Can anyone tell me if the passenger side valve cover with the oil filler cap on the 1994 300zx NA (not turbo) is known to be a weak spot?
Mine cracked today just below the oil filler cap. About a 3 or 4 inch long crack about 1/8 inch wide. Now oil spews out on the hood underside, onto the intake manifold collectors and the like.
Does anyone know where I can get a replacement vale cover? I can not seem to find any in parts online. I guess I could try a junk yard.
Never seen this as a problem.
Someone cracked it. The only time I've seen this was an oil change place broke it when they cranked the car up with a funnel in this hole.
I hope you comprehend what replacing this involves.
Well we determined that the damaged cam/valve cover must have been caused by the place I had $989.34 worth or work done on it. Part of that work was a simple $20 oil change.
They must have left the filler gun with the foot long rubber tube with the 1.5 inch metal end on it in the oil filler hole when they cranked the engine over and the Cam caught it and pushed it into the cam valve cover. It split out. Another possible cause could be they tried to top it off with the engine going.
There is nothing else in there that would have caused it. A small nut or something could not have caused that damage. There was not enough mass in a nut to split a 3/16 inch cast cover like that. I has about a 5+ inch irregular crack. Kind of a upside-down U shaped crack with a handle on it. The U shape was about 3+ inches long.
The shop may not have known it happened as the mechanic was probably the one cranking the engine over.
I even looked at the engine bay and removed the oil cap when I picked it up and did not notice it.
5 days later I opened the hood and oil was all over the cover, plenum cover and belt covers and hood. I wiped it up and looked and did not see where it was coming from. My son drove it 5 miles and then looked and it had leaked again. He was able to see the crack on the side of the cover at that time. So it was easy to miss. I do not blame the mechanic for not seeing it.Well the shop would NOT admit to causing it and offered to fix it for 1/2 the labor and I pay all parts. That would have been about $120 parts (not including a new cam cover) and 7 hours labor so 3.5 hour labor or a total of about $500+ to me. For their mistake!
They also said they did not do internal engine repair so if they got it apart and there was an issue with the cam or other it would have to go somewhere else.
I took it to a Z shop and they fixed it for $566 including the $120 "new customer" and "I feel bad for you" discount. Thankfully there are some shops that are still trustworthy. They even took pictures and video of it.
I am going to go back to the original shop and give them one more chance to pay for the repairs. If that does not work I will go up the chain to corporate as it is a liability issue not really a warrantee issue according to the corporate warrantee advisor at the
1-800 number.Keep you posted.
-Stacey
That's exactly what did it. Nothing else can break a valve cover, there just isn't any stress on this part of the engine.
Can you say small claims court?
To win you will HAVE to pay a mechanic at the good shop to come testify for you. Without him it's not likely you will win. With him you will.
I've gone to court about 5 times for customers and everytime we have won when something like this happens. If the customer tried to sue without getting me to come, they lost. You may need to sue the owner of the shop personally unless it's been incorp'd? Part of the trick is sueing the right person who is responcible. good luck and DON'T let them get away with this. It's butchers like this that make my job so hard.
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