Am I at risk for having a blown head gasket?

MARIAHDUCKETT

MEMBER
2000 NISSAN MAXIMA
149,000 MILES

2000 Nissan Maxima with 149xxx miles.

Extremely overheating even after replacing the thermostat. Car has cut off on me twice, but has restarted after sitting for a while. Possible head gasket issues?

Tuesday, August 28th, 2012 AT 4:49 PM

5 Replies

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,869 POSTS

The overheating could of caused a bad head gasket. Is the radiator cooling fan working like it should?

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Tuesday, August 28th, 2012 AT 4:54 PM

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
41,814 POSTS

If you have not already damaged the head gasket, it won't be long before it does. Though Nissan has a feature to cut off the engine when it overheats, it is no guarantee that it works efficiently.

Seems the thermostat is not the issue. As saturntech9 mentioned are the fans working?
Was the system bled of air after repair work?
Are you haveing coolant losses issues?
When does the overheating starts?

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Tuesday, August 28th, 2012 AT 5:42 PM

MARIAHDUCKETT

MEMBER
2 POSTS

@saturntech9.I'm the furthest thing from car savvy, so I'm having trouble understanding your question. How do I know if the radiator cooling fan is working properly?

@KHLow2008. As for your first two questions, I have no idea what you're talking about, so I'm not quite sure how to answer. You're third question, however, I can answer. The overheating starts very soon after I begin driving. Quite possibly no less then 5 mins

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Wednesday, August 29th, 2012 AT 1:05 AM

SATURNTECH9

MECHANIC
30,869 POSTS

Its starts overheating when cold within 5 mins of driving?If so rent a chemical block tester from. Auto zone and buy the fluid for it also. The instructions should be with the tester. Sounds like you did some. Damage from over heating it.

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Wednesday, August 29th, 2012 AT 4:05 AM

KHLOW2008

MECHANIC
41,814 POSTS

When any repair work are done on the cooling syste, you need to bleed the air out of the system.

Remove radiator cap and check coolant level. Top up if necessary. Start engine and run with heater on and radiator cap off for 5 minutes. When engine is running, monitor radiator coolant level. Top up if it drops. After 5 minutes, stop engine. Wait 1 minute. Top up coolant uif necessary and start engine. Once radiator coolant level stabilises, close radiator cap and run engine till operatng temperature and stop engine.

Allow engine to cool down and remove radiator cap to check coolant levelReplenish if necessary and repeat bleeding process. You might need to bleed the system a few times to get the air out of system.

As to #2, when engine is cold and radiator is opened, is the coolant level full? Is the recovery tank full or empty?