Fragile head gaskets?
01-24-2012, 01:08 PM
#1
Fragile head gaskets?
Picked up a 97 Maxima parts car yesterday and on the way home after stopping a few times to get the hood well tied down I felt comfortable enough to get after it a little.
Nothing crazy mind you but I wanted to see how the clutch felt and how the transmission shifted. It was great aside from about two min after this the temp gauge goes nuts.
It did not peg and the car showed no signs of being in any other way unhappy but it did raise to the upper end of what the gauge seems to indicate is an acceptable range.
The radiator was flowing. The coolant was full. The heat was working well inside the car.
As such I wonder if exhaust gasses were pushing out of the chambers under hard acceleration and into the cooling system. Has anyone else had this issue? There was some evidence that the car had been hot before as there was a nice green patina sprayed all over the grill next to the rad cap.
If folks have done head gaskets how likely are the heads to be ok?
I have 3, VQ30s at this point so I am not too worried about having the parts I need for our project but I will be pi$$ed if I got sold a car with bad heads.
Nothing crazy mind you but I wanted to see how the clutch felt and how the transmission shifted. It was great aside from about two min after this the temp gauge goes nuts.
It did not peg and the car showed no signs of being in any other way unhappy but it did raise to the upper end of what the gauge seems to indicate is an acceptable range.
The radiator was flowing. The coolant was full. The heat was working well inside the car.
As such I wonder if exhaust gasses were pushing out of the chambers under hard acceleration and into the cooling system. Has anyone else had this issue? There was some evidence that the car had been hot before as there was a nice green patina sprayed all over the grill next to the rad cap.
If folks have done head gaskets how likely are the heads to be ok?
I have 3, VQ30s at this point so I am not too worried about having the parts I need for our project but I will be pi$$ed if I got sold a car with bad heads.
01-24-2012, 01:48 PM
#2
Picked up a 97 Maxima parts car yesterday and on the way home after stopping a few times to get the hood well tied down I felt comfortable enough to get after it a little.
Nothing crazy mind you but I wanted to see how the clutch felt and how the transmission shifted. It was great aside from about two min after this the temp gauge goes nuts.
It did not peg and the car showed no signs of being in any other way unhappy but it did raise to the upper end of what the gauge seems to indicate is an acceptable range.
The radiator was flowing. The coolant was full. The heat was working well inside the car.
As such I wonder if exhaust gasses were pushing out of the chambers under hard acceleration and into the cooling system. Has anyone else had this issue? There was some evidence that the car had been hot before as there was a nice green patina sprayed all over the grill next to the rad cap.
If folks have done head gaskets how likely are the heads to be ok?
I have 3, VQ30s at this point so I am not too worried about having the parts I need for our project but I will be pi$$ed if I got sold a car with bad heads.
Nothing crazy mind you but I wanted to see how the clutch felt and how the transmission shifted. It was great aside from about two min after this the temp gauge goes nuts.
It did not peg and the car showed no signs of being in any other way unhappy but it did raise to the upper end of what the gauge seems to indicate is an acceptable range.
The radiator was flowing. The coolant was full. The heat was working well inside the car.
As such I wonder if exhaust gasses were pushing out of the chambers under hard acceleration and into the cooling system. Has anyone else had this issue? There was some evidence that the car had been hot before as there was a nice green patina sprayed all over the grill next to the rad cap.
If folks have done head gaskets how likely are the heads to be ok?
I have 3, VQ30s at this point so I am not too worried about having the parts I need for our project but I will be pi$$ed if I got sold a car with bad heads.
After I overheated teh crap out of my first VQ30 it was never the same, it would over heat easily on track days and I had to maintain the heat via throttle and coasting, but never during regular driving.
I have yet to figure out what caused the demise of my first block, but it wasn't due to.... Radiator, Thermostat, Water Pump or Clogged lines.
01-25-2012, 06:32 AM
#3
In digging I read that VQ30DE-Ks had different heads with revised coolant routing?
Can anyone confirm this? If so this is a blessing as I may actually have one sort of sitting around and stuff.
As for the motor in question, we will pull the heads and do a post mortem on it and see if thats the deal. As of now I am guessing this is what has come to pass.
Can anyone confirm this? If so this is a blessing as I may actually have one sort of sitting around and stuff.
As for the motor in question, we will pull the heads and do a post mortem on it and see if thats the deal. As of now I am guessing this is what has come to pass.
01-25-2012, 06:48 AM
#4
^ That is correct!! But a functioning DE though is sufficient enough, one time I dug up some ooollld post on boosted guys who tracked their car in southern summers w/ no problems.
My problems arose well.... I have no idea, a full tear down is in order to find out what caused the death of my 30DE
My problems arose well.... I have no idea, a full tear down is in order to find out what caused the death of my 30DE
01-25-2012, 09:26 AM
#5
Just because there's coolant flowing through the radiator doesn't mean it's doing a good job.
Take a look at the tubes in the radiator and see if they're clogged at all. I've worked on several cars over the years that have had clogged radiator tubes, and the car would overheat on warm days just cruising down the highway. a new radiator solved the problem.
Take a look at the tubes in the radiator and see if they're clogged at all. I've worked on several cars over the years that have had clogged radiator tubes, and the car would overheat on warm days just cruising down the highway. a new radiator solved the problem.
01-25-2012, 09:53 AM
#6
Car was dead solid steady prior to flogging it a bit.
After that, the temp would not fall below a level that I would find to be acceptable.
There is something more sinister afoot that a simple radiator. Has to be...
With that said I would be be happy to beat the end cap on the radiator first as its easier and takes a few seconds.
In short I will try and go about tear down with some scientific vigor.
After that, the temp would not fall below a level that I would find to be acceptable.
There is something more sinister afoot that a simple radiator. Has to be...
With that said I would be be happy to beat the end cap on the radiator first as its easier and takes a few seconds.
In short I will try and go about tear down with some scientific vigor.
01-25-2012, 02:55 PM
#7
Just because there's coolant flowing through the radiator doesn't mean it's doing a good job.
Take a look at the tubes in the radiator and see if they're clogged at all. I've worked on several cars over the years that have had clogged radiator tubes, and the car would overheat on warm days just cruising down the highway. a new radiator solved the problem.
Take a look at the tubes in the radiator and see if they're clogged at all. I've worked on several cars over the years that have had clogged radiator tubes, and the car would overheat on warm days just cruising down the highway. a new radiator solved the problem.
01-27-2012, 08:17 AM
#8
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Picked up a 97 Maxima parts car yesterday and on the way home after stopping a few times to get the hood well tied down I felt comfortable enough to get after it a little.
Nothing crazy mind you but I wanted to see how the clutch felt and how the transmission shifted. It was great aside from about two min after this the temp gauge goes nuts.
It did not peg and the car showed no signs of being in any other way unhappy but it did raise to the upper end of what the gauge seems to indicate is an acceptable range.
The radiator was flowing. The coolant was full. The heat was working well inside the car.
As such I wonder if exhaust gasses were pushing out of the chambers under hard acceleration and into the cooling system. Has anyone else had this issue? There was some evidence that the car had been hot before as there was a nice green patina sprayed all over the grill next to the rad cap.
If folks have done head gaskets how likely are the heads to be ok?
I have 3, VQ30s at this point so I am not too worried about having the parts I need for our project but I will be pi$$ed if I got sold a car with bad heads.
Nothing crazy mind you but I wanted to see how the clutch felt and how the transmission shifted. It was great aside from about two min after this the temp gauge goes nuts.
It did not peg and the car showed no signs of being in any other way unhappy but it did raise to the upper end of what the gauge seems to indicate is an acceptable range.
The radiator was flowing. The coolant was full. The heat was working well inside the car.
As such I wonder if exhaust gasses were pushing out of the chambers under hard acceleration and into the cooling system. Has anyone else had this issue? There was some evidence that the car had been hot before as there was a nice green patina sprayed all over the grill next to the rad cap.
If folks have done head gaskets how likely are the heads to be ok?
I have 3, VQ30s at this point so I am not too worried about having the parts I need for our project but I will be pi$$ed if I got sold a car with bad heads.
With that said..... I had a similiar problem on a customers car a few weeks back, around town it was fine- hop on the highway and ten minutes in the gauge would start creeping. I noticed a brand new aftermarket thermostat on it, swapped it with one off a motor that had just been pulled for bad rings so I knew the t-stat was good, bam problem solved.
As matt said could still be radiator etc, but could be headgasket as well, I would swap the t-stat first though.
02-01-2012, 09:44 AM
#9
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