what are the symptoms of a blown head gasket?
thanks

 

you might see white smoke depending on where the gasket broke. that would mean coolant is mixing with the oil and then burning up. another thing would be loss of power.

anyone else?

 

well my car does have white smoke coming out of the exhaust... but not just the muffler, near the catalytic converter it looks like, and it reaks of gasoline. i replaced my spark plugs as well.. thinking that would help, but it didnt. the old ones (bosch double platinums) were covered in blackish film and also smelled strongly of gasonline. so i put ngk spark plugs in, same problem. studdering when idling and the smell of gasoline. my starter is going as well... and i got a check engine code and it was the crankshaft position sensor, but i recet my ecu and replaced my engine coolant temperature sensor, which also had a code up... and ever since then the check engine light has been off. also... i have a greddy sp2 catback exhaust and the plug i put originally to cover the extra hole for the unnecessary o2 sensor blew out... so this isnt a good month for me... anyway, could it be a combination of a hole where the o2 sensor goes, new engine coolant temperature sensor, maybe bad crankshaft position sensor, and anything else that could be the problem? if anybody could help me out id appreciate it
thanks

 

are you losing coolant somewhere?

 

How much would it cost to get somthing like that fixed. ???

 

im no expert, but it would problaby be cheaper to buy a used VQ from a salvage yard and throw that in instead of taking the entire engine apart and replacing the gasket.

 

You will have oil in the antifreeze and check to see if your oil is kinda milky looking.

 

not that i know of

 

theres no oil in my anti-freeeze, and i have not checked my oil yet but i will

 

i think im just about ready to bring her to a shop... just out of curiosity, how much would it exactly cost to get a new head gasket and have someone replace it for me? or... would it really be worth doing myself? me and my dad rebuilt the engine in his mitsubishi galant because the timing belt snapped and it screwed up the pistons... so we have some experience i guess u could say
thanks guys

 

it would be cheaper to just swap out the entire motor. But the spark plugs you described symptons of a gasket blown would be oil on your sparks, O one word of advise Japanese cars dont like German SparkPlugs, Get NGK next time

 

but my engine doesnt even have 80k miles on it... so to me it would not be worth it

 

$400 for a used 30-50K mile VQ is far cheaper than the $1200+ you'll pay to replace the head gasket. To replace the headgasket you'll need to yank the timing chain cover (a huge pain), remove the timing and cam chain, remove the intake manifold and move the engine forward if it's the rear bank. The job would be very labor intensive and you'd have to keep your fingers crossed that you got everything right when putting it back together. A real Nissan service manual is must.

BUT, before you go and do all this, make damn sure you really did blow the headgasket. Raw fuel smells, white smoke, and poor driveability are also symtoms of a fuel/emissions related problem. It's very rare to blow a VQ headgasket.

Also, only use NGK plugs. This is one of the few engines I've worked on that only runs good on NGK copper or platnium plugs.

 

thanks man, my instincts tell me it is a emissions/fuel i hope they are right. im going to tow my maxima to a garage tomorrow morning because my starter is going as well. with combination of that, it would not be a good idea to start the car. especially if there is coolant mixed with the fuel. but i will find out for sure what is up with the car. ill keep u guys updated if any of u guys are interested.

 

dude take out ur dipstick and look at it if it has coolant running off of it and is all foamy u blew the gasket

 

Are you mechanically inclined? I spent $200 for a head gasket kit and did the install myself. It was about a 20 hour job from start to finish. Needless to say, it was a very involved task. As an added advantage, you can install some cams since they must be come out to allow access to the head bolts.

If you are not mechanically involved, just spend the $400-$500 on a used engine.

 

WOW 200$? i payed 100 for the entire gasket set and some tools when i rebuilt my old t-bird.

 

i looked at it... it looked normal to me

 

if it is emission related would a new cat. help out ??

 

well... the cat is part of the emissions is it not

 

You've pretty much confused me.

Never seen a blown head gasket on a maxima, which have the following symptoms:

1) Overheating
2) Hear bubbling in the radiator
3) Overfilling of the reservoir on it's own.
4) Milky Oil
5) White smoke, which will smell sweet.

Sounds more like ur car is running rich. White smoke = running rich. Exhaust will smell like gas too. I wouldn't replace the cat yet (sounds like u have a hole in it). Fix the problem of running rich first if it's an easy fix.

Maybe ur timing chain skipped a tooth. Or one of your 02 sensors has gone. Or like u said, ur crankshaft position sensor (CPS) is wacky. It triggered a code once...and that isn't normal...unless it's dead, or ur timing chain skipped a tooth.

Confusing...

Get an FSM and check ur CPS. I'd start there, since it "failed" once.

 

well out of all these problems... i hope its the cat, that will just give me an excuse to get a y-pipe and a high flow cat for christmas from my parents

 

update: my baby was towed this morning at 7... i guess ill find out later today whats wrong with her

 

tell us what the mechanic says

 

update #2: i guess the mechanic was really busy for these two days. but he briefly looked at my maxima today and assured me that it was not the head gasket :hew:: im glad thats not the case. i will know for sure tomorrow what the problem is

 

final update: it was the fuel injectors... but there may be fuel inside the motor... which would be horrible, i hope thats not the case. everything else is fine. im going to go up to the place in a little bit to look at my baby. does anybody have any reccomendations for fuel injectors? or should i just go to the dealer and buy them from there?
thanks for all your suggestions

 

how could there be fuel inside the engine?? and why is that bad if so ??

 

Based on all the info I've ever read, I've never heard of fuel injectors causing the car to run rich.

Please someone recognize this guy's problem. This doesn't seem right (to start replacing fuel injectors).

 

because, if there if fuel inside the cylinders, that means there could be bent cylinder rods, or warped cylinders. also, it means it could possibly ignite, causing me a nice little fire.

 

also, my crankshaft position sensor was replace, my brand new ngk spark plugs were covered in a thin layer of fuel, so they replaced those with new ngk's... they put a new plug in my extra oxygen sensor hole in the exhaust... and they are replacing the tubes around the cylinders just to be sure