The Nissan Path

I've been starting to hear of some R51 owners having oil leaks at the rear timing cover on their VQ40DE engines. I've heard comments like the dealer tech says it might be "the next big problem" on the R51's and some state the rear cover needs to be replaced to fix this concern. Anyone have any news or information on this? Are the rear covers cracking?

smj999smj wrote:I've been starting to hear of some R51 owners having oil leaks at the rear timing cover on their VQ40DE engines. I've heard comments like the dealer tech says it might be "the next big problem" on the R51's and some state the rear cover needs to be replaced to fix this concern. Anyone have any news or information on this? Are the rear covers cracking?

The dealership that did my timing chain tensioner fix said that exact thing in 2009 - and that they expected to see a lot of it on V-8's as well.

I think I have a pesky leak somewhere in my oil cooler assembly that I can live with, but none from the rear of the engine...

I've heard of this on the VQ35 which I also own (Quest 3.5) and as a matter of fact this past weekend I was under there with a mirror and a flashlight and I saw it , it's a tiny leak but it's the begining I assume. I've not seen it on my Pathy so far.

To the OP, I misunderstood your question when you said timing cover and I thought you meant valve cover.

I've seen this issue on the VQ30DE in the older Maximas, in which case they would need to remove and reseal the rear cover. I'm just wondering why I'm hearing people say the dealer told them they need to replace the rear cover, rather than reseal it. I'm wondering if the cover is cracking or they are just selling the cover to cover their butts.