# 2000 GXE Head Gasket Failure



## dmbroxhard (Jan 31, 2007)

First, my thanks to everyone that takes the time to look at this post. I have a severe head gasket leak. It is an external leak of coolant, developed a few weeks ago. Car has never overheated, yet a large chunk of the gasket has failed. Car has 102,000 miles on it.....My concern is that something must have caused the gasket to fail, but my dealer is telling me that it simply fails on its own. 

My question, what are the chances this could have just failed on its own?


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## Brianz01Altima (Jan 17, 2007)

Sounds like a freak thing to me, sometimes wierd things like that happen. The head may not have been torqued down right at the factory.

If your going to keep the car and have the head gasket replaced I would recommend you also get the timing chain tensioners and the intake manifold gasket replaced.. The cost would not be much more since both require the head to be off......... 

The lower timing chain tensioner can fail around 200k and some 2000 to 2001s have had intake manifold gasket leaks.


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## dmbroxhard (Jan 31, 2007)

thanks for the reply...I decided to fix the problem at a reputable local repair shop...theyre replacing all the gaskets that they possibly can, Head gaske, Intake manifold gasket, Valve Cover gasket, etc...
Maybe they havent put the head back on yet and I can ask them about the timing chain tensioners..

getting the car back tomorrow, I was told this afternoon that they just gotta put everything back together, do a coolant system flush, and fill the oil and I'll have it back. 

$1040 dollars. 12month, 12,000 mile parts and labor warranty. The mechanic that is doing the job said he does not have fun with these jobs on the altima. Apparently its quite a pain in the ass.


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