2002 Nissan Sentra blown head gasket?

Tiny
JETHRO1
  • MEMBER
  • 2002 NISSAN SENTRA
Engine Cooling problem
2002 Nissan Sentra 4 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic

not sure if I have a blown head gasket or not.

130,000 miles did coolant flush because coolant looked like rusty water. After coolant flush car ran hot at times. And heater blows cold at times

took back to mechanic and he performed a vacum on system and refilled, thinking it had an air pocket in system. Vacum held at this point.

car still ran hot at times and heater still did not blow hot at times. Replaced t-stat and but still ran hot at times.

then had mechanic re run the vacum on system because I had him cracked open the vent screw before doing this to see if I had air in system still and had some air come out. Also I drove the car in from parking lot to mechanic stall not but 2 mins. Still cold and took off radiator cap and it blew off and shot water all over. So I though it was odd to have so much pressure in system. When we ran the vacum this time it did not hold steady on gauge, it dropped fairly slow but steadily.

The odd thing is the car runs great, when I shut off car after it is hot I hear gurgling in res tank and it was full.

checked oil cap for water or white mixture also pulled plugs but dry, however oil looked like chocolate milk on dipstick. So I drained oil and it looked even more like chocloate milk.

Im guessing I have a blown head gasket. The odd thing is as if I have no water circulation because with all these problems I would touch the upper hose it was hot, the lower hose cold. The left heater hose hot, the right heater hose cold? And the car runs great and I have no performance issues.I do know that when I come to a stop at times the engine would stumble a little but ran great all the rest of the time.

Let me know what you think? Im about to pay a lot of money to have a head gasket replaced and just wanted some other poeple to weight in on this. Thanks


Jeff
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 AT 6:26 PM

1 Reply

Tiny
MHPAUTOS
  • MECHANIC
  • 31,937 POSTS
HI there, you may have indeed done a head gasket, a head check of the cooling system will detect Co in the coolant a sure sign that there is a problem, I would be looking at the water pump and getting the radiator cleaned and flow check for blockage as well,

Mark (mhpautos)
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Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 AT 6:29 PM

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