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Very very mild oil leak coming from valve covers

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illusion88

Lifer
I bet the seal from my valve covers is starting to show it's age. There is an ever so small oil leak coming from there. The oil level is always good, although it does seem to be a bit lower each week. I don't see any spots when I park it over night, I just notice the grime on the engine block. When should I replace the seal on the valve covers? When I have to start replacing oil in it? When it is gushing oil?
 
I'd replace it when I started seeing seepage, as you are now. It will only get worse, and will just gunk the engine block up even more.
 
Is this a hard fix to do by myself? I have never taken valve covers off before. I imagine I just take the cover off, take the old seam off and put the new seam down then replace the valve cover?
IS there a special tool I need or would my set of wrenches and sprockets do the trick?
 
You will need a torque wrench to properly torque it down. Also, usually they call for RTV to be dabbed in any corners of the gasket that follow a height change, like over a camshaft.

EDIT: The hardest part is getting all of the other crap out of the way first.
 
Originally posted by: illusion88
I bet the seal from my valve covers is starting to show it's age. There is an ever so small oil leak coming from there. The oil level is always good, although it does seem to be a bit lower each week. I don't see any spots when I park it over night, I just notice the grime on the engine block. When should I replace the seal on the valve covers? When I have to start replacing oil in it? When it is gushing oil?
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Normally when a car is new and starts to age the valve cover bolts will become lose. This is part due to the expansion and contraction of the metalic valve cover and mechanical vibration. If it's a slight slight leak like you say. It would probably be easy to simply tighten down the valve cover bolts. If the leak goes away after that. You can safely say it's fixed. Now in the future you would want to replace the valve cover gasket. It's best and you should only use the OEM cover gasket that the manufacture recomends. However, if the manufacture specifies RTV sealent. That's the best and cheapest solution.......
 
I just changed the valve cover gasket in my 2001 Altima after the same thing happened. It was leaking from the front. Very easy to change. Gasket came right out, scraped gasket residue, cleaned everything thoroughly, apply rtv around the "half-moons", tighten. done.

Kit came with new gasket, new spark plug gasket, and washers.
 
it is a very easy to do job at on the KA24DE.

its all about 6-10 bolts and clear out w/e might be in your way. I suggest picking up a chilton's or haynes manual at the part store for 20-25$ they have pretty fair pictures of it and will boost up your confidence really nicely.

pat just gave you the details on the kit. i would definately do it now before it gets worst. its really common to see these. your altima shares the same engine as the 240sx and a lot of those guys have these issues. Common problem. simply and cheap fix. After all said and done you should be under 100$ VS 150-200$ job at the shop. Plus you get to see the insides of your head and see if you are sludged up or anything bad. take not of any damages that might look odd to you on the inside. Do over too the sealant if anything because it might end up on the inside.
 
Not sure if your car has them but you might want to replace the spark plug tube seals as well since those tend to leak with age. If you notice oil on your spark plug wires or the tips of the wire chances are your seals are leaking.

They usually sell valve cover gasket sets that include those tube seals and the rubber grommets

Valve cover gasket set
 
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