well guys, i just opened toe hood of the maxima..... and in the fluid resivoir for the radiator, i saw ALOT of engine oil..........and i mean ALOT i guess when my tranny went, and i drove it home, overheating almost all the way because my radiator fans dont work, did i blow out a head gasket????? there is a **** load of oil in that resivoir....but the motor runs fine......what do you guys think?

 

yes you blew a head gasket.

 

Probably, since you said you overheated all the way home. Good thing you made it home the way the car was.

 

the funny thing is that the car runs PERFECT with no missing, and i still drove it about 1000 miles after the overheating!!!!!!.... and as of right now, i can start the car, and boom, it starts right up!!!

 

Because if the leak is inbetween the oil galley and antifreeze galley, it will run fine. If you gots the milkshake oil in the pan, take care of it.

 

it dont lok like there is water in the oil.....just in the antifreeze resivoir.....well i just tore down the blown VE the other day, so i got to take a look at what to do and stuff....ill probably fix the motor and sell it... anything else needs to be replaced while all the way down there near the bottom of the block?????? the motor has 72k on it........and i DONT want to put alot of money into this motor since i have no money....

 

if its an auto...make sure its not auto tranny fluid from the cooler in the lower tank of the radiator... Also, throughtout this did you ever loose any engine oil?

 

I was thinking the same thing

 

Of course he lost some engine oil where do you think the oil that was in the radiator came from????

YES.........

If it was me I would be changing the oil in that car every 500 miles if it still was drivable !!

 

I think they could make a TV show about you Vans.......The Fast and the Fumbulous.

 

that really sucks, dude...how hard is it to change the head gasket on our motor(s), though?

 

unless its just extremely hot out, it shouldn't be overheating due to the fans not working. there must have been something else wrong because these cars are actually pretty good at staying cool. the fans usually only turn on when sitting at idle for a while.

 

The head gasket on my parts engine is blown in the same area as yours vans...It runs fine,but will fill the cooling system with oil...probably a weak point in the factory head gasket...Or WAAAYYYY too much right pedal..


And it was a 5 speed,so the trans cooler in the radiator would not be the cause..

 

i have an auto..........




ill check it out before i tear into the motor..... i didnt even think about that.. tranny fluid.....hmm..... i looked at the dipstick and it looks like there is no water in it.... ill check sometime this week, im pretty busy

 

I know you have a auto ...Post #7 and #9 say that the oil in your radiator might be the tranny fluid cooler that runs though the bottom of the radiator...

I was just saying it may actually be a blown head gasket,because my other maxima was doing the same thing as yours is now...

 

danm you and maxima's

 

ohh ok.. i am pretty sure it is oil, i smelled it and it is not tranny fluid.....

 

ouch - that doesn't sound good at all.