# Help troubleshooting after brief overheat



## AgentGPF (Jun 15, 2014)

2002 Nissan Maxima - YouTube

Engine died on the freeway, I looked down and noticed it was just at the top of the heat mark. Occasionally I had the common "no heat from heater" issue so many of us seem to experience, it can last as long as half a minute maybe, it mostly seemed to be an issue when not moving the car (stopped). When driving the heater almost always worked, but this does imply air in the system.

Now the car turns over but won't start, fuel pump kicks in, but it also sounds awful which makes me think what happened is severe.

Anyone recognize this awful sound?


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## AgentGPF (Jun 15, 2014)

Oh yes, the oil does look clean (no chocolate milk). It may not have run long enough though to get water in it if it is the heads, I've certainly tried starting it many times.


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## Outkast (Jan 29, 2006)

sounds like the head gaskets, time to take it to a shop and confirm


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## AgentGPF (Jun 15, 2014)

I'll yank the heads and hope that is the case, maybe buy a level to check the block too. Since it won't even fire, the warpage must be really bad.

The plan is to either get heads off eBay that look decent (don't know the compatibility issues with other VQ35 series), or get these leveled if they aren't amazingly bad.

I had an old Mazda 323 once that overheated (hole in steel radiator that developed due to salt water environment), and it still ran although with a big loss of power, so I'm worried that the damage is somehow worse in this situation and heads may not be enough.

Thanks!


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