# Cracked head on GA16DE engine



## Guest (Jan 13, 2003)

My daughter has a 1991 Sentra and recently it has developed a hairline crack in the head that allows coolant to leak into a spark plug well, shorting out the plug. It leaks about 1/2 teaspoon per 50 miles.

Has anyone encountered this problem? Is there a fix other than buying a new or used head?

I did an emergency repair using JB Weld, but that lasted about 3 weeks. (Which is longer than I expected.)

As I think about it, it seems a sleeve could be fitted inside the well and sealed with silicon, but I've not heard of such a fix.

The engine has approx 175K miles on it and is in great shape otherwise.

I welcome any thoughts you may have. Thanks.


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## javierb14 (Jul 9, 2002)

hmm, i sure its possible to repair the head on the engine, but for about the same price u can buy a long block from a parts yard. last time i checked, it was about $400.00 for a low mileage GA16DE (~40-70Kmiles). just a thought


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## Sentra_Industies (Oct 31, 2002)

Aluminium head welding is pricey. Just goto the junk yark and you should be able to grab one for $150 or less. If they let you take it off yourself you can talk them down even more since u seem to be inclined.


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## Wagon Wagon (Sep 20, 2002)

There's a place up by me that will sell you a GA16DE head for $25 if you take it off yourself. If you can find a deal like that just get a used one.


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## Guest (Jan 15, 2003)

It seems no one has encountered this same problem. The cylinder head repair shops I called have never heard of it either. So, I guess when the weather warms up I will replace the head with a used one from a salvage yard, although I may machine a sleeve to fit inside the spark plug well and seal it with silicon. Might be worth a try.

Thanks.


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## Sentra_Industies (Oct 31, 2002)

TravelingPilgrim said:


> *It seems no one has encountered this same problem. The cylinder head repair shops I called have never heard of it either. So, I guess when the weather warms up I will replace the head with a used one from a salvage yard, although I may machine a sleeve to fit inside the spark plug well and seal it with silicon. Might be worth a try.
> 
> Thanks. *


And if that dont work, theres always duct tape.


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## UpChuck (Jul 20, 2002)

Sentra_Industies said:


> *And if that dont work, theres always duct tape. *


If you cant duck it, F*ck it.


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## Blitztech (Jul 4, 2002)

why don't you just replace the head? there's a writeup on sentra.net in one of the online magazine articles where i swapped the head on my engine with a p/p milled one. It'll show you just about anything you'll need and if you have any other questions you can email me or call and i'll answer them pretty quickly for ya. Also if you want another head i have three of them for sale. one is the p/p milled head and i dont think your daughter really needs the power so you might not want that one (expensive) but the other two i'll let go of cheap, one has 80k miles from a 93 sentra ga16de and the other has 140k miles from a 92 sentra ga16de, both heads are in good condition. the 93 one had quaker state oil used in it and has that yellowish look to it because of that. 
private message me or email [email protected] if you have any questions. i'm selling everything off my sentra because i'm swapping a third engine into it in the next year and building it up slowly right now. let me know. also i have two blocks available if you want one of those. hell i could send you an entire engine if you wanted it with 80k miles


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## myoung (Apr 15, 2002)

TravelingPilgrim said:


> *It seems no one has encountered this same problem. The cylinder head repair shops I called have never heard of it either. So, I guess when the weather warms up I will replace the head with a used one from a salvage yard, although I may machine a sleeve to fit inside the spark plug well and seal it with silicon. Might be worth a try.
> 
> Thanks. *


yeah pretty rare on a Ga16de.... must have not been treated very well....


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## Guest (Jan 15, 2003)

myoung said:


> *yeah pretty rare on a Ga16de.... must have not been treated very well.... *


It MAY have overheated about 3 years ago when she hit something that punctured her radiator, but I think she caught it in time to prevent serious damage. It was running fine but she shut it down when she saw the temp gauge register hot. Other than that she has taken good care of it.

I used to work as a mechanic, and I've seen much worse cases of overheating that did not lead to a cracked head.

So, it's puzzling.


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