Cherry35020

Car is not running help me please....
I have a 1996 nissan Maxima . I was driving to my doctors and my car made a popping noise and stopped running. I had to have it towed to my home.
When I got home I checked everything and I found water in my oil. Have not tried to crank it because my friend said it jumped time. But I have not a clue what happened could someone help me out? If you know what it is . how much would it cost to fix it or is it worth it?

JvG

Our engines are not know to jump time.

Water in the oil can be the result of a leaking water pump gasket. Our water pumps are inside the engine. It will take about 3-4 hours to replace it.

Has your car overheated recently?

You need to take a compression test to determine if the head gaskets are ok. Then perhaps also a block test to confirm that there is no exhaust gas going into the cylinders if the head gasket is blown.

I'm bething 10 to 1 that your head gasket is just fine. I'm betting that you need a water pump.

Have you been adding coolant or water to the radiator lately?

Please tell us about what condition the rest of the car is in. If it's a pos, you might want another car if you need to pay a mechanic for this.

The car is worth saving if the rest of it is in good condition.

The cost of the pump and coolant will be about 100 dollars.

glycine4

Was it multiple popping noise? Or, was it a single pop? Was it loud? Was it metallic sound or more of plastic sound? You need to give some more context. Generally, an engine needs fuel, air and spark to run if all the others are working.

A loud pop and engine stopping is usually timing belt snapping for a lot of cars with high mileage - if the owners didn't maintain it. However, your car has timing chain. So, I doubt the chain snapped. But, you won't know unless you open the front panels. The maxima's v6 has two front inspection panels by the passenger side that you can unscrew a few bolts and it looks right into the chain tensioner (left side toward firewall) and water pump (right side (toward alternator). They are about the 3/4 size of adult hand. Open the hood, stand from passenger side and look right into the engine right by the shock tower and below and it's right there (the left one). They look like a big clam shell.

It's fairly easy to access the left one. Open that one (it will have some gasket seal so might have to pry it open after unscrewing the bolts) and see if the chain and the tensioner look okay. If the chain is loose, you have a big problem. You have to take the whole front engine cover off. And to do that is a huge job. If you can't do it yourself, then it's not worth the cost (it will be over $1,000) - it will take multiple days to open that up and fix whatever is wrong. Because of due to the space, or lack there of, a lot of mechanics like to take the engine out to work on the chain issue on these V6's. If then, cost will be more. Yeah, a lot of money. The car may not be worth fixing then. The cost will be huge.

If the chain is taut and looks fine, then you have some other issue. If taut, I don't think the chain would jump a tooth. Although, I've heard some did experience the chain jumping a tooth.

If the chain is off time, the engine won't run right or not run at all. That's true.

I can't think of water pump making a popping noise. There is a remote possibility that the pump's bearing got seized and then the timing chain jumped teeth. Then, you still will have to open up the front of engine, a huge job as mentioned.

Did the engine over heat right after? Or, did you experience any overheating? You need to know this. Is there coolant in the engine? Open the radiator cap (not the reservoir) and look into it. Sometimes, you can have a pin hole leak in the small hose to the reservoir and the coolant system loses vacuum and your radiator can have low coolant even though you think you have coolant by just looking at the reservoir. If that happens, your engine will overheat. That's why you need to always look at the temperature gauge frequently on the older cars.

You said water in oil. Is there oil in Water? Is your coolant milky? They can be different things, make sure. If the water pump goes or was going, it can leak coolant into oil - the timing chain needs engine oil so that whole area behind the front cover has oil seeping around - and water can get into oil that way because water pump is behind that cover. But, if there is oil in water - that's usually head gasket.

If the engine overheated, then you may have a head gasket issue. But, that doesn't explain the popping noise. We need more info.