BB, thanks for the pictures. Was wondering what this looked like.

How does this save hours of labour? I imagine the rear timing cover (1st pic) comes as a whole unit, and replacing the entire piece (1st pic) would be quicker than pulling the piece off, remove many bolts, replacing the gasket, bolting it back together and putting the piece and everything else back together.

 

Could be that just replacing the gasket isn't part of the official repair instructions. All dealers are different and usually not related in any way other than the cars they sell. If just replacing the gasket isn't recognized in Infiniti's repair instructions for that and the whole cover is a "by the book" dealer will follow what Infiniti says, while another dealer who is maybe privately/family owned may be willing to think outside the box. However, that being said, I'm sure that if any of those techs that aren't willing to do just the gasket at the dealer had this issue with their own car they would in fact perform the cheaper easier one as well.

 

To get that whole backing plate loking thing off you have to remove a TON of stuff. Its basically the same labor as replacing the timing chain on this car (since apparently the timing chain tensioner blocks eventually have issues). Basically wherever you see a round opening is some sort of accessory that has to come off, including cam pulleys and stuff I think

Doing the gasket just requires removing whatever is covering the plate to get to those bolts marked with red arrows.

 

What Chris said. Tons of crap to remove, replace, adjust when removing the entire rear cover vs. just replacing the gasket in the location indicated.

 

BB, I share Dough1397's confusion. Doesn't the entire cover still have to come off to replace that one gasket?

The view shown is from the inside right? Maybe if we see the outside of this cover it'll make more sense...?

 

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/G37/Coupe/2011/EM.pdf

Check out page EM-50

Part 34 is the front case, part 35 is the rear case. The part BB gave a pic of is the rear case removed from the block. There is no reason to do that. If you remove the front case you can access the smaller covers that BB pointed out the screws to.

Removing the rear case requires removal of the timing chains, cam pulleys, etc. Removing just the front case does not.

Its interesting that the FSM doesnt show the smaller inside covers as removable. Thats probably where the flat rate comes from, and is a good example of not necessarily knowing what/how to do it until things are actually opened up and in front of you.

 

[QUOTE=Black Betty;3753689]Something else I just noticed. I communicated with a forum member who had the same thing done under warranty. he was kind enough to pass along a copy of his work order to me. It appears that his dealership performed the job by just replacing the gasket rather than the much more expensive rear cover replacement. Maybe Sewell Infiniti of Houston is indeed trying to bend me over a barrel?[/QUOTE]


Mixed reviews on Yelp: Sewell Infiniti of Houston - Houston, TX | Yelp

 

Got it! Now it makes sense.. sort of. The engine itself is not in the way then, or these areas are not covered/obstructed by the engine?

 

You have to take of external things like the pulleys to take off the front cover. However to remove and replace the rear cover, you have to remove everything behind the front cover. If you look at the exploded diagram on EM50 that Chris linked to, everything on the top row of parts has to be removed to take off the rear cover. Then the rear cover can be removed. The engine isn't in the way, all the timing related parts on the front of it are in the way. Obviously all that stuff has to be replaced as well when you put it back together. Simply removing the 13 screws indicated in the photo in post #57 eliminates the need to remove/replace all those parts to take off the rear cover, and allows replacement of the leaking gasket. Hence saving many hours of labor and a ton of money.

 

Thanks Chris11LE, BB, and JSolo. I too thought 13 screws were facing the block and thus the rear cover would require removal before accessing said screws. Clearly I was wrong, the 13 screws are accessible with just the front cover removed.

I already think this is a better method, I believe not having to disassemble the timing chain and assembly is a huge advantage and stops another can of worms from opening (I am a pessimist when it comes to someone working on my car, thought I suppose it depends if the person doing the work is motivated by $$$ or passion/challenge/interest).

 

I have a pretty decent relationship with the Master Tech at my dealership so he generally explains what happens. In most cases these shops are Union run and they go by the book, that means if the book states 18hrs then thats what the quote is based on. Its how the dealership is able to bill Infiniti and make money. In my case if its not covered I put my 'personal relationship skills' to work and get the 'real' price.

 

Yeah, like body shops they come up with "worst case" estimates so they don't get short-changed.

Guess it's OK for the customer to get hosed, tho...

 

I'm sorry to read about your experience Jeremy. Thank you for taking the time to post your experience in detail and your work-around. I didn't know that Nissan dealerships would do major service on our cars and also didn't realize that the labor was $50 per hour cheaper. I went ahead and searched and clicked on the link to assist the cause.

I can understand the whole "does the customer pay to get their car serviced here" thing. I've been taking 6 quarts of Amsoil and a filter to my dealer and having them do the oil changes for a while just because I don't want to mess with it and it's always a PITA to dump the used oil. I also just had $500 worth of OOW service done (7AT Trans flush, power steering flush, oil change, lube the sways, and install serpentine belt). So hopefully that will help me out in case something comes up in the future.

 

Yeah, good luck with that. It's currently at a Nissan dealership now. The tech is giving me information that he thinks the rear timing cover does need to be replaced to do the repair. I'm getting conflicting information from different techs on whether the job can be done without the need to replace the rear cover.

This is why I wish I had the time and space to do this myself. I'm motivated only by a desire to get the car repaired competently and correctly at the lowest cost. Nobody else has such motivation. Stuff line this is why so many people just do not trust auto mechanics.

 

^^^

Agreed. I think they should have taken care of it for you, especially since it's a known issue. I don't think it's realistic to expect the customer to track and follow every TSB that potentially comes out for their car. Yes you were OOW, but I think the right thing to do would have been to take care of it, regardless. They basically ensured that you won't be buying another car from that particular dealer in the future.