heed when it says "BE PATIENT WHEN REMOVING". Make sure you label the vacuum lines and bag and tag if necessary.

[RR425]

My 01 QX4 is also leaking oil at the gaskets. Not sure if I should try to do this myself or pay a shop $600 for the job.

[abnrjd]

If you're not mechanically proficient and don't have all the tools then 600 bones is a good price.