MrWilson44

So I drove my car hard one day, WOT , quick lane changes, the whole nine yards. It began to overheat and my coolant was all in my reservoir and it was bubbling (searched and found out that is a possible for a BHG) Coolant is still green though, and my oil is not milky. I waited, then drove with my A/C on to keep my fans running. I tried to WOT my car a few days later, same thing happened. Since then I have been cautious and not Overdoing it. I recently put in some Bar's Leak HeadGasket/Radiator Sealent. I can push that car again and it doesn't overheat, small bit of white smoke though and if I start the car with my rad cap off it bursts out and overflows. Im just using this until I get the funds to get this fixed, even though my car only has 104k, that seems very strange to me.

My question is, how common is a blown headgasket on a Maxima ? There as common as oil changes with Acura Legend, but how common are there here, it seems strange this happens with only 104k miles.

ShocknAwe

iTrader: (3)

Before your engine got hot enough to blow a head gasket your car would of shut off and would of gone into limp mode and not allowed you to go much over 5 or 10mph. What Im saying is, its very hard to blow a head gasket on these engines. What do you mean "coolant was in your reservoir"? Do you mean the overflow reservoir with the "min" and "max" on it? Thats where coolant goes lol was it not in there before? If you thought you blew your head gasket why would you continue to drive it? Bad idea. More than likely your thermostat just went bad and it will need to be replaced.

GGENIUS

iTrader: (1)

hes saying the coolant was spewing and overflowing into his reservoir more than normaly.

asand1

iTrader: (1)

Please reference your sources, any engine can blow a head gasket and there are no such safety precautions to my knowledge.
OP, you are overheating, but not necessarily experiencing a blown HG yet. Blown head gaskets don't generally happen until after you overheat and boil all your coolant off. I suggest back-flushing the rad, and flushing your cooling system.

ShocknAwe

iTrader: (3)

bubbling as in there is a lot of air in your system? thats no good as well. Or boiling as in you don't have enough coolant in your mixture? more info

GGENIUS

iTrader: (1)

hey shockandawe i believe you were just called out on your misinformation. care to address that or nah?

MrWilson44

I'll try flushing my coolant system then and replacing my T-Stat. Thanks.

MrWilson44

Bubbling as in theres alot of air that needs to escape !

Like in this thread
http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...reservoir.html

Stonelove670

Bubbling just mean alot air in coolant system, leave the cap off until the bubbling stop and tap the coolant up if you need too.

2brosgixxer

MrWilson...you know how to bleed the air out right? After you drain it, fill the radiator until it is about an inch from the top of the filler neck, KEEP THE CAP OFF and start the engine with the heat on high and the front of the car up off the ground (like jacked up as if you were working under it). Let it run for 30 minutes and you will see it burp to get the air out. Fill the radiator as needed while letting it run thru this bleeding process.

asand1

iTrader: (1)

MrWilson, What does your temp gauge indicate up to and during this overheating? If its not truly overheating it could be a bad rad cap not holding pressure and allowing boiling. Caps to hold up to 13-15lbs to raise boiling point.

ShocknAwe

iTrader: (3)

It is the very point of limp mode. If you drive long enough on your over-heating car it will shut off. Commonly known fact its hard to blow a HG on these engines. Obviously its possible but for the average person who knows anything it is very hard

aackshun

iTrader: (3)

Woah woah woah now.

Why are we all worshiping the all mighty water temp gauge like it's really that accurate

When I killed both of my motors the gauge was right below the median.

One flaw... It reads WATER temperature and not BLOCK temperature.

If you're low on coolant it will NOT read accurately, plain and simple.

infinimax96

+1 Stock gauges suck a$$. I don't trust em one bit.

I would flush the coolant, remove the air bubbles and check your thermostat? Maybe it's stuck or not working properly.

aackshun

iTrader: (3)

Don't even have to flush with coolant if you're tight on $$$.

Just buy 4 jugs of distilled water and flush it with that.

If you're having a hard time flushing the motor because water keeps gushing out of the radiator while it's running.... You most likely have a blown HG.

asand1

iTrader: (1)

Please show me where it is documented by Nissan that limp home mode is triggered by high temp.

aackshun

iTrader: (3)

Dont need to show you, I've done it 3x in 3x different Maximas (01, 99 and 96)

There's TWO sensors on the coolant pipe for a reason.

ShocknAwe

iTrader: (3)

Why would Nissan not include a high temp shut-off? Ive hit it in my 96 twice. It is a common trigger for limp mode to avoid blowing a head gasket. My gf's Sentra did it as well when her thermo went out and temps got to "H"

ShocknAwe

iTrader: (3)

Mishimoto sells a good in-line coolant temp sensor that is extremely accurate. I would recommend it especially if you track your car. Heres a cheap one http://www.amautosports.com/product....r-adaptor-34mm

asand1

iTrader: (1)

Fair enough, I stand corrected. Funny thing is, I had your "overheating problems on the road course" thread in mind. With all your overheating woes, you never mentioned limp home or shutdown, which lead me to believe it wasn't possible. You and ShocknAwe are the first two (or six) cases i've heard of.

aackshun

iTrader: (3)

At MSR it would hit limp mode so I learned how to cool the car down while on the track by keeping speed but using less throttle.

Using the lessons learned from MSR I applied them in Baton Rouge (where the car died) and was able to race all day w/o hitting limp mode but still the car kept running hot the whole day.

Also remember, the sensors are water temp based, so if an air pocket or low water level the sensors can read incorrectly and not send the engine into limp mode.

It's also not based on the level of the water temp gauge in your cluster.

My guess is limp mode occurs around 275-285 degrees, of course this is just a vague guess, I'm going to buy an aftermarket water temp gauge for the white car some time soon and install it, just for monitoring sake to see if things make a diff with my pran of attack for keeping the red car cool on the road course.

iflexsteel

Check the coolant system. My car did the same thing and I replaced the thermostat and the radiator just because it was time. Never had the problem again. Oh and I got a radiator for a auto just because i didn't feel like waiting for the manny to come in...just ran a hose from one port to the other for the tranny coolant.

MrWilson44

Okay, alot of information lol. So basically I flush my rad using water, when or if the air stops pushing the water out, and it is bled properly, I replace T-Stat, and fill rad and should be fine. If air continuously pushes my water out in a never ending cycle, then it is a BHG. Thanks, will try tomorrow or atleast by this weekend.

MrWilson44

As soon as temp gauge starts rising above half, I would let off throttle and turn on A/C to turn on fans. The second time though I did have the heat on and it raised all the way to the second (H) line but only for a second because I turned on A/C then eventually cut the car off. The car drives the same though besides being hesitant because I have the p1320,p0325,p0306 codes (Knock Sensor,Coils). When I first bought the car the PO did tell me I needed to add coolant which I did.

asand1

iTrader: (1)

This would indicate that you are currently overheating, and not solely passing cylinder pressure into the cooling system. What is the approximate mix of coolant/water? If you start the car cold and rev it right away, does it blow out coolant? You can take it to a shop and ask them to test the cooling system with the carbon monoxide reactive dye. We used to call it a block tester.
Replace the T-stat, rad cap, and flush with distilled water and use good silicate free extended life anti freeze. Keep your fingers crossed and hope there is no damage done yet.

Nealoc187

iTrader: (23)

What? You don't turn the AC on when you start overheating, that will just make you overheat MORE. You turn the heat on, and turn AC off (if you already happen to have it on). AC on puts more load on the engine and thus more heat into the coolant. If the car is overtemp the radiator fans will come on, you don't need to turn on AC to trigger radiator fans on.

Try bleeding the coolant as 2brosgixxer described, that is the proper procedure.

MrWilson44

Im gonna try that, but the only reason I did turn on my AC was because it always lowered my gauge. The second time it happened when the needle climbed high my heat was already on, but went down when I turned on my AC.

MrWilson44

After I used the Bar's Leak stuff the white smoke stopped significantly, but beofre that it was a massive cloud everytime I started the car. I run a 50/50 coolant mix, generic brand so after the flush and bleed im gonna switch to a premium product.

ShocknAwe

iTrader: (3)

exhaust smell like coolant? Starting to think blown head gasket now that you say that....

asand1

iTrader: (1)

Same here, didn't realize you had clouds of steam. Worse case scenario, you get to put the new t-stat into a replacement motor. Sounds like PO knew it had a leak, and between the two of you ran it too low and blew a gasket. Have it tested before you spend too much dough.

MrWilson44

I will get it tested this week. do you think it would be better to just get a new head gasket replaced ? My car only has 104k and I know that any other motor with low miles will probably run at least $600 then I have to get it installed. I have a mechanic that said he can fix head gaskets though and he's pretty cheap. He's actually the same person who checked out my car when I bought it and said my head gasket looked a bit loose, like it wasn't snug enough. IDK what that means. I'm dreading having to go through the trouble of getting this fixed, but while the engine is apart at least I can clean my MAF,Throttle Body thoroughly etc and probably get coils and my KS replaced. Have it feeling like a whole new car again.

asand1

iTrader: (1)

You'd save money just swapping motors.

Nealoc187

iTrader: (23)

and time, and reduce the likelihood of the mechanic screwing something up.

aackshun

iTrader: (3)

Oh hell yes.

These motors are so cheap common, and well built that it's pointless to go out of your way to rebuild it.

Find you a 98-99 motor and swap it in.

Head gasket looking a little loose??

Is that a red flag to anyone else?

asand1

iTrader: (1)

+1
Why repair an abused neglected motor, when you can spend less swapping in a better one?

MrWilson44

Yea, you guys are right, but NOBODY is on the side of getting a rebuild smh I thought someone would agree with that its only gonna be about $500. The thing is though, if im gonna do an engine swap, I wanna go bigger than just the same engine. Im either putting in a DE-K or a 3.5. Like the day my tranny goes, a 5spd is going in ! Is it just swap in for either engines or will it require alot of extra work ?

Blakfreestyle

iTrader: (1)

Sorry, a lot of misinformation in this thread. On many cars, including the max, turning on the a.c. can lower the engine temp. It triggers the cooling fan to operate manually via a relay. Sorry I'm a maxima nerd i guess.

Nealoc187

iTrader: (23)

Yes, I won't argue that it triggers the cooling fans, all modern cars do that. My point is that it is not the only thing that triggers the cooling fans at maximum. I have a digital coolant and oil temp gauges unlike 99.99999% of maxima owners and i track the car often (the point being that i monitor coolant and oil temps very closely), turning on the AC is not something you want to do when you are trying to keep coolant temps down if your radiator fans are operating normally.

I suppose if you have some electrical issue with the car that is causing NOTHING else to turn on the cooling fans, turning on the AC in order to turn them on (as opposed to just having them not work entirely) it might be something to consider. Under normal cooling fan operating circumstances however, it is a bad idea and will raise the coolant temp. I can go drive the car and log the coolant temp if you don't believe me.

If the OP's situation is such that his cooling fans were NOT coming on otherwise, you would be correct. I didn't get the impression that this was the case though.

Blakfreestyle

iTrader: (1)

Exactly, there is overheat protection on the Maxima. I know because I have activated it. On a '95 max, I had a recurring overheat problem, changed radiator (it was cheap),leaking hoses, thermostat. Had a problem with an autozone replacement thermostat and broke a bolt which led to a massive leak.

So... since I just didn't give a f*** at the time. I drove the max about 7 miles home. Gauge shot up to ABOVE the H. Couple days later I decided to revive the car and went all out and did waterpump and new chain tensioner in my driveway. Everything went great, factory thermostat. All parts of mechanical cooling system new except for the heater core.

Back out of my driveway, wouldn't rev past 2500rpm. Before I cried I decided to throw my scanner on. I had a CEL (can't remember code) and I cleared it. After that the car ran like new. 2 weeks later someone ran into the max while my girl was driving it. Totaled car, now I no longer own a max. Just trying to help out peeps on here.

To stay on topic, the temp gauge is not a gauge at all. It reads Cold and then operating temp. Once the car reaches the middle, its operating temp. Any point above that and your car is basically overheating.

The op should start his car. Let it idle for about 10 min and verify that gauge goes to the middle, then verify that the cooling fans turn on to cool the engine. Also, Check the lower radiator hose and they should be warm or hot to prove that the thermostat opens and isn't stuck closed.

Blakfreestyle

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, I agree with everything you said. If his fans are operating normally then the a.c. shouldn't help. I just want to hear if he has a bad headgasket or not. I think a max would have to be severely neglected to get the headgasket problem.