# Valve cover parts query and possible replacement



## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Hi all
Been noticing a slight oil burning smell when parked and idling. Too cold to investigate, no obvious leaks or oil loss. My guess is the valve cover gasket (or rocker cover as some call it) has gotten old and cracked and is seeping a bit. Curious if anybody has replaced theirs yet?
Also when replacing the plugs this summer, there were a couple of drops of oil on the coil rubber boot in cylinder # 2. Nothing major and no misfiring. Still in case its gotten worse, I have found that those cylinder gasket seals cannot be replaced, instead its the whole cover that needs changing. What I am wondering is would one from an Altima with the qr25de from 2006 work? They are more readily available in the aftermarket and cheaper.
Looking at Partsouq the part numbers are not the same for the genuine Nissan ones. Based upon these images what is the difference
This one is for Altima
https://partsouq.com/en/catalog/gen...krBCxVAQxzeWV9fyZE$&vid=663&cid=&uid=30888&q=

This one is for the X trail
https://partsouq.com/en/catalog/gen...krMBQKdXUEVVsBGyZE$&vid=848&cid=&uid=40516&q=

I note a slight difference in that ours has a depression around the spark plug holes that the Altima one doesn't. Would this account for the usual higher price (about 40% more)?

Sadly the pics don't open directly but if you click on the part on the diagram it will bring up the part and there is a camera icon that you click on and it shows the part.


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

If they use the same gasket, spark plug tubes, pcv valve and ignition coils, would they not be interchangeable? I have verified all this.
Here are the images of the two
X trail
https://partsouq.com/tesseract/assets/partsimages/Nissan/132648H303.jpg

Altima
https://partsouq.com/tesseract/assets/partsimages/Nissan/132643Z001.jpg

I have misplaced the pricing from the dealer I phoned, but from memory the X trail one is selling for approx $425, whereas I could get the Altima one for $165 cdn. Both being genuine Nissan parts.

I could also get the X trail one + gasket + pcv valve and o ring gasket for it for 290 cdn delivered from Dubai. And cheaper still if I were to order the Altima one. This appears to be another example where Nissan Canada is gouging X trail owners.

I am not in a rush to buy this, but surely someone has some insight as to if the Altima or Sentra versions for the QR25DE engines will work for our X trails???


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## otomodo (May 23, 2008)

Looks the same except the pcv valve connection. Pictures were taken from a different angle. 
Take a look at Kenny_u_pull,maybe you'll see the difference.

HO MALA?
Acarta pà grota


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Hi Otomodo
What do you mean by look at Kenny U Pull? PCV valve is the same for both and I think its included in the Altima spec one whereas its a separate part with ours. Same position. I think the difference might be we have Japanese built engine with Japanese supplied parts while the Altima one is a US spec one with components from American suppliers. In my researching this I saw a Sentra owner who ordered a replacement engine from Japan and it had the same cover as ours with the more mat plastic and the dimple holes around the cylinder openings just like the X Trail one. Also read elsewhere that Nissan was striving for part interchangeability among its Japanese, European and North-American offerings. So... I am kind of leaning to thinking that it would work. Still it would be nice to know for sure.


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## otomodo (May 23, 2008)

I mean, go to a scrap yard where you can see both engines and compare.
Or take a ? of yours and compare to the Altima engine.

By the way my alternator died yesterday. 
Rust in peace lol!!!

HO MALA?
Acarta pà grota


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Well the only thing needing comparing is the underside. Its the same engine, same gasket. Everything is in the same position. I think I would be better off finding a friendly Nissan part counter guy who would let me compare the two side by side. Otherwise, I would have to pull one from each at a yard, but I don't know any around me that have an X trail. 

At some point for anyone who keeps an X trail long enough this will be an issue, and it would be nice to know that you could replace the valve cover because of a cylinder leak without spending over 500 on parts plus additional labor. The X trail in my books should not require Land Rover level expense to maintain.

As for the Alternator, that is a drag, but at least the price differential isn't so bad. Of course once again they don't show the Altima or Sentra SE-R ones as being compatible with the X trail...However on Rock Auto they do show it being compatible with one from a first gen Nissan Rogue. However the specs seem to be the same. Still Part Souq shows them as different parts. Cannot really tell as the Altima has no schematics whereas the X trail one shows a complete tear down. Looking at the mounting brackets again different parts but they appear to bolt on the same way in the same position, but again part numbers for the bolts show slight differences.
I guess further investigation would be required at Kenny's lol.


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

I have been doing more digging and I think this thread is relevant

QR25DE JDM QR25DE Conformity 

In it is the tale of someone who bought a jdm engine for their sentra and it appears to be from an X trail. What is interesting to me is that it has pics (not great but maybe good enough) that show the valve cover a bit on both usa and jdm qr25de engines. They are the same. Both have the raised lip and lack of a circle depression around the cylinder as seen on the Altima valve cover pic I linked to above.

Also this article about the new x trail, kind of introduces the engine and suggests that it will be used in other Nissan models which I believe would have included the Altima and Sentra that came afterwords

AutoSpeed - Nissan's New Engineering

Seems to me this coming down to is the US part interchangeable with the Japanese one. If so there are major savings to be had for X trail owners


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Finally pics of the underside thanks to ruskies and a little google foo

Here is ours for the X trail
Êðûøêà êëàïàííàÿ Nissan - Ïðîäàæà àâòîçàï÷àñòåé â Óëàí-Óäý

and here is an aftermarket one for the X trail
Êëàïàííàÿ êðûøêà Nissan QR20DE/QR25DE 132648H301 (íîâàÿ)âîçìîæåí îïò - Ïðîäàæà àâòîçàï÷àñòåé âî Âëàäèâîñòîêå

The latter one is identical to offerings on RockAuto for the Altima 2.5.

So my conclusion is that the cover from the 02-06 Altima will in fact fit, and should I need one, its what I will order. I think the japanese Nissan is the highest quality ( just like for other parts) but a US Nissan one will be almost as good. Also opens up the possibility of using aftermarket ones such as these

2005 NISSAN ALTIMA 2.5L L4 Valve Cover | RockAuto

( In researching I did learn however that Dorman made a bad batch that did not seal properly and caused oil leaks into the cylinders, but supposedly the problem has been fixed )

Hope this helps someone!


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

This ebay listing has some really good pics of the US Nissan one

2002-2006 Nissan Altima 2.5L 4 Cylinder Engine | Valve Cover OEM NEW Genuine | eBay

And good news is the PCV valve is incorporated into it, so would mean you don't have to buy a separate one or reuse your old one.


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## MikeHJ (Mar 7, 2017)

quadraria10 said:


> . Otherwise, I would have to pull one from each at a yard, but I don't know any around me that have an X trail.


Kenny's Cornwall has 2 xtrails: one pretty picked over, the other arrived St.Pat's day

I grabbed a headlight and the blower fan from the new one this morning and someone grabbed the exhaust and dash heat controls. Valve cover gasket should be there


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

A bit far from me. None in inventory at either Ottawa or Gatineau location. Anyway its a part that you would be replacing because the seals have gotten old and failed. I see very little point in using another that is over 10 years old.
Anyhow I am pretty confident in my detective work lol. So if I need one I know I have much cheaper options than what the dealer wants for the X trail cover.


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Here is a cool reference tool for parts, though it only seems to include European models. Still if you go to a section, identify a part and then click on the part number in the list, it shows other applications for the same part.

http://nissan4u.com/parts/x_trail/


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## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

quadraria10 said:


> If they use the same gasket, spark plug tubes, pcv valve and ignition coils, would they not be interchangeable? I have verified all this.
> Here are the images of the two
> X trail
> https://partsouq.com/tesseract/assets/partsimages/Nissan/132648H303.jpg
> ...


It seems the major difference in the valve covers is the molded depressed groove around each spark plug hole on the X-trail cover. This would take into account the hight design of the coil pak. If the coil paks are different, then you may either have sealing problems of the coil pak or the hold-down flange of the coil pak not bottoming against the boss on the cover which could result in breakage when tightening.


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Hi Rogoman,
Thanks for your input. In this case the coil paks, and spark plugs for the X trail are the same as used on the US Altima and Sentra that use the QR25DE engine. 

For some reason the guy at the Nissan Parts counter thinks the dimensions are different based upon the line drawings in his data base, but the images he sent me are the same as to be found at PartSouq. I have sent him the pictures and am waiting to hear back from him.
Actual prices are 449.30 for the X trail cover and 36 for the gasket, whereas the Altima cover is 190.21 and 24 for the gasket.
For what its worth Partsouq shows the Xtrail and Altima gaskets as being substitutes for one another ( same deal for the cylinder head gasket) 

And of course there are further savings as the pcv valve is included in the altima one.


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Final bit of research the rocker cover bolts for both are identical, and the bolt (screw) used for the ignition coil assembly is the same part as well. Yesterday a Nissan parts guy thought its probable that Altima cover would be interchangeable for the X trail even if the catalog does not show it. I am now fully convinced its the way to go if you need to replace the one on your Canadian 05 or 06 X trail, or one from 2001 to 2006 with either the qr20de or qr25de engine.

Lastly RockAuto has the beck/arnley 0360010 ( 2005 ALTIMA 2.5 Engine Section) which looks to be the actual Nissan part and comes with the gasket and built in pcv valve for 142.38 and 17.30 shipping for me + gst so about $175 cnd vs a total a total of about 525 + gst and qc tx-- so a bit over $600 for the xtrail proper one with gasket and pcv valve at the local dealer.


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## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

While doing an oil change today, I gave the valve cover a good look and pulled the coils for each cylinder. Good news, no oil in any of them, and no leaks around the gasket edges. So no need to replace the cover as of yet. I did see some old oil on the valve cover itself which accounts for the smell I was getting. Guess I was a bit sloppy filling it with oil in the fall when I didn't use a funnel and free poured from a 4 L jug. Couldn't see it because of the engine cover, and it turns out those nice depressions around each spark plug hole are perfect for holding a bit of oil overflow. So I now see the Altima Sentra cover as being a bit better design, and I am 100% sure it will work. Also saw a parts store in Mexico that shows the Dorman aftermarket one as being good for the Altima. Sentra and X trail. So if someone needs to replace theirs and wants to be really cheap, they could actually source an aftermarket one off ebay for around 70 Cnd including delivery. 

Engine Valve Cover, Gasket, PCV Valve, Seals for 02-06 Nissan Altima 2.5L QR25DE | eBay

Cant speak for the quality, but the seller has 99.9% positive feedback and has sold over 100 of them. Also comes with the gasket and pcv valve. Which is a far cry from a dealer only part that will cost over $600 with taxes included.

Heck here is a seller that has 100% positive feedback rating ,has sold almost 2000 of them and provides a 3 year warranty.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Engine-Valve...ash=item2ed60a87cf:g:iCUAAOSwHPlWcdgY&vxp=mtr


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