2000 Nissan Altima: Blown Head Gasket -- Update

[Phishin]

So, my mechanic finally looked at the car this weekend.

Symptoms were: missing/hesitation/bucking on a short trip home (few miles). Car stalled near home. Restarted. Drove 1/8 mile, and shut it off. White smoke came billowing out between engine and firewall. Reservoir coolant tank is almost empty. Car won't start.

The car has a new radiator and water pump less than 500 miles ago.

Mechanic said: No compression. Cylinder number 1 and 4 are dead. Cylinder 2 has 150 psi, as it should. Cylinder number 3 has 90 psi.

I never saw the engine temp sensor say it was over heating. Spark plugs are black and sooty. What do you think happened? Is the car junk? I mean, in good running condition the car is only worth $3000. Head gasket replacement is fairly expensive, let alone if the head is warped, it needing a valve job, etc.

 

[Trav]

Get a rebuilt head, its a quick and easy job on the a banger, nothing that cant be done under the shade tree in a couple of afternoons taking your time.
Cost about $560 for the parts at AA before a coupon code.

 

[bourne]

You have the KA24DE Engine. Pretty common engine to find. If you head over to www.car-part.com or LKQCorp.com and search their inventory in Indiana, there are a few of those engines available for sub $1000 price.

I have dealt with LKQCorp at work before and cannot say enough good things about them. Great quality, good svc and excellent prices. They have an engine listed with 127k miles on it for $860. If your mechanic has the skills/tools to replace the engine, that would probably be the easiest/cheapest way to go.

Here is some info on their engine re manufacture process :
http://www.lkqcorp.com/auto-light-truck-parts/remanufactured-engines.aspx

Engine comes with a warranty as well.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

My question is: how much (and for how long) of the coolant got into the oil?

 

[Gabe]

I have used this place in Fort Wayne a few times: http://www.cpmachine.com/

They do an amazing job and for less than I can pick up anything rebuilt. They rebuilt my Bravada's 4.3 and it is running great 85k miles later.

 

[Phishin]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
My question is: how much (and for how long) of the coolant got into the oil?


I have no idea. The radiator and water pump was replaced a few weeks ago. The car has been driven 500 miles since the engine quit running. When the car stopped running and gave me a small cloud of white smoke, I noticed then that the coolant over flow tank was empty/nearly empty, but the radiator is still full of coolant. All the way full.

The oil shows no sign of coolant contamination either.

 

[mattd]

If you plan on keeping the car get a rebuilt head. Much less headache.

 

[cptbarkey]

like others have said expect $300 for a valve job and resurface the head, another $100~ for the gasket / water pump, and honestly i would replace that water pump and the radiator again. makes me wonder if that recent job you are talking about is the root cause.

 

[Phishin]

If it has no compression, will it also need new pistons and rings?

 

[yonyon]

Usually, no.

 

[Phishin]

My car over heated (white smoke billowing out from under the hood) and blew a head gasket.....OR.......my car blew a head gasket and drank some coolant

Since there is a coolant/over heating issue here, how can this be related to the new water pump and radiator my mechanic installed a few hundred miles ago????

Is it possible that he didn't purge the coolant lines and a big air pocket got stuck behind the thermostat and therefore, no hot coolant was touching the thermostat and it never opened? Any other ideas how a new water pump and radiator could lead to an over heat or blown HG?

I just don't think it's a coincidence that this happened just a few days after the radiator and water pump were replaced.

 

[KrisZ]

Originally Posted By: Phishin
My car over heated (white smoke billowing out from under the hood) and blew a head gasket.....OR.......my car blew a head gasket and drank some coolant

Since there is a coolant/over heating issue here, how can this be related to the new water pump and radiator my mechanic installed a few hundred miles ago????

Is it possible that he didn't purge the coolant lines and a big air pocket got stuck behind the thermostat and therefore, no hot coolant was touching the thermostat and it never opened? Any other ideas how a new water pump and radiator could lead to an over heat or blown HG?

I just don't think it's a coincidence that this happened just a few days after the radiator and water pump were replaced.


If you want to pin it on the mechanic, then good luck, just because he touched it last doesn't mean he broke it. If there was an air pocket, your coolant temp gauge would go into the red, at which point you should've pulled over and shut the engine down. If the head gasket simply went, then it's not related to the water pump or radiator change at all. you just had some bad luck.

 

[mattd]

A new waterpump and radiator could mean more cooling system pressure with leaking and worn components. Headgasket could have been on the way out already, and new components were frosting on the cake.

Mechanic is not responsible here.

 

[Phishin]

To the two parts above...

Mattd...I've thought about that before. Definitely a possibility.

Krisz...I agree. But the sensor for the coolant temp sensor on the dash measures the coolant temp on the upper hose, after the radiator and right before the coolant dumps back into the engine. So a air-locked t stat wouldn't cause the dash gauge to move.

 

[dishdude]

How do you know the bad WP or radiator didn't damage the head gasket?

 

[Phishin]

WP wasn't bad. Just replaced it as preventative maintenance.

Radiator had a slow leak around the top. Never had to add antifreeze. I doubt the HG was damaged...or the car was running hot due to a leaky radiator.

 

[Vikas]

Do head gasket fail that catastrophically? That is to say the car could be running great one day and the next day the gasket blew so bad as to prevent the car from ever starting?

I have seen cars running on the highway with antifreeze pouring out of muffler! The point is that even with that kind of gasket failure, that car was actually being driven.

 

[Phishin]

Well, regardless....I'm about to leave work and pick up a used engine.

9k original miles. $1000. No core charge/exchange....so I keep mine for parts.

More than I wanted to spend, but 100k+ mile KA24DE's are all going in the $600-800 range.

Engine pics to come later today.

 

[cptbarkey]

nice, are you going to do it yourself? would be a fun project.

 

[Papa Bear]

Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
nice, are you going to do it yourself? would be a fun project.


Under a tree in Indiana in December doesn't sound like a fun project to me.