Pinnacle Nissan has them for $160 each, if it comes to that.

I can't believe you have to replace the whole valve cover if the plug gaskets go south. That's crazy.

 

What really scares me is how fast the gasket will wear on new ones. I had oil on my plugs when I changed my plugs at 45k miles.

 

Earlier this month I had to remove the intake piping and noticed a bit of oil residue on the engine side.

I have not had the pleasure of performing any core engine maintenance on the Z yet, so it's still a learning curve for me. Please excuse my lack of knowledge as to where the location of the valve gasket might be on the engine. The location of the oil residue I witnessed appeared to be coming from what looked like a valve cover. Would someone please confirm this for me?


Here are the pictures I snapped.....

 

That's what it looks like.

If the outsides are leaking, you CAN buy the gasket for them seperately. Much cheaper.

 

Thank you sir.

I wiped everything clean after I took the pics. I'm hoping the residue is access oil that came from the dip stick. My engine only has 33k on it. I'll put a few more miles on it and see what happens...

 

Hope it works out for you. Have you pulled a plug or two to see if you have any oil there?

 

Not yet.

 

Seems like the plugs that are getting oil on it for me are the rear plugs only

Not sure if that's the case for everyone else.

 

I had the same problem the first time I changed the plugs. I too noticed
that it was only a problem with the plugs in the rear (closest to the firewall).

I wish there was an aftermarket alternative to the factory covers that was
made out of something other than plastic. Has anyone come across a
non-plastic valve cover for the VQ?

-Ben

 

I might pull the plugs out and check them to be on the safe side. I just don't see forsee any real problems with only 33k on the engine....

 

Mine COULD have been leaking around that mileage but I guess I will never know for sure. I changed mine around 45-50k miles and had oil only on the rears. None of the other plugs have them.

I remember seeing a post about someone using something to seal it up but I can't remember where. I think its kind of messed up and costly to be replacing the valve covers and gaskets every so often so oil won't get on the plugs

 

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....t=oil+on+plugs

Found the thread... that's only after 11K miles

edit-I pm'd SpoilsofWar for info. He said he bought tube seals separate which contradicts what Eddie said

And someone mentioned RTV

editv2-damn Nissan for having them in the valve cover

 

Sorry I was wrong. I posted seals that were actually for the valves themselves. I finally noticed that 24 are required for the car. Nevermind.