⭐ 2003 Nissan Maxima GLE - 3.5 - Replacing The Spark Plug Tube Seals
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- For MORE great Auto Repair Videos, visit us at www.OnlineAutoRepairVideos.com Video on how to correctly replace the spark plug tube seals on a 2003 nissan maxima with the 3.5 engine. many people will tell you that they cannot be replaced and you must replace the entire valve cover gasket, they are wrong. If our video(s) have helped you repair your vehicle, consider making a small donation to Astral Auto Repairs!
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Why would they sell the seal if you can't change them, this man is correct.
I normally replace the plastic valve cover on certain engines but you have showed a really 👍 good alternative thank you Tim , this will save time and 💰 money.
When this video was made, we had no idea how cheap the replacement cover was. I would definitely do what you said, replace the cover, they are so cheap right now.
You're right. That's what puzzled me. I ordered some and looked at the cover. What you did is pretty cool. I didn't have the time. And you get the new cover quick.
It does take a little time.
Big dog, awesome my brother 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
You Saved me $400 thank you 🙏
UPDATE Justin...since this video was put out, there are now aftermarket valve covers for around $35 that come with the tube seals. Hope this helps, and THANKS!!
Well done!
Hey Tim.. first off I want to thank you for the video seems to pop up the very first in the search and is knowledgeable for someone unknown to this sad design. Question is I'm using the same Fel-Pro gaskets and they do not even come close to wanting to fit the hole let alone as easy as you push them in. Seem over sized. Making me hesitant to wanna gently beat them in.. Replacing the cover with the amount of other work performed is simply not in the customers budget at this time. Guess I'm gonna go give it a try because it is not gonna get fixed sitting at idle. Again thanks for the video and presented idea within!
Hey bmores0nly, Since this video, there are a lot of aftermarket valve covers out there, and they are pretty cheap. Try RockAuto.com and get a price. The valve covers for this car are now $40 each, which would save you a lot of time. Let me know what you decide to do, and how this process works for you.
Awesome!!! You gave me hope! I'll try it!
DON'T!!!!! Since this video was made, there are MANY aftermarket valve covers that come with the seals already installed for around $30!
Amazing super helpful
You saved me 250$
Thank you so much
Wow, that's great, glad we could help.
Good video. I had just gotten the FelPro kit and couldn't figure out how in the world to put those in. Not as hard to do as one would think.
Hey Jon, yeah we tried to find videos on doing this and people was making such a big deal out of doing them. Thanks!
How reliable are the seals once put in? Do they last or begin to leak after a short while?
You're right they do. And I wundered .What was Nissan up to with this? That's totally MacGyver what you did, But you save almost no money but to purchase the valve cover. Look one up. An entire Nissan concept.
OK, I finally finished this job. But I had to re-drill the holes with a 2" hole saw. I ended up putting the FelPro seals in upside down ON PURPOSE. That means, I put the inner cone facing out and the lip of the seal facing into the valve cover (it's got that spring around it to tighten it against the tube). I made sure to clearn the seal seat very well with BrakeKleen, and to rough it up w/000 steelwool to make the RTV Ultra Black stick well. To install the valve covers on the car, I used a jeweler's flat blade screw driver. But first I applied silicone grease to the seal lip area. Then starting with the rear tube, I gently moved the screw driver blade around the tube, between the tube and seal lip, until the whole lip gripped around the tube. Then I moved to the middle tube and did the same. All the while I put light downward pressure on the valve cover at end of the first seal I installed to keep it from popping off. After slipping the middle seal on the middle tube, I did the seal closest to me. It took about 3 minutes to get the valve cover to slip over the tubes. Worked great! Plus, the seal is facing the traditionally correct direction: Lip faces oil source. Only time will tell how long this seal lasts. But I can guarantee it's better than the garbage seals that come from Chinese rubber. I'd post pics of this job if I could. It was done on a 2004 Infinity G35.
Great going Faye!
Thanx!
Here's an update on this job:
The owner of the car says no leaks, and no runnability issues.
Seems to be working just fine.
So if you use the FelPro seals, make sure you glue them in UPSIDE DOWN to ensure a good seal on the spark plug tubes.
Hi thanks for the videos. Those valve covers are plastic right? I'm curious if a guy could just buy new valve covers do they come with the seals already in place new as well?
Since this video, YES, it would be much cheaper to replace the valve covers. We saw them for around $35 each. When we did this video, they didn't have the covers available. in aftermarket.
Hey, you just won a new subscriber, thank you so much.
Hey, and THANK YOU for subscribing!
Dude, that's the PCV oil separater baffle plate. The point of the design is Nissan wants you to replace the valve cover. It's supposed to be thrown away.
Hey Mike, as you see, Felpro does sell the seals, and you can replace them. There are many videos on UA-cam where people replace them. Don't let people tell you can't when you can.
I tried this method yesterday.
IT WAS A BAD IDEA.
Here's why:
The FelPro seals you get are for a DIFFERENT KIND of valve cover.
They only fit the valve cover that has a REMOVABLE BAFFLE.
The G35 I'm fixing has non-removable baffles.
Also, the seal height is lower on these, so they don't contact the spark plug tube enough.
So ... when I chipped-out the inner lip of the valve cover, the new seal had a LOT of play between it's OD and the outer lip of the valve cover, just like this guy shows when he puts the seal inside a 2" hole saw.
To remedy my screw-up, I laid down a very thick bead of RTV (I used Ultra Black, b/c the Black RTV is designed for rubber seals) INSIDE the OD wall of the lip in the valve cover seal seat, and then carefully and EVENLY pushed the new seal into the 1 3/4" hole so it went STRAIGHT DOWN into the seat. If I wasn't careful, it would get RTV on the spring retainer and lip which is a NO-NO (you have to keep that area clean), b/c the RTV interferes with the lip seating against the spark plug tube.
So today I RE-DRILLED the baffle with a 2" hole saw, JUST ENOUGH TO CUT THROUGH THE BAFFLE, and then filled up the gap that was between the seal OD and the valve cover housing ID. Some RTV was missing at some places around the seal OD, b/c the thick bead of RTV didn't fill up the whole gap between the seal OD and housing ID.
NOTE: I DO NOT KNOW IF THIS WORKS YET.
If I do this job over again, I will use a 2" hole saw and buy the correct seals, or try to spec a lip seal that would fit correctly (at least make sure the outer lip ID = the seal OD). So far, after 3 hours of internet searching and phone calls, no standard equivalent seal could be found that fits this application.
This is the ONLY place that I found what appear to be the correct lip seals:
www.rndfactory.com/Web/instruction-nissan-A.html#
The problem is, this guy is charging TEN TIMES THE RETAIL PRICE for these seals.
Also, this guy tells you to lay a thick bead of RTV on the IS of the seal right up against the LIP/SPRING. That is a BAD IDEA. If it was me, I would lay the bead IN BETWEEN THE TWO LIPS IN THE VALVE COVER, and then press the seal into its seat. That way, no RTV gets on the seal lip and spring. Anyways, the guy who's selling these seals is a thief.
So you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't with these valve covers.
So if you use this guy's method in the above video, make sure you use a 2" hole saw, clean up the housing spotless, rough it up w/sand paper or #000 steel wool, and fill in the gap around the OD of the seal so you glue it in very well so it won't leak.
One more IMPORTANT THING: Make sure you SHIM the seals 1/4" so you get the correct setback for the seal to go over the spark plug tube enough to make a good seal. Otherwise, you wasted your time.
One thing I did that made the drilling a breeze: I made a simple drilling mandrel out of a piece of 2x4 wood. I cut it about 2 1/2" long and drilled it all the way through parallel to the wood grain using a 5/16" drill. Then took a 1 5/16" hole saw from one end and drilled half-way into it (using the 5/16" hole as a guide). Then drilled from the other end using a 1 1/8" hole saw till it would come apart. I used the 5/16" hole to center the hole saws when flipping the piece. Then I took it and pressed the smaller diameter into the seal from the outside of the valve cover. That way you have 2 centering points: the valve cover taper hole and the seal ID. Drilling the baffle plate takes less than a minute per hole (it's soft plastic).
Incidentally, the baffles DO NOT pop out like the one comment below say, so DO NOT TRY THAT, b/c you will ruin your valve covers.
I was a mechanic for 15 years when was younger, and now I make drawings of machinery for fabrication. That's where I'm coming from. That's my opinion for what it's worth.
Not sure what you're doing wrong, or even if the G35 covers are the same, but this did work, and they are still working.
I'm not doing anything wrong. Check out the seals on the web site I posted above, and you'll see how different those seals are from the ones you used that FelPro makes (= the ones we both used). I'm putting this info out there for anyone who has an Infiniti. I did the job like you did, but the problem is, I didn't know that the original seals were offset by 1/4" (actually it's 9mm), so these seals are barely contacting the top of the spark plug tube, which is not enough to seal. So I just wasted my time and money on these seals which are the wrong ones for the Infiniti. No worries, now I know how to do this job, which is why I said what I did above. The problem is, I destroyed this guy's valve covers, which is going to cost me. That's what sucks about this. What I would like to know is where to get the correct seals for the Infiniti valve covers. I'll be damned if I pay the price the guy is charging at the link above.
Love this guy
Thanks, since this video, there are a lot of aftermarket valve covers on the market that are very cheap, I believe that would be a better option now.
buenos días amigo desde Chile.. donde puedo comprar estas gomitas que me han dado mas de un dolor de cabeza,, exente vídeo grasias de ante mano
Ebay
How reliable is the seal or how long does it last before it begins leaking again?
My nissan 2004 xtrail have the same problem can you recommend seals that fit exactly to my valve cover? Tia
Since this video was made, there are a lot of aftermarket companies that made the entire valve covers that come with the seals for around $35 to %50. So you would be much better off getting those. I wish they had them out before I did this job, LOL!
Thank.. Good idea
Since this video, many aftermarket companies came out with new valve covers that already have the seals in them, for around $35!
Your video is great and just what I need but I have the metal valve cover :(
They now have aftermarket valve covers that already have the seals in them, and they cost around $35. Definitely consider that option.
Hello again I need some help for my vq so I did this on my z and replaced my gaskets at the same time as well and after everything it was idling fine and warmed up fine and everything and I wanted to reset my idle control so I followed the steps and after I did this it was idling and I went to put my intake all the way back in because I only had it in partially and I accidentally hit the maf and the car died I tried starting it again after and it wouldn't start but everytime I turn the ignition on the radiator fans turned on and we tried to reset the ecu but it wouldn't work and I'm not sure what to do now
check to be sure no wires were caught under the intake, then check for a damaged MAF. Especially check the wiring going to the coolant sensor.
Will this work on a vq35de 350z?
Since this video, there have been a lot of aftermarket valve covers out there for under $50. So my advice is to look into a new valve cover, hope this helps.
Do you think you can come do that one more time for my Nissan Maxima I need the same thing done you just did in this video
Hey Quinton, you can now get the complete valve covers with new seals from rockauto.com, check them out.
I checked and it still doesn't start
Its been a year since and I would like to know if you have an update on the repair? Is it leaking again or holding up?
The customer does have a 1 year warranty on that job, and they have not contacted us that it is leaking.
This method did not work for me. I hole sawed to the shiny, and attempted to knock out the tube seal, and the inner part that holds in the tube seals broke away from the outer housing, effectivity rendering my valve cover useless.
There is GOOD news and there is BAD news...
The BAD news is sorry it didn't work out for you.
The GOOD news is that since this video, there have been numerous aftermarket valve covers available online for really cheap. Had those valve covers been available when we did this job, we would have just bought the new ones. They are going for around $35 New.
I'm doing this on my 05 350z it's the same process and felpro kit?
Not sure, but if it's the same engine, I would say yes.
I have to do it on my 03Z did it work .? Did you used this part # he used?
Yeah I did it using that part number and it worked
Thank you,,,, for replying
👍
This is an old video Hector, LOL!
@@OnlineAutoRepairVideos Is going to help me out!
@@NoneMechanic101 If you're doing a nissan, they now have aftermarket valve covers for these car, and they only costs around $40
@@OnlineAutoRepairVideos Thank you because I was undecided👍
is that the same way for a 2003 Nissan altima 2.5
Sorry, but I'm not sure.
Can just buy a new valve cover for under $50.
At the time this video was made, the aftermarket valve covers were NOT available.
It's the vq35de correct?
Yes, it's the same
same measurement i got 1 3/4 inch
Crooked holes fella. There is a reason these are not replaceable. Don't do this just buy a value cover.
That's ALOT of unnecessary work. The new cover with a gasket,pvc and new #10's is less than $50.
When this video was made, the aftermarket covers with the spark plug tube seals already installed were not available. But the bigger question here is if you knew that, why would you even watch the video?
By the way, I'm not trying to be funny or sarcastic by the last part of my previous comment, I am legitimately asking.