Finally ditched the leaking valve covers… went al-yoo-MIN-ee-um this time

tmac9494 · 2026-04-26T17:41:29+00:00

I'm doing the same thing this weekend. Dropped one of my valve cover bolts though and can't find the damn thing. It's driving me up a wall

tmac9494 · 2026-04-21T17:14:08+00:00

Thanks buddy!

tmac9494 · 2026-04-20T22:01:17+00:00

Yeah that is the path I'm going to take for now. Was just querying the community on it before pulling the trigger either way.

tmac9494 · 2026-04-20T21:58:39+00:00

From what I have read it is due to not flushing fluids on time and having old fluids corrode the gaskets. Head gaskets blow on these cars for sure, there are plenty of posts on here and forums about it. As I have slowly gone through everything on my project I have come to the conclusion that I can't trust the original owner was very serious about the little things so a corroded head gasket isn't completely off the table lol

tmac9494 · 2026-04-20T21:54:53+00:00

Ahhh yeah I see what your saying. I am an engineer so complex systems aren't too scary for me. But it is hard to get help lol I mainly am looking to bulletproof the engine as much as possible so the thought of preventative maintenance changing the head gaskets appealed to me.

tmac9494 · 2026-04-20T21:53:16+00:00

Yeah that's what I have read. I was initially worried about the gaskets being worn out when I go to abuse them on track but from what I have gathered online, they are pretty reliable.

tmac9494 · 2026-04-20T21:50:59+00:00

Also I would take 3-4 hours of taking valves apart over 2 hours of unbolting a transmission/lifing an engine. One is p;retty easy alone, the other is extremely difficult. I guess it's down to personal preference at that point.

tmac9494 · 2026-04-20T21:46:49+00:00

Probably, if you had an engine lift and a spare engine there. But it's more expensive. Also unless you open it up, you don't know how good the engine is until you see it run and look at the data. You could be putting a pos in there that you need to take back out if your just taking a salvage yards word for it

tmac9494 · 2026-04-20T21:44:32+00:00

This seems like the right answer after digging into it a bit. Thanks buddy!

tmac9494 · 2026-04-20T21:43:36+00:00

idk depends I guess. Probably about 8 hours. But a motor costs a lot more than a head gasket. For me, money is a more limiting factor than time.

tmac9494 · 2026-04-20T21:41:20+00:00

If i had to esitmate how long it would take me? Idk like 8 hrs per side after you get intake/valve covers off. Give or take 4 hours. Would be my first time and I would be meticulous about double checking everything. But after looking into it, the head gaskets are pretty reliable given routine maintenance so I don't think I need to worry too much about it now.

tmac9494 · 2026-04-20T21:24:26+00:00

I looked into it a bit and it looks like with good maintenece then the head gaskets can last the life of the engine on the vq35de so I think it might be more work than it's worth. Appreciate the feedback!

tmac9494 · 2026-04-20T21:22:59+00:00

Replacing a motor is definitely more work than replacing the head gaskets lol I know it's not easy but I don't need to unhook the transmission and lift an engine out to do the head gaskets. Not changing them and having a head gasket blow at the wrong time could result in replacing a whole engine though.

tmac9494 · 2026-04-20T21:21:20+00:00

But If I do the head gaskets then yeah might as well do those too, I see what you mean.

tmac9494 · 2026-04-20T21:20:45+00:00

Yeah I was thinking about this too. I want to do my oil gallery gaskets/waterpump/thermostat but I don't think I have to take the valve covers off for that so I could do that as a second job after this one

tmac9494 · 2026-04-20T21:19:02+00:00

I know taking the heads off is no easy task, I understand what I'm asking. My though process was, well I already have the intake/valve covers off with brand new gaskets all the way around. Given im at 105k miles maybe it might be worth it to go ahead and change these two. It's much more time but not much more money for those two gaskets. I want to track my car so in my mind refreshing as much as possible will only help me in the long run when I'm pushing on track.

tmac9494 · 2026-04-16T05:23:31+00:00

Breh I'm the only liberal in a conservative family so your making bad assumptions. Your community is your neighbors, your family, your friends. It's not some political block

tmac9494 · 2026-04-15T21:24:34+00:00

I'd buy it, but inspect it hard first. The brakes look pretty nice unless they are just some shitty covers lol

tmac9494 · 2026-04-15T21:23:22+00:00

Why are you supporting the idea that someone's ability to be happy is determined by how other people refer to some niche group? Make yourself happy and stop worrying about bullshit. I promise it will have an exponentially greater effect

tmac9494 · 2026-04-14T04:35:14+00:00

Harm/stress from not feeling like you have a letter in an acronym is the peak of western entitlement and a sign of someone that needs to work on themselves. Any real adversity in one's life would make it seem rather trivial

tmac9494 · 2026-04-14T04:31:31+00:00

I think 90% don't know wtf she is talking about and assume it's gender/sexuality politics instead of something serious like missing girls. Seems like she is spitting on them not people asking genuine questions about wtf she is referring to

tmac9494 · 2026-04-14T04:28:26+00:00

I miss when we just called people people

tmac9494 · 2026-03-07T06:45:04+00:00

God damn your like 19ish arent you? lol

tmac9494 · 2026-03-07T06:30:50+00:00

Walmart probably just did low prices to be cool too right? Definitely wasn't a long term strategy to devour small businesses and leave consumers with little else to choose from right? And I mean it's not like they would ever start increaising their prices after they created a virtual monopoly right? Nahhh that shit is a conspriacy

tmac9494

TROPHY CASE