Are you going to fix it, or is the engine ka-put?

 

Are you going to fix it, or is the engine ka-put?

It's at the dealer getting fixed. Costing me $900.00.

 

dam i woulda thought i would last longer than that.

 

ouch man.

 

sucks ass. but i would pay the money to keep it running if it's an 02.

 

sucks ass. but i would pay the money to keep it running if it's an 02.

Yes it sucks but I don't plan on getting rid of it. I have had zero problems with it before this!

 

how did you determine it was the head gasket? or..what lead you to notice i guess

 

how did you determine it was the head gasket? or..what lead you to notice i guess

Several symptoms that at the time I didn't realize were the typical headgasket symptoms. White smoke coming from exhaust upon starting, rough start nearly every time I started her, antifreeze odor upon starting, loss of antifreeze, that is the first thing that started to happen was when I noticed my antifreeze kept getting low several months ago. This is still the best car ever!

 

loosing antifreeze may have been one sympton, but white smoke coming from your exhaust upon starting doesn't mean you have a blown head gasket, keep in mind your cat needs time to warm up and start working, in most cases (such as starting in the morning) it's just vapor from the moisture buildup. but if it didn't go away, then headgasket would've been my guess. but i'd have a compression test done if you haven't done so already.

 

I was noticing alot of coolant consumption. Confirmed blown headgasket by sending oil sample to Blackstone Labs. Mine blew at ~80K mi. on '02 2.5S.

$900?!! Holy crap. My dealer quoted $1900. Called around and found a shop that did it for $1500. Would have been cheaper for me to drive the car to KY to get it fixed!

 

I had the same problem with my 02 2.5. However it was caused by the precat getting sucked into the engine. It scored the cylinders and blew the head gasket. Got a new engine from the dealer for free.

 

900! wow. Thats a good price, excelent from dealer. I paid 1300, including the machine shop fee for resurfacing the head. It is a common problem, esp. with the Spec-V guys who drive their cars harder. Nissan has an upgraded, all-metal head gasket now on the newer engines.

 

oh man these don't hold up too good then... 80k or 114k is way too soon for the head gasket to go

 

loosing antifreeze may have been one sympton, but white smoke coming from your exhaust upon starting doesn't mean you have a blown head gasket, keep in mind your cat needs time to warm up and start working, in most cases (such as starting in the morning) it's just vapor from the moisture buildup. but if it didn't go away, then headgasket would've been my guess. but i'd have a compression test done if you haven't done so already.

The type of white smoke that I'm talking about out my exhaust is not the normal amount upon startup! I'm talking major smoke as if I've got a fire going on behind my Alty for a few seconds!

 

Major Engine Problems

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with problems. I've got a 2002 2.5s. Loosing coolant, burning oil, starts up really rough, now the radiator is leaking coolant from the top. I've only got 86k miles. I've had the CAT replaced at 73k. I've got the SES, #3 cylinder mis-fire and the plug is green from burning coolant. Any ideas?

 

Hmm. Just traded in my Subaru because I suspected head gasket issues, and now I stumble into this thread. Thanks for the confidence builder guys!

 

I have my car back now! Drives great! Total cost to fix $983.64.

 

Wow wtf kind of piece of shit cars is Nissan building these days. I've never had a problem with my 2000 altima. Other then the dashboard gauges dieing and the window switch doesn't work sometimes. LONG LIVE KA POWAH!

BTW i have about 85K Miles on my Altima and I drive it hard every day and it still runs like a champ!

If the problem was caused by a faulty cat you should have bitched out nissan corporate and told them to pay the bill. It's still not to late though.

 

Hmm. Just traded in my Subaru because I suspected head gasket issues, and now I stumble into this thread. Thanks for the confidence builder guys!

You may have been right. My coworker just had his subaru headgasket replaced. Supposedly was a known common problem, according to whoever fixed his car.

 

don't feel too bad, the head gasket went on ours at 45 thousand miles. had a mechanic friend change it out for $1010.

 

i have an 05 alty SE-R with 70,000 mi ,thats right 70 BigOnes already and i beat it senceless and no issues yet.i run 3 qts mobile1 10/30 and 1.5qts 5/30 fully syn on both..runs awsome,i beat a 06 GTO 6 spd by 2.5 cars from a roll yesterday,and i raced him 4 times.i also raced from a dig and got him by only 1.5 cars..

 

i beat a 06 GTO 6 spd by 2.5 cars from a roll yesterday,and i raced him 4 times.i also raced from a dig and got him by only 1.5 cars..

All because you don't have a blown headgasket, right?

 

All because you don't have a blown headgasket, right?

he failed to say that the goat started off in 2nd gear

 

Just noticed are all these problems with the head gasket on 2.5's or has any one had this problem on a 3.5. I have a 03 3.5 with 105,000 miles and the car still runs good. Just getting ready to change the spark plugs and other things but hopefully not the head gasket at a price of $1000

 

Head Gasket

I'm getting ready to address all the typical problems (pre-cat, intake butterfly screws) before they arise. While I'm in there, I'll change water pump, thermostat , belts hoses, ect. Now, after reading this thread, I wonder if I should replace the head gasket while I've got everything apart. I don't think it looks like that bad of a job.