My Little Pride & Joy

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The car I've raved and fussed about on this forum.

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Clean. (geeze, I'd love to have only 61k on my 2005 Corolla)
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Average MPG?

Any problems yet with the head gasket?

Take care, bill
 
Thanks guys and/or gals.

I get 28-30 MPG combined lately. I once got 40 MPG on the highway and I'm working on seeing if I can get that again. I took the K&N air filter off for spell to see if it helps.

No problems with head gasket. I just put new Peak AF and distilled water in it this week.
 
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
Clean.

Any problems yet with the head gasket?

Take care, bill


Why do you ask? Is the Sentra known to have head gasket issues? Mine may have been treated right before I got it so I'm hoping to avoid the typical repairs like that through preventative maintenance. :2cents:

I once had a Mazda 323 HB that had AF leaking into the intake and the exhaust smelled of burning AF.
 
Oh, a Sentra! I've had mine since new and it has been amazingly reliable. It's got 225,000 miles and is the best car I've ever owned. Never any problems and much better quality than my Frontier.
 
Originally Posted By: Nayov
Oh, a Sentra! I've had mine since new and it has been amazingly reliable. It's got 225,000 miles and is the best car I've ever owned. Never any problems and much better quality than my Frontier.


Sentra has always been a good car IMHO. I bought a new dark green Datsun 210 2 Door sedan in 1980. I put 140k on it and sold it too cheap - thought the motor was on it's way out, but it wasn't.
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I could have probably put another 100k on it without much trouble.

It was something like this :
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This is the 1979 210 :

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Originally Posted By: Lurch
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
Clean.

Any problems yet with the head gasket?

Take care, bill


Why do you ask? Is the Sentra known to have head gasket issues? Mine may have been treated right before I got it so I'm hoping to avoid the typical repairs like that through preventative maintenance. :2cents:

I once had a Mazda 323 HB that had AF leaking into the intake and the exhaust smelled of burning AF.


They are. A few members have had issues with them. Just a UOA here and there to catch early *IF* something pops up.

Take care, Bill

PS: Looking at the Datsun ad above, I HAD a 1980 2dr 210 the same color. I'll see if I can find photos of one.
 
They are. A few members have had issues with them. Just a UOA here and there to catch early *IF* something pops up.

Yeah, good idea on the UOA. I think I'm going to get one of those every year or so starting soon.

I read about used cars on craiglist and I don't know but offhand I seem to have seen cars of many makes that had head gasket issues : Honda, Toyota, and maybe Nissan. I'm just going to have to baby that thing and hope for the best.
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I HAD a 1980 2dr 210 the same color. I'll see if I can find photos of one.

Cool. I have a couple pics too I may post it soon.

The night I got that 210 was a Friday night in July about 6 PM. I had just won the pool at work, worth about $35 (lot of money back then, lol - 3+ tanks of gas), and it was the beginning of my 2 week vacation. Me and my friend picked up 2 girls and were having a few beers and listening to a new cassette tape I got that day called Masque by the band "Kansas". The 210 had a powerful little stereo in it with JBL rear speakers if I remember right and a power amp. That was a fun night about 29 years ago.
 
This is my favorite year for the Sentra. The dealership I bought from had a black SE-R Spec V which I had a hard time deciding between that and the Maxima. Just to rub it in, someone down the street owns a red SE-R Spec V. :)

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Originally Posted By: Lurch
They are. A few members have had issues with them. Just a UOA here and there to catch early *IF* something pops up.

Yeah, good idea on the UOA. I think I'm going to get one of those every year or so starting soon.

I read about used cars on craiglist and I don't know but offhand I seem to have seen cars of many makes that had head gasket issues : Honda, Toyota, and maybe Nissan. I'm just going to have to baby that thing and hope for the best.
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Hondas had problems with head gaskets?
 
Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe

Hondas had problems with head gaskets?


Oh yes, they can. I think any make can have problems with head gaskets. I don't know but I don't think it's a brand specific problem. I tend to think it's more of a problem that comes from neglect.
 
Originally Posted By: Lurch
Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe

Hondas had problems with head gaskets?


Oh yes, they can. I think any make can have problems with head gaskets. I don't know but I don't think it's a brand specific problem. I tend to think it's more of a problem that comes from neglect.


Head gaskets will blow if an engine gets overheated. So naturally all cars can get a blown head gasket, but some cars are prone to head gasket problems and iirc the 1.8 in the last gen Sentra was one of them. They have a really small oil capacity too.
 
I believe it was the early 80s that ate head gaskets. There is no excuse for that.

Overheating a car resulting in a blown head gasket is no fault of any maker.
 
I googled Sentra and head gaskets and got a few results.

http://www.google.com/search?q=sentra+head+gasket+problems&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t

They say the 1.8 and 2.5 is common to have this problem in the Sentra and Altima. I don't think I have it yet. I think they said it most often happens between 55k and 70k miles. It's supposed to be caused by a cheap thin head gasket and nothing else.

If it goes on me, I may be looking at $900 or so to have it fixed. Would it be wise for me to sell it?

Lurch
 
I was also reading about someone that used a high capacity oil filter in order to increase his oil capacity. It was a Purolator OF but when I clicked on it, it said it would not fit my car, and then I was taken to some other Purolator PureOne OF that had very high ratings at amazon.com.
 
I would NOT think of selling it if you like the car.

Remember that *IF* you have the problem you THEN can worry about it.

$900 is only a few months of "normal"
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peoples car payments.

As someone who had a car with one of the most reliable engines that Ford has EVER made need head gaskets @ 61k and 108k. I fixed it both times at around $1200 for the first time and $800 the 2nd time.

Ended up selling the car as I needed something to get better MPG but the friend who bought it from me is happy with it as it is passing 160k miles. (will not talk about the POS transmission)
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Just do the following on your car.
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1. Change the oil (ANY oil is fine as long as it meets API-SL/SM 5w-30)

2. Use the CORRECT size filter. Do not worry about oversize.

3. Get a UOA here and there to follow the engine just *IN CASE* something pops up.

Again, *IF* something comes up deal with it and get down the road.

Plain oil, no additives and enjoy the car!
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Take care, Bill
 
Hi Bill. That sounds like a plan. Is 10-30 too heavy for my car, do you think? That's what's in it now [Syntec].

There must be only a certain % of Sentras that have head gaskets fail. I don't think it's all of them.

There are some great reviews of Sentras on Epinions.com. There are also a few unhappy campers there but I tend to believe the favorable reviews more than the unfavorable.

My Sentra has been awesome since I've owned it.
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I'd be surprised if the head gasket failed on me someday.

I should change the oil this November or so, get it ready for Winter in TN. I'll only have about 2000 miles on the oil by then. I guess that's the time I'll do my first UOA on it. I plan to add 2 qts of Castrol SM rated 10-30 and one of "" Syntech 10-30. Does that sound OK to you? How about 1 qt of 10-30 and 2 qts of 5-30? I have a quart of Castrol 10-30 in the garage that I plan to use in it after I get 2 more qts to top it off, with a good OF. Then, next December '10 I might get some sale synthetic oil at Wally World or a parts store. I want to go the 1 year OCI with it, and do the OCI right before Winter.
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