Nissan - Sentra :: 2004 - Rough Start - Replaced Head Gasket Now Overheat?
Mar 14, 2012
2004 Sentra, 100K, rough starting, running good. Dealer diagnosed Head Gasket leak, #3 cyl. misfire. $!300+ est. No can do.I added K&W Head Gasket&Block Sealant, per instructions. Filled radiator and reservoir with 50/50 coolant.Car start improved but CAR NOW OVERHEATS after 15 min. driving. Blasting heat brings guage to normal zone.DID SEALANT CLOG SYSTEM? How doI diagnose? What to check next?
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I have a 2003 Honda Civic with 140k miles. It has a leaking head gasket which is causing the engine to overheat when driving slower without airflow to cool the engine.
I would love to drive the car to 200k+ miles but if this is the first of many pricey fixes I want to cut my losses.
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The problem is my new-to-me 97 Ford F150 5.4L SOHC engine, auto transmission, is overheating after driving it for a short while. Seems to be fine at idle. I have read previous posts with the exact same issue, but the consistency seems to be all over the map from burping the system, head gasket, thermostat, and possibly a plugged radiator.
Backstory:200,000+ miles.
Truck sat for 6 months after previous owner broke the shift cable.
Truck was in a front end collision. Frame looks bent underneath the engine.
Previous owner had overheating problem. He said he changed the heater core. Looks like brand new coolant in the system so story probably checks out. Desperately needs an oil change. Very black oil.
Previous owner thought the system needed a burping. So I'm largely assuming the problem started after the heater core change, or he misdiagnosed an overheating problem and thought the heater core could cause it. I have found a radiator cap and thermostat in the truck which seems to indicate he tried many things to fix the overheating and was unsuccessful. Engine looks pretty clean for the miles.
Symptoms/Backyard Tests :
Blows cold air with heat on highest level and on defrost.
Blender door fuse intact.
Doesn't overheat at idle.
Ran the truck for 15 mins with the coolant bottle fill cap off on level ground to try to burp it after draining some coolant and checking the thermostat orientation. Coolant level increased in the bottle. Large air bubbles came out. (Another session before this one, I ran it for 30 minutes with no coolant cap, and eventually coolant overflowed the fill bottle. Normal or no?)
Seems to overheat after the thermostat opens. After doing the 15 minute warm up/burp, I took it for a test drive. I drove it about 20 blocks with the temperature gauge on the dash reading the same as the warmed-up idle temperature. Got to the 20th block and the gauge immediately spiked to overheat with the oil pressure dash light coming on. I could be mistaken as the oil pressure light almost looks exactly like the overheat dash light. But I'm pretty sure the temperature icon was on the right side of the oil can icon and not the left.
After the above drive: Upper rad hose too hot to touch.
After the above drive: Lower rad hose medium warm. Could hold on to it if I felt like it.
After the above drive: Upper part of rad pretty hot. Not Insta-burn but hot. Tempature decreases to warm to cool as you go lower down the rad.
After the above drive: Both heater core hoses going to the cab luke warm.
Coolant looks brand new.
Radiator looks slightly bowed. Probably from the accident? Otherwise looks clean and minimal bent fins.
Drained some coolant and pulled the upper rad hose to see if the thermostat was upside down. Looks installed correctly.
No signs of weep hole leaks from the water pump.
Fan seems solid. Has maybe 1-2mm of play in the bearings.
Something that looked like steam from the muffler at startup, that disappeared after getting closer to a normal range warm engine.
I have driven crap cars for many years and I've never seen a plugged radiator which makes me skeptical of it being that. All the radiators I have changed were because they were eventually leaking from cracks in the radiator.
I would also be interested in doing an informal poll if you have read this far and have had this era of F150 that overheated. Have you ever repaired the head gasket? And/or have you ever changed the radiator?
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OK, we have a cavalier that is slowly dying but until we find a good price on a used car we are looking at it has to keep chugging along... It started to overheat about month ago, just when you go up a hill otherwise it is fine (doesn't overheat but a few lines from the red zone!). Mechanic said it was a head gasket and we have noticed that the coolant level is down slightly... can it be a head gasket yet still drivable? Also about 2 months ago the car needed a new water pump, flushed and filled, could it just be the new water pump was bad? No other issues, heat works fine, no puddles under the car etc....
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I have a 2005 Nissan Sentra with 74,000 miles on it, and it has had trouble starting for 2 or 3 years. When it started, I would turn the key and the car would almost, but not quite, start, and simply turning it off and trying again would work immediately. I had the battery replaced and the spark plugs at ~50,000 miles to no avail. About a month ago, I started my car and it had a really rough idle for about 15 - 30 seconds and the check engine light came on (registered an emission issue), but it ran fine. I had to get a routine oil change and emissions test anyway and they checked the spark plugs as a first measure. They all had some wear, but one was almost worn down to nothing, which the mechanic said was a result of the spark plugs (autolites?) so they replaced them with the Nissan recommended NGK kind. The next day my car didn't start the first immediately, but on second try worked. A week later I noticed my car sometimes rumbling on idle right after start again, so they replaced the fuel filter and the fuel pump. Didn't work, I still have a rumble about 30% of the time when I start, and just two days ago the check engine light came back on (I haven't had time to get it diagnosed yet). Without knowing much about cars, it feels like the engine isn't getting enough fuel or something. Could it be dirty/clogged fuel injectors? Should I be worried that my spark plugs were worn down after just 25,000 miles?
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My 1987 Nissan Sentra has a transmission leak. The leak is from a bad gasket from the center part of the Trans. How to replace or fix this gasket without taking out the Trans. ( Just so we are clear-this is not the Trans pan)
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Someone told me this car does not have a filter. Is that right?
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I have a nissan altima 2001. I have 128,000 miles on it. I have fully paid for the car. While climbing a steep hill at 2nd gear, the engine overheated, and I seem to have broken the gasket. What are my prospects? Should I put a new engine, should I fix the gasket or should I abandon the car?
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I have 2006 Nissan Maxima SE with the 3.5 engine. I have used regular gas for the entire 88K miles. Lately the engine knocks (diesel like). I asked my guy what to do. He said a nitrogen fuel injector cleaning.... Did that. No change. When I use premium it stops. However, I suspect something more is wrong. In fact, I suspect a head gasket issue. How can I diagnose without going to the garage? If it is the head gasket, am I doomed (cost a fortune to fix).
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I recently picked up a 2001 Nissan sentra. This car sat since around 2010. I guess the previous owner had a lot of work done by the dealer a year or so ago and it looks it, brake pads etc. are brand new, a couple other things look new but he's not a car guy in the slightest and can't find the receipt nor will the dealer give him one due to computer system change and I actually tried with them myself, that's correct.
Anyway, the check engine light is on and bringing it home we had reports of black smoke out the exhaust. It also felt like it wanted to stall at times when stopped but it never did. Well, I ran it a while and at times it seemed like it wanted to clear up, at others it didn't but the light stayed on and what not. I scanned it and it claimed the O2 sensor 1 bank 2 was bad so I replaced it.
It didn't make any difference so I cleaned the Mass Air flow sensor. Again no good it's the same. Here's the funny thing though, it's great first thing in the morning usually. As the day goes on and as we drive it, it gets worse. What I can try/change next?
I'm almost leaning on electrical issue where it gets worse as the day goes on and dew dries off. I'm new to Nissan's, I like the car and really want to work this issue out. I did replace the fuel pump when I got the car, and have run sea foam through and actually on that tank of gas it ran pretty good but that's worked itself out now.
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Mileage 192k. Signs...stumbling/rough engine startup for first time of the day and anytime the engine sits for a few minutes before turning on again (battery charging/speed high enough for engine to start, etc).
2010 Prius engine start stumble - YouTube
Started out with no code, then check engine light started coming on. P0301, misfire cylinder #1. Sparkplugs were replaced, and coil pack for #1 switched with known good one. EGR tube also cleaned of carbon.
Stumbling/roughness has been getting worse, about an inch of coolant used per week of driving. No oil in the coolant, and no coolant in the oil (no milkshake or anything like that).
Dirty fuel injectors were suspected, but no improvement after using Techron. Finally, a boroscope was used to inspect the cylinders through the sparkplug holes, and a very slow leak was found in cylinder #1. Since liquid cannot be compressed, during the compression cycle significant misfiring occurs.
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Well I was afraid this was going to happen. About a two years ago, several months after I replaced the heads on the van that at the time was my brothers, the ignored a squeaking pulley. One day that pulley seized and broke the belt. My brother was not watching the gauges closely, and didn't realize anything was wrong other than the clunk noise that happened when the belt was thrown. That was until he went to turn, and the power steering was gone. He looked at the gauges at that point, and the heat was pegged out on the gauge. So he pulled it over and shut it down. I came and towed him to a shop where it could be fixed.
But I fully understand that when an engine gets overheated, especially if the heat build up was rapid, the heads warp. I also understand that the head gasket will usually seal anyway, so the failure does not often happen at the time of the overheat.
Well, it finally let go the other day. Started noticing a rough idle and an obvious misfire. Removed the cap and there is a steady stream of small bubbles when the engine is running. There is also more corrosion than should be in the cooling system for how recently the coolant was replaced.
It is not overheating right now, but isn't this a lovely time for a major problem to occur. Anyway, I took it in, and hopefully they will have it finished before I need it again. My van performs truck roles, including towing and all of my fathers trucks are either too small or on deaths door. I'm sure it would drive most of you nuts anyway, but do not ignore squeaking pulleys.
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To start off I have replaced the MAF sensor in this car 3 times now, and have all new oxygen sensors and a new fuel pump. The most recent MAF sensor I have put in the vehichle was 2 months ago and I did it because The car would die while idling, however the mass air flow code did not show up on the cars diagnostic trouble codes. Yet this did solve the problem. The previous MAF sensor had been installed a year ago and failed on me, it was under warrantee. Now that I have installed this newest MAF sensor the car has been running fine until last month.
Since then It runs especially rough at idle and has a tendency to die when sitting for more than a minute in idle. This problem is on and off however, it can run fine one day and as soon as i start it up the next day the problem will reoccur. Now I am getting the DTC for the throttle position sensor, evaporative emission control valve, and throttle position sensor. And more recently, today the problem occurred again, the first time in a week, and now I am getting gray smoke out of the tailpipe. I would like to know if I should again, try to replace the MAF sensor, or if there is some other problem that the Sentra is prone to that I am unaware of.
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I have a 98 Nissan Sentra every now and then when I get in it to start it I get nothing but if I hold it or turn it to the off position a few times it will start, what this could be....
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The timing chain on my 94 Nissan Sentra XE 1.6L has jumped. The car will not start and when you do try and start it just lopes and then sounds like it wants to start and goes back to loping. BTW, it has 249K on it. I have removed the front cam shaft cover. The chain is intact and looks good, but can be depressed with the finger. Upon closer inspection the chain has cut a very noticeable groove into the tensioner. There is also a noticeable groove in the upper chain guide. The question here is, can I just replace the tensioner and the guides (there are two of them), without changing out the chain. One other question I have is there a possibility that I could have damaged a valve after trying to trying to start the car with the jumped chain. Someone told my that this possible, but I have also read on the NIssan Forums that damaging/bending a valve would occur only if the chain had actually broke and I tried to start it or manually (by hand) advancing the crankshaft will attempt to get to TDC?
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I have a 99 Nissan Sentra. It does not start when parked under the sun or when the weather is hot. It starts great in the morning when it is cool. The battery is new. When the car does not start, the lights come on OK (engine check light et al.), but there is no sound, no clicking ( that I can hear), no nothing happens. I heard from a mechanic that I need to change the distributor; another said that it is the starter.
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I have Nissan Sentra 2005 1.8S. I was on the road this week and stop at the gas station to get gas and after that, the car won't just start. All the indicators at the dashboard lights up, horn is working, battery is new and alternator is working. But there was no click sound, the car just start for me so I have to get it towed.
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I have a 1987 automatic Nissan Sentra XE- two barrel carburetor, mileage 212,880. The car has one major problem that is going to get me hit driving it in rush hour. Most mechanics will not touch the car due to being carburetor.
Let me explain: the car idles real rough at times, hesitates at stop signs and red lights, about stalls out on me when I press the gas pedal to go or when I start to make a left or right turn. However, other times the car has little to no hesitation and idles perfectly. I have not been able to come up with a good a pattern with this problem.
I have replaced, fuel pump & filter, spark plug wires, coil, distributor, ecu computer, ran sea foam through the fuel system and have replaced many vacuum hoses.
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I just finished replacing the head gaskets and all gaskets above it on my Chevy Venture. When I went to start the vehicle the first time nothing happens. The dashlights come on, but when I turn the key to start nothing happens. No clicking, no nothing. I have tested the battery...OK. I have tested the starter...OK. I have traced the wiring harness to ensure all wires are plugged in. I have checked all the fuses. I thought maybe its the gear switch so I changed down to 1st and then back up to Park...Nothing. I jiggled while in park..Nothing. Could it be the actual ignition switch? It was fine before this escapade.
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My Nissan sentra will start on the coldest day, but now that it's getting warmer it sometimes won't start! Turn the key and I have power to everything, but engage the starter and nothing! Not even a click! Try and try and eventually it starts. What could cause this??
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I own a 1993 Nissan Sentra (2 Dr, SE, red:-). I've owned it for 17 years and has been a fantastic car. until March of this year when I had to replace the transmission at odometer reading of 121,xxx. Everything has been fine up until about a month ago when I returned to my car after working out at the gym...and it refused to start. No clicking, no hemming or hawwing, just nothing. The lights worked, the seat belt alarm worked, all dashboard lights worked. But absolutely no connection to anything. I tried moving the steering wheel, juggled the key, etc. but nothing.
So I called a tow truck. Thirty minutes later, he arrived, sat down in my driver's seat and magically, it started with no problems. It has happened again only once since that time, but I can never trust that she will start when I need to go to work, etc. I took it to a garage..they told me that they couldn't fix it or find anything wrong unless it was "in the throes" of not working. ...which is ridiculous because it could very possibly not start, have it towed, arrive at the garage, and she might start right up.
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