What my mechanic said.. PLEASE HELP WITH YOUR ADVICE!

[the503girl]

Ok I drive a 1990 2+2 300ZX non-turbo automatic, it has about 168k miles on it and I just recently bought it about a month ago. I was told that it was leaking oil but they didn't know from where, so I took my car in today to have an oil change and a safety check to see what else is wrong with my car because my car isn't as fast and accelerating as good as it should be. (I already ran codes on my car and came up with 55 which means nothing is wrong). Anyways I'm going to tell you exactly word for word what my mechanic said and I need to know what you all think of it, like how much parts would cost and how serious the problem is, etc. I have a friend who knows how to work on 300ZX's that would do it for dirt cheap for me so I just need to know what you all think about the problems, how much the parts would cost (estimate), how hard of work it would be to do, how serious the problems are, what will happen if nothing is done and so on. anyways here is exactly what my mechanic said:

TECH'S NOTES:During the test drive the oil pressure gauge would not read about 20 psi and reads only just above 0 psi at idle. During the vehicle inspection I foundthat the engine and the accessories are covered in oil. I ran the engine at idle and hoisted the vehicle to inspect for immediate oil losses from the oil pressure sending unit but found none. The majority of the leak seems to be coming from the timing cover seal, which is in fron of the enging oil pump. Also the valve cover gaskets are leaking. Recommend replacing the timing cover gasket and seal, the valve cover gaskets and the oil pan gasket. The oil soaked engine mounts would need to be replaced as well as the oil contaminated drive belts. Also recommend replacing the oil pump to complete the repair. He also noted the exhaust collector gaskets behind the ctalytic converters are leaking. Recommend replacing gaskets.

So please please please people let me know what you think about all this and please answer my questions about the work that needs to be done,etc. Any advice and or input is welcome! Thank you in advance!

[freakonaleash1187]

If oil is leaking from the front of the engine, it is most likely coming from the front main seal or the cam seals. There is no such thing has a "timing cover gasket." The timing cover is just a piece of plastic, and plus, the timing belt is a BELT, so they wouldn't need oil in their anyways. This mechanic of yours doesn't seem like he really knows what he is talking about.

BTW, Welcome to NICO!

[the503girl]

yeah I've been looking all over the internet for "timing cover gaskets" and no wonder I can't find any lol (btw I know nothing about cars lol ) so you think it might be coming from the front main seal or the cam seals? how hard would that be to replace (I have a friend that is a mechanic, and no not the one that told me about the timing cover gaskets haha), like how difficult would it be to do either of them and how much would the parts cost? thanks for welcoming me too btw

[freakonaleash1187]

It is a nice and long process to replace the seals. Since it is a long process, you might as well replace a few other things in there while you are in there. If you have the money, just buy a 60k maint. kit and replace everything that will need to be replace (timing belt, main seal, cam seals, VTC springs, thermostat, water pump, etc.) Here is a write-up on how to replace all of that. The write-up is long, but it does take a lot to get to the seals, so you might as well replace everything else while you are in there.

http://www.ttzd.com/tech/60ktech.html

[evildky]

yup that pretty much covers it, be sure to soak the engine down with degreaser and rinse it off a day or 2 before you or whoever starts on the work, it's mush easier to work when the engine isn't completely covered in oil

[the503girl]

It is a nice and long process to replace the seals. Since it is a long process, you might as well replace a few other things in there while you are in there. If you have the money, just buy a 60k maint. kit and replace everything that will need to be replace (timing belt, main seal, cam seals, VTC springs, thermostat, water pump, etc.) Here is a write-up on how to replace all of that. The write-up is long, but it does take a lot to get to the seals, so you might as well replace everything else while you are in there.http://www.ttzd.com/tech/60ktech.html

yup that pretty much covers it, be sure to soak the engine down with degreaser and rinse it off a day or 2 before you or whoever starts on the work, it's mush easier to work when the engine isn't completely covered in oil

You guys are awesome thank you for that link I'll go check it out. As for the whole soaking the engine down with degreaser, how am I supposed to go about doing that? wont it get the electrical wires wet and fry them or something? or is it safe to just get it wet? lol sorry I'm dumb when it comes to cars but I would like to have the engine looking alot better and not covered in oil when I take it over to be fixed Do you have any favorite brand of degreaser that you recommend or just any degreaser?

[evildky]

for degreasing you want to degrease the engine, not the electronic's. you want to spray the degreaser on the sides of the engine and likely the engine bay, try to avoid the top of the motor where all the coil packs are, and let is sit a while, then just hose it off, it's a good idea to get the car warmed up a little first, then after rinsing, let it dry for an hour or 2 before restarting, any parts store or walmart sell engine degreasers, or simple green can work pretty well too, just don't want to spray on a hot engine and avoid directly spraying the electronic's and everything should be fine