# Repeated Head Gasket Issues



## wunaladreamin (Dec 20, 2012)

Hi all, I have an '06 Altima 2.5 with just over 93k on the clock. Oil has been changed religiously, and I've had the proper maintenance when scheduled. The car suddenly started running very rough. I had an initial P0303 code which after narrowing things down, and a leak down test, showed a blown head gasket. The car never overheated, nor did the temperature gauge even hint at an abnormality. Subsequent compression testing showed no loss of compression. So I have the head gasket replaced, head milled, and such at my mechanic's and 16 days later the new gasket lets go. Now my mechanic is telling me that there is something with the 3rd gen Altima engines that once the engine gets in the neighborhood of 100k, the car will be likely to just kill head gaskets left and right. Now he wants to seal up one of the thermostats and replace the gasket so it will hold on long enough to either trade it in or sell it. I know I've never heard of such a thing, and google hasn't produced any similar instances either. Does any of this sound right to any of you?

Another thought, could this have been a thermostat related issue to begin with? Before the head gasket blew the first time, the only way heat would come out of my vents was if the car was moving and not at idle.


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

wunaladreamin said:


> The car never overheated, nor did the temperature gauge even hint at an abnormality.
> <snip>
> Before the head gasket blew the first time, the only way heat would come out of my vents was if the car was moving and not at idle.


Telling me that you were dangerously low on water. Not enough water to push hot water up to the heater core, probably not enough water to touch the water temp sender...therefore, no indication it was getting hot until it was too late.


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

I never head of the QR engines going through multiple head gaskets. Hard to say there was something wrong with the installation of the gasket or not if one's not there when it happened. The shop should warranty the replacement of the gasket, though, if they can't contribute another explanation as to why the second gasket failed. I can't see where sealing off one of the thermostats is going to help.


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## wunaladreamin (Dec 20, 2012)

True...the first time around, but still the car never overheated. When the new (16 days old) head gasket failed on Monday, I knew immediately and returned the car to the mechanic which was extremely local. My question is is this


> Now my mechanic is telling me that there is something with the 3rd gen Altima engines that once the engine gets in the neighborhood of 100k, the car will be likely to just kill head gaskets left and right. Now he wants to seal up one of the thermostats and replace the gasket so it will hold on long enough to either trade it in or sell it.


 normal?

And could a bad thermostat be the cause of both failures?


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

What I was getting at was the first time around, you (either thru lack of paying attention or inadvertently) let the water get too low, overheated the engine, whether you knew it or not, and may or may not be supported by the rough running engine.

The second time around, the mechanics possibly failed to bleed the air from the cooling system, causing the same issue, overheat, blew another one, done. Or possibly the block itself is warped (unlikely, but, meh, never know 'till you check it). The new head gasket can survive an initial compression check as well as a couple weeks of operation, but not much more than that.


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## wunaladreamin (Dec 20, 2012)

The engine could have overheated even though the temp gauge never reflected anything out of the ordinary?


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## smj999smj (Jan 1, 2006)

Without it overheating, it's hard to say that the thermostat was the cause of the head gasket failure. Personally, if I'm going to go through all the work of replacing a head gasket, I'm also going to replace the thermostat while I'm in there. In the case of the QR engine, there are two thermostats. I would also get those thermostats from Nissan.


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## wunaladreamin (Dec 20, 2012)

smj999smj said:


> Without it overheating, it's hard to say that the thermostat was the cause of the head gasket failure. Personally, if I'm going to go through all the work of replacing a head gasket, I'm also going to replace the thermostat while I'm in there. In the case of the QR engine, there are two thermostats. I would also get those thermostats from Nissan.


I know the thermostats were not replaced when the gasket was done, he only recommended it after the fact. I'm inclined to think the block is ok being my temp gauge never hinted at anything wrong, and I'd like to think either the replacement gasket was defective, or the head wasn't properly milled, or the head bolts weren't torqued right or in the right sequence. On my work order paperwork, I see a coolant fluid flush so I never considered air in the system, but that will be a discussion in the AM with the mechanic. This whole "let's seal a thermostat up and hope for the best" thing isn't sitting very well especially I still owe on the car.


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## FriendlyNismoTech (Oct 28, 2012)

In all honesty it sounds like an improper installation, or a cheap gasket. If you don't want to pay for a Nissan gasket set, which I understand are expensive, at least use a higher quality aftermarket. I'm guessing he probably used the factory head bolts, which stretch, along with a milled head he may have torqued them but not properly. He may not have used an angle gauge like you're supposed to for the last 2 sequences. Not replacing the Thermostat and Water valve just seems lazy to me on the technician's side. As for him saying "around 100k they just go through head gaskets" that's just plain BS.


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## Outkast (Jan 29, 2006)

Seein' that these cars are good for killing coils, did you not swap the bad cylinder with a good one and see if the misfire code went there first? Aslo if you ran the car hot enough to loose the head gasket you would definalty have had a "engine over temp" code, P1217 IIRC. Did this ever happen?


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## wunaladreamin (Dec 20, 2012)

Thanks for all the input guys. Yes I swapped the coils, changed the plugs too. The code stayed constant. I also never got an overheat code. The car is still in the shop. They want to check the block but if the car never overheated, what's the chance of something wrong with the block?


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## wunaladreamin (Dec 20, 2012)

Ok so the machine shop determined a hairline crack in the block in the head bolt hole. Mechanic is telling me to either look for a rebuilt engine or "hope for the best." The engine never overheated nor did it present with an overheat code, how can such a crack logically happen.


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## jdg (Aug 27, 2009)

Grind it out, weld it up, re-tap the hole, go with it and keep an eye on it.
I don't see something like that causing any sort of instantaneous catastrophic failure, but could start leaking water eventually, then you'll know it'll be time to look for a new block.


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## SPEEDO (Jun 9, 2003)

you keep mentioning the gauge didnt indicate the engine was hot.. if the sensor is not in the coolant, it is not going to feed your gauge with info, make sense? sounds like you had air pockets
was your head warped? or did they just assume it was, depending on how much was taken off, that has to be made up for (thicker gskt etc). did they use new head bolts? Your ruff runnin g was the coolant burning off, not a coil

oem gskt kit pt# 16799-ZB01A
head gskt pt# 11044-8J022
head bolts pt# 11056-3Z001 (10)
thermo pt# 21200-6N210
2nd water valve pt# 21230-6N20A


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