I finally changed out my Valve covers at 252,000 miles. I had quite a bit of leakage. There was enough to cause my alternator to burn out due to the amount of oil dripping on it.
Here are links to the Driver side and driver side covers.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kiZLV- ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17MH8kI ... sp=sharing

Here is the link for the company that I bought the valve coves on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/MITZONEAU ... f_=ast_bln
I found them in red from the same company.

It only took me about 7.5 hours to do both sides. I also used Permatex gasket maker instead of the rubber ones that came with it.

How were the build quality of these when received. Some Amazon reviews seem to hint that it's a bit hit and miss?

wbruner wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 05, 2024 8:44 am

I finally changed out my Valve covers at 252,000 miles. I had quite a bit of leakage. There was enough to cause my alternator to burn out due to the amount of oil dripping on it.
Here are links to the Driver side and driver side covers.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kiZLV- ... sp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/17MH8kI ... sp=sharing

Here is the link for the company that I bought the valve coves on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/stores/MITZONEAU ... f_=ast_bln
I found them in red from the same company.

It only took me about 7.5 hours to do both sides. I also used Permatex gasket maker instead of the rubber ones that came with it.

Gorgeous!

They seem to be fine. I did not notice any burrs or other defects. I really like the ability to change out the gaskets for the spark plug tubes since the OEM valve covers do not give that option. I used RTV gasket maker instead of the rubber gaskets that came with them which ensured a good seal as well.

thank you for the feedback. They look very nice. I may think on doing these in the Summer, when I probably will service the injectors, etc.

Mitzone makes pretty good plastic valve cover sets with gaskets, cap and new bolts. They tend to run in the $65-$70 range for both covers in a set. They also make aluminum valve covers, but I've heard mixed reviews on them. I've purchased two set of Mitzone valve covers and have had no issues.

Late to the party on this one, but wouldn't a trip the junk yard for the metal valve covers be in order here...?

Nissan never made a VQ40DE valve cover in aluminum or metal; they are all plastic. Mitzone has plastic valve cover kits for $65-$70 that include both covers with seals and gaskets, oil cap, PCV and bolts, so replacing them is not a huge expense parts-wise, if you go that route. They are pretty good quality as well; I've installed then on two different VQ40DE engines. The only aluminum valve covers that I am aware of are also made by Mitzone; you can get them in bare aluminum or painted red. They are more money, of course, but you would be able to replace the spark plug tube seals rather than the valve cover in the future. The issue for me was that the customer reviews for the aluminum covers have been mixed, with some saying they bolted right on with no issues and others claiming issues with various issues. I've had three VQ40DE engines and the factory valve covers had over 200,000 miles on them before they were replaced and one had 300,000 miles on them. For <$70 every 200K miles, I'm not going to complain about the plastic valve covers.