Nissan Repair: oil leak timing chain area, and transmission flush, valve cover gasket, nissan altima

Question
i have a 1993 nissan altima se, 94k miles, i noticed oil leak near the timing chain area,do i need to change my timing chain ,upper and lower, water pump to repair the leak since i will be in  that section of the engine? also the chilton's manual reccomends to change trans filter and fliud every 30k, should i flush the transmission w/ 94k miles?--joe

Answer
Joseph,

On the leak I would repalce the valve cover gasket first to see if that corrects the problem.  Many times the valve cover leaks and runs down the cover making it look like the cover is leaking.  If you are going to do the timing cover you will be taking the entire cover off as well as the valve cover and the front seal along with the water pump.  So, you are right on the mark there if the valve cover gasket does not do the trick.

On the transmission, with this many miles I would not touch it.  If you change the fluid the transmission will fail in short order.  Could be a month could be a year.  I would leave it alone until it drops on its own...