Hi guys, haven't been in the 4th Gen Forum much since I got my 5.5 Gen, but both my boys still have their 4th Gen Maximas.

I changed the oil today in my son's 1996 Max, and it came out looking like chocolate milk with a lot of froth in it, even though it had not been driven since yesterday. I'm guessing I've got a blown head gasket.

The car has been running normally. It has always had some oil leaks, and is losing a bit of coolant, maybe 1/2 qt, between oil changes. Now I know why.

Anyway, I'm not sure what I want to do about this. I only paid $900 for the car when I bought it more than 2 years ago, and aside from oil changes (4) a coolant change, and a couple transmission drain and fills (oh yeah, and one radiator) I have done nothing to the car.

Now, 25,000 miles later, I'm not sure I want to spend money to repair it.

Driven conservatively, and changing the oil every 2000 miles, anyone want to guess how many miles it can be driven in this condition? Will it die a slow death, or dramatically blow at some point?

BTW, it just passed a Calif smog check 2 weeks ago with flying colors. Appears to drive normally, trans shifts nice, all the stuff in the car works.


But to make it a "good" car would take a lot of money that I don't have right now, so I will probably keep my AAA Club membership up to date, and continue to top off fluids as necessary.


Interestingly enough, the dipstick has always looked normal, and there is no "milky" residue under the oil cap. I wouldn't have know about this condition except for the appearance of the old oil when I changed it today.

I'm wondering if there is a chance this stuff (or similar products) might work;



All comments and advice welcome, thanks.


Bill

 

A waste of money there - it will slowly die, but depending on how fast the water gets in the oil system. That will assist in seizing up the engine. Either that or the heat will go unnoticed and will overheat and blow the engine.

If you don't want to pay the money to get it fixed or swap in a new engine, then I suggest part it out and use that money for a new car.

 

Could a leaking water pump be the cause of water in the oil if I am not seeing issues with moisture in the exhaust?

 

I would put another engine in there. It would cost less than buying another car. Vq30's can be found for realy cheap.

Edit:
Yes, it can.

 

Negative. Water would pour out the weep hole before leaking past the second seal. Have you been seeing any leaks?

I'm guessing you have a head gasket leaking coolant into the crank case.

 

I'd just swap in another motor, you can probably get it done for about $800-$900 with the motor included.

 

Wow a motor swap 4 less then a grand, motor included? Maybe in NY, but not were this guy lives. Everything costs double in cali.

 

O BTW Chris ur car is SICK bro.

 

Sorry back to the thread at hand. Water in the oil OUCH. Probly wont blow up so-to-speak, one day soon it will start to over-heat and we all know the rest,but dont junk it you must love ur 4gen or else!!! JKJKJKJK O and that fix in a can will not work dont waste ur money IMO.

 

Yeah motors are cheap as hell, under $1K isn't surprising to me.

Thanks so much for the compliment, I really appreciate it.

 

It actually could be the water pump. It sits entirely inside the crankcase and has an o-ring to separate the coolant from the oil. It has a second o-ring in the front that, I believe, keeps the weep hole sealed to the port for leaking outside the block. If the o-ring were to fail, or if it were never put on when the water pump was replaced, it could leak coolant into the crankcase. Also if the weephole in the bloc was leaking and someone sealed the hole thinking it was a defect, maybe that would cause the problem?? Or it could be a blown head gasket.

 

I'm not going to spend $1000 to fix it (putting in a new engine) as the car has too much other stuff that will need to be fixed at some point. Both CV boots have been torn for the last 20,000 miles, the steering rack boots are both torn off, lot of scratches in the paint.

I'd probably do more upkeep on it, but my son is a slob and does zero maintenance (including washing) to the vehicle. So I'm not about to spend any more on it other that to keep it running as long as possible.

He gets to buy and worry about upkeep on the next one. For now he would rather play video games than wash his car, I guess to each his own...

A related question: has anyone ever seen a headgasket leak that put lot of water into the crankcase?
I'm not seeing anything wrong with the coolant, and I'm wondering if it could be the waterpump instead of the head gasket.