Bad oil cooler relief valve and drain down?

[si2ki30]

I have a 2006 g35x with a little timing chain rattle during startup. I've changed the primary tensioner already, didn't help.

Would a bad oil relief valve in the factory oil cooler cause oil drain down when sitting for a couple of hours? Anyone have experience with this?

I'm not ready to tear off the front cover to replace the chain/guides just yet.

[VStar650CL]

How's your oil pressure? If it's a tad low at idle but okay at speed, you might have bad gallery gaskets on the rear timing cover. That's a chronic issue on VQ40's, not so much on VQ35's but it can happen. The OE gaskets are usually paper, and if they leak, it slightly oil-starves the whole front of the engine and lets the whole timing cover drain out when parked. See EM-76 here, it's the plates they tell you not to take loose:
https://www.nicoclub.com/service-manual ... 6%2Fem.pdf

Nissan doesn't sell the OE gaskets, but CZP, Z1, and several others sell aftermarket silicone replacements.

[si2ki30]

My g35x doesn't have an oil pressure gauge. What's the easiest way to add a sending unit?

[VStar650CL]

Just get a scanner with streaming parameters. The ECM already has an EOP sensor, you just need to read it. If you want to keep the price down, download Torque Pro or NDS-II to your phone and buy a $20 bluetooth-OBD dongle.

[VStar650CL]

Hmm, nope, strike that last. I just looked, your ride has a crappy low pressure switch monitored by the IPDM and not an EOP sensor. Sometimes Nissan is too weird for me.

Anyway, with oil you can use a brass tee to add an oil pressure sensor at the same spot as the switch, or you can pull the switch and use a mechanical gauge. The latter is probably easier just to find out what's going on, you can rent a gauge from the parts store.

[si2ki30]

What threads does the sensor take?

[VStar650CL]

BTW, your oil pressure spec is the same as almost all VQ's, 14 psi at idle and 43 psi at 2K RPM's. When the gallery gaskets are shot it will usually show 10~12 psi at idle but come up to normal when you raise the RPM's. Your EOP switch trips at 4 psi, so that's pretty useless.

[VStar650CL]

What threads does the sensor take?

That I'm not sure of, most of them are gasketed and not NPT. But the mechanical gauge sets usually come with a whole set of adaptors.

[si2ki30]

BTW, your oil pressure spec is the same as almost all VQ's, 14 psi at idle and 43 psi at 2K RPM's. When the gallery gaskets are shot it will usually show 10~12 psi at idle but come up to normal when you raise the RPM's. Your EOP switch trips at 4 psi, so that's pretty useless.

I'll check the oil pressure sometime this weekend...

Is it mandatory to remove the rocker covers, intake and oil pan to take off the front timing cover on 2006 g35 vw35 (non rev-up) when changing the timing chain?

[VStar650CL]

Only if you're replacing the cam chains, and the intake never needs to come off. To access the main chain and (I think) all 3 tensioners, you only need to pull the lower pan and front cover. I know you can get at the upper gallery gasket that way, not sure about the lower. See EM-56:
https://www.nicoclub.com/service-manual ... 6%2Fem.pdf