Alright everybody, im not very mechanically sound when it comes to my maxima but how in depth of a job is it to repair a blown headgasket? if someone would find me a thread that explains it or that can explain it to me in layman's terms that would be great..Thanks for your help.

 

repair is very involved and generally not for the mechanically inclined.

Do you have oil in your coolant or vice versa, coolant in your oil?

 

yes and it has that sweet smell coming from the exhaust as well which is what i told is a sign of a blown headgasket..

 

You had might as well swap a used engine in. It is very involved and pretty expensive to rebuild a VQ especially if you don't do it yourself. It is most likely a warped head which means machining. Get a compression and/or leak down test done to comfirm it is the head gasket.

You should also check to find out why your head gasket is leaking. Is your car overheating? What kind of mileage? A haynes, etc. manual should be able to tell you how to do it and how involved it is.

Good luck

 

It's more difficult to replace a blown HG in these cars than to replace the entire motor. Cost is probably about the same if you have a mechanic do it and you source the engine... I got my last VQ from a junkyard with a 1 year warranty for $259

 

Yeah just get a motor. A lot of shops will want to replace both head gaskets anyways and if the car has already overheated to the point where a head gasket blew who knows what else may have gone wrong or what else has weakened

 

This happened to me in my old corolla. My dad and I swaped the engine. Its probably you're best bet. Good luck!