How much for oil pan gasket and valve cover gasket?

Question

I have a 1986, low miles, Nissan Sentra which is badly leaking oil. I was told the oil pan gasket and the valve cover gasket needed replacing and given an estimate of $320. Is this unreasonable.
Any help in appreciated

Answer 1

That sounds in the ballpark for that type of repair. Labor is the killer here. Of course you could save bucks by raising the engine from the frame and replacing it yourself. But then you'd have to spend on the heavy equipmment.

Answer 2

The gaskets are not that expensive but the labor to install them is, the valve cover gasket is not too bad but dropping the oil pan is at least a couple hours of labor.

Answer 3

this doe not sound like you engine is overfilled with oil. as far as $270 to get your problem fixed this sounds more than fair. you obviously doubt the mechanic you took your car to so i would suggest getting a second opinion. from what you have suggested it could be a number of issues...leaky gasket, loose or cracked oil filter, a seal, or a bad oil sending unit/gauge. there could be other issues, but these are some of the obvious things that come to mind

Answer 4

It's high. Getting the pan off is a real bear, but with a proper garage and lift, the job could be done in two hours. Half that price would be fair. The parts are very cheap.

Answer 5

you could go to a car parts dealer like Oriley's or Auto zone to check them out to do it yourself or have some one do it for you but if you get a mechanic to do it that is where it is going to get expensive. do some shopping around since you know what the problem is and find the lowest shop and then see if other shops will beat it or match it.

Answer 6

it all depend on where you buy them an what kind, but before you do,, try tighting the bolt up,,, in most cases ,as the motor get hot the cool , the bolt will back off,