Engine Cooling problem
1995 Nissan Truck 6 cyl Two Wheel Drive Automatic 110000 miles
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Ok My father has 1995 Nissan Truck and he has a neighbor who claims to be a retired ASE certified mechanic working on it. We're not so sure if he really knows what he's doing and we wanted to double check.

Here's what happened:

He hit a raccoon and about 15 miles down the road his engine started to overheat and about 2 miles after he noticed it his truck shut down on its own.

Here's what has been done:
1. Immediately upon inspection it was obvious he tore the bottom out of the radiator so that got replaced along with new hoses.
2. The truck started but there was lots of smoke and the mechanic poured gas directly into the intake to get it going.
3. He took apart the case stating that there might be a bad head gasket. He never found anything and simply put it back together.
4. He put new oil into the engine but it still won't start.
5. Water is coming out of the tailpipe every time he gets it started and he's taken apart the engine several times and put it back together and last time he claims to have replaced the valve cover but it still looks the same to me.
6. The problem still appears the same water coming out of the tailpipe, lots of smoke and it's very hard to start.
7. He now claims that there is carbon in the radiator and he needs to fix that. My father and I have no idea what this means or what it entails.


What do we do? Do we need to take into a shop? My father gave the guy 800 bucks for the repair and the parts. Did he get taken? Please Help!

Hi andylambert80,

Seems there is something wrong with the compression and head gasket or cylinder head itself.

The overheating could have caused the head to crack, send it for a pressure test. Carbon in radiator means coombustion is leaking into the cooling system.

Head gaskets should not be reused.