# 97 Altima overheated



## Spiers (Oct 23, 2010)

Just bought a 1997 Altima 4cyl... didn't make it home. It apparently overheated... started hearing a "ticking" sound, then followed severe loss of power. CEL came on and car died. Coolant and smoke all over the engine bay. So I paid the $154 tow bill and got it the rest of the way home. Got a chance to look at it and there is a large horizontal crack above the radiator fill cap.

What fuddles me is at no point did the temperature gauge on the instrument cluster come to or even near HOT. The needle stayed right below the "halfway" mark. Is it also possible that the coolant temperature sensor is bad? Where is it located? (for the gauge) I am hoping to just replace the radiator, refill and everything be fine... Is there anything else I should look for? I checked the oil and it looks clean, no coolant contamination. I'm somewhat mechanically inclined...thanks for any advice.


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

You heard "ticking" = bad
Loss of power = even bad-er
Got really hot, oil got hotter, oil thinned out way too much, pressure dropped way down, lifters possibly started collapsing, rods probably started knocking around a bit from the really thin oil.

Temp gauge didn't get near hot - was probably low on coolant in the first place. No coolant touching the coolant temp sender = no reading on the indicator.

If it was me, I'd refill the coolant, leave the radiator in there with the crack, put the radiator cap back on but don't tighten it (i.e. don't let it build up pressure), fire up the engine, let it get warmed up (it'll get a bit messy, coolant puking out the fill hole), see if it still knocks/rattles/whatever. If it doesn't, then replace the radiator, and see what happens. If I had to throw money down on it, I'd guess that your head gaskets are shot now, among other things.
If the knocking is still there after you put new coolant in there, I'd bet the radiator is the least of your worries and the rest of the engine is toast.
But I think the main thing is...what caused the overheat in the first place? Lack of water? Leaky water pump that caused the lack of water? Blown head gasket that caused the lack of water?


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

If it were me, I would first check for signs of coolant in the cylinders and then do a compression test and/or a cylinder leakdown test. I agree that a blown headgasket it a possibility and the increased pressure in the coolant system may have cause the radiator to crack.


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## altimanum1 (Jun 19, 2009)

Recently i notice that my 96 altima was leaking coolant/antifreeze, after checking it i noticed a little crack on the radiator.

After changing the radiator i noticed that my coolant was been sent to the reservoir bottle and was leaving the radiator with out the coolant.

At the end the whole problem was cause by a Bad radiator Cap.

Ooh by the way eventhough my car was missing alot of coolant the temperature was still marking normal temp.

I replaced the radiator and cap, Now its like new.

You might have droven the car at high speeds and with out coolant which may have damaged the motor but do wat "jdgrotte" said so you can know if its only the radiator.


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## Spiers (Oct 23, 2010)

Well I filled it up with coolant...wont start. Shoots coolant a couple feet out of the radiator fill cap, in spurts....head gasket ? Doesn't sound right when its cranking either


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

Yep, head gasket or cracked head (unlikely, but ya never know).
Pull the spark plugs and see which cylinder the coolant is firing out of. Sounds like you're in for the long haul.
Swapping out a head gasket isn't crazy difficult, just takes time, and a decent tool set, torque wrenches, a fairly clean work area, etc. And it's not silly expensive to do it yourself either, maybe a few hundred $$$ in gaskets and such.
Problem is, you overheated it and ran it until it died (likely seized up). Probably caused damage to the cylinder walls and/or piston rings. If it's that bad, now you're into a rebuild. Now it starts to get expensive...
If you just bought, I think you got ripped off BIG time.


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## Spiers (Oct 23, 2010)

Yeah I didnt even make it home from the purchase. 2 hr drive. Has 196k miles... only paid $800 for it. Then $150 to tow it the rest of the way home. Simple head gasket swap is not that big of deal... but what if it's more... I don't really want to get into a big mess. Why would a bad head gasket cause it not to start? I'm thinking of just selling it for whatever I can get out of it. I really dont want to put much money in it to the point I have more in it than it's worth. Considering I mainly bought it to turn around and make a few dollars on it.


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

Because it's more than likely sucking water into more than one cylinder. And since it got overheated it to the point of basically seizing up (i.e. massive power loss), the rings are likely shot if not gone, lack of compression in the cylinders, valves could be stuck open/bent/burnt, and so on and so on. The only way to find out for sure is to get in there and start tearing stuff apart, do a compression check, pull the heads off, feel the top of the cylinder walls for a ridge, etc.
Find another Altima online and do a motor swap. Failing that, if the body is in good shape, I'd bet you could make some $$$ back by parting it out.


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