Nissan QashQai Forums

Hi Peeps,

After an MOT and Service an oil leak was picked up and it appears to be seeping from the sump and somewhere in the upper region of the front cover.

The sump appears to be straight forward but the front cover looks like it's going to be a nightmare!

So this is what the front cover and sump looked like:



After cleaning with a whole kitchen towel and cotton buds it came up quite nice:



Unfortunately it's coated again in oil after a few thousand miles so it's something I have to deal with.

Am I right in thinking there's no reasonable shortcuts such as applying gasket sealant over the timing cover area which is leaking or is this going to be complete cover removal and gasket sealant replacement. While I've not done this before it appears that the few inches of space between the front of the engine and inner arch is going to make what is a relatively simple job much more difficult.

I have the service manual to hand for the R9M and this appears to be the specification for the gasket sealant and torque specs along with the tightening sequence.





If anyone has some thoughts or tips it would be appreciated.

From the information above and from my past experience I believe this job would require a

Crankshaft pulley seal replacement

Crankshaft pulley bolt replacement

Front cover gasket sealant applied with:
1 lower side: 5.0 9.0 mm (0.098 - 0.177 in) in diameter

2 upper side: 4.0 8.0 mm (0.118- 0.276 in) in diameter

3 center: 1.5 3.5 mm (0.394 - 0.591 in) long

What does the above even mean, "lower side 5.0 9.0 mm" what? Is this width and thickness or what exactly?..

Then when installing you pre tighten the bolts first to 5nm in the sequence illustrated and then finally tighten to 15nm again in sequence.

Tighten crankshaft pulley bolt to 50nm and then angle torque to 150 degrees.

Hi Bud,

got exactly the same issue with my QQ 2013, did you manage to get to the bottom of this?

Seems like this is a common issue with the R9M engines (1.6 DCI engines), which are also fitted to the Renault Traffics.

Welcome to this forum.

Common problem with r9m mate, I have done loads, easier job than the 1.2 dig t ... but I recommend a new timing cover as it usually bends upon removal unlike the aluminium covers which don't bend.

Easy enough to do though just recommend putting on the genuine nissan sealant and you'll need 2 tubes of it, put on the upper amount of sealant that the spec says.

And with the crank pulley when you fit the bolt torque it down then mark the degree you need it to go with a pen and use a powerful impact gun to get it round the degree required as doing it without that is a nightmare and end up breaking tools ect. Hope this helps

lewisbryant wrote: ↑Sat May 28, 2022 7:14 am Common problem with r9m mate, I have done loads, easier job than the 1.2 dig t ... but I recommend a new timing cover as it usually bends upon removal unlike the aluminium covers which don't bend.

Easy enough to do though just recommend putting on the genuine nissan sealant and you'll need 2 tubes of it, put on the upper amount of sealant that the spec says.

And with the crank pulley when you fit the bolt torque it down then mark the degree you need it to go with a pen and use a powerful impact gun to get it round the degree required as doing it without that is a nightmare and end up breaking tools ect. Hope this helps

Thanks for the info, bud but no way I can tackle something like this! Where are you based by the way? And what sort of cost are we talking for something like this?

I'm way down in West Wales, not sure on price as it varys so much depending on hourly rates, your talking around 6 hours to do it so if your talking dealer prices its 540 plus vat just for labour and then there's parts on top of that .....

lewisbryant wrote: ↑Fri Jun 03, 2022 10:01 pm I'm way down in West Wales, not sure on price as it varys so much depending on hourly rates, your talking around 6 hours to do it so if your talking dealer prices its 540 plus vat just for labour and then there's parts on top of that .....

Hi Peeps,

I never had any notifications for the replies on this thread for some reason. It's only after rash direct messaged that I realised.

@lewis - it's great to know that you've changed the timing cover as there's probably a few questions I'll need to ask. I haven't checked the cover since but knowing I'm ready to replace the cover I thought there was no harm checking the torque of the cover bolts. They aren't high at all, maybe 15nm but each and every bolt took about 1+ full turn to get the click. However, I could only do around 6 bolts as it appears to be near impossible to get the top top, if imagine these bolts become accessible once the big engine mount is removed from the left (drivers side) of the engine?

If my cover is still leaking ill double check all the instructions and fire anything I'm unsure about to you if you don't mind.

MrSweetE90 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 04, 2022 12:12 pm

lewisbryant wrote: ↑Fri Jun 03, 2022 10:01 pm I'm way down in West Wales, not sure on price as it varys so much depending on hourly rates, your talking around 6 hours to do it so if your talking dealer prices its 540 plus vat just for labour and then there's parts on top of that .....

Hi Peeps,

I never had any notifications for the replies on this thread for some reason. It's only after rash direct messaged that I realised.

@lewis - it's great to know that you've changed the timing cover as there's probably a few questions I'll need to ask. I haven't checked the cover since but knowing I'm ready to replace the cover I thought there was no harm checking the torque of the cover bolts. They aren't high at all, maybe 15nm but each and every bolt took about 1+ full turn to get the click. However, I could only do around 6 bolts as it appears to be near impossible to get the top top, if imagine these bolts become accessible once the big engine mount is removed from the left (drivers side) of the engine?

If my cover is still leaking ill double check all the instructions and fire anything I'm unsure about to you if you don't mind.

So your's is still leaking? I guess you've not had it fixed yet then?