| 92_WhItE_H23 |
Got some really gay news today. Ive been losing coolant the past month and ive only seen a little underneath my truck. (1996 Nissan pathfinder). I took it in today for an oil change and just asked that they check to see if theres a small leak somewhere.. i just got a call back saying that there were no external leaks, which means i have a blown headgasket. the quote for the repair was 2300. my truck is worth about 8 grand and id hate to spend that much money. I was planning on selling it in the spring but i think that idea is shot until i get this job fixed.
does anyone know a cheaper place i can take this? i really cant afford a hit like that right now. |
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| TrevorK |
I'd be hesitate to spend $2300 on a headgasket job. I would assume you'd be able to get a low-mileage engine dropped it for less than that.
What you need to find out is what exactly is being done that is costing $$$, then figure out what you want to shave. When doing the headgasket, they might be replacing a bunch of other maintenance items at the same time. Or it could be an exhorbit labour charge.
Either way, if they gave you a quote ask for a breakdown. Then you know what you have to work with. |
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| 92_WhItE_H23 |
| they said timing belt change included because it has 170k on it. as well, they would be changing the thermostat. he said the headgasket is estimated at 10 hours so the labour alone is 900 not including parts. |
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| Alberta_Daytona |
Its funny how expensive head gaskets are. I used to change a head gasket in 3 hours flat (hand tools) with a new timing belt on my old car.
Harder to do work like that now without a garage though...
the head gasket itself is usually only like 50$, new intake and exhaust manifold gaskets...another 50$...timing belt.....150$.. |
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| jamaican |
get a friend to help you or something, and do it in a weekend
is it V6? |
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| 92_WhItE_H23 |
yes its a V6. Im not entirely convinced its the headgasket anymore. i have a feeling i was told it was simply because i told the guy at the counter ive had to put coolant in 3 times this winter.. he thought i meant ive had to fill it from empty to full, when all ive done is top it up 3 times, ive put in less then 3L in 8 months. theres no coolant in the oil either. i have a feeling they were just lazy because i asked them to check my belts too and they said they were good when i know for a fact one wasnt. i checked it myself and it needs to be replaced lol. anyways i can safely say canadian tire is not the optimal place to take your vehicle for anything.. i took it in only to get the oil changed and came out with NOTHING DONE but with an estimate for 2300 bucks lol. i noticed on the estimate they also wanted to charge me 300 to take the head off and have it sent for inspection "just in case" lol
either way im sure theres a small leak somewhere in a hose or somethign so im taking it to someone i know to look at. i dont have a garage or id be doing it myself. plus im lazy.
i also called mazda and thier quote for the headgasket was 1100 out the door...so either way its not as bad as i thought it would be.. |
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| Can't Stop Spin |
| Why wouldn't you call and ask Nissan instead of Mazda? |
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| 92_WhItE_H23 |
| ahah woops sorry thats what i meant lol... i owned a mazda3 and did alot of dealing with the dealership there lol. west end nissan for 1100. but like i said i dont think its the headgasket.. to only leak about 2 or 3L in 8 months doesnt sound right.. |
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| Fazda |
well whats your compression like? doies it over heat? anything like that? if u think it is the head gasket.. call that therma weld place. its supposed to fix a headgasket for 300$ on most cars. their ad is in the back of the sun.
http://localedmonton.com/index.asp?...p;DisplayWidth=
here is a link with a phone number. |
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| 92_WhItE_H23 |
quote:
Originally posted by Fazda
well whats your compression like? doies it over heat? anything like that? if u think it is the head gasket.. call that therma weld place. its supposed to fix a headgasket for 300$ on most cars. their ad is in the back of the sun.
http://localedmonton.com/index.asp?...p;DisplayWidth=
here is a link with a phone number.
thanks ill check that out
no the truck runs MINT. very strong even on the highway its got both nuts firmly attached under the hood. never overheats. the only thing that will lead me to believe AT ALL that the headgasket might be gone is the fact that ive had to top it up over the winter otherwise there is no signs whatso ever of any problems. the last time ive topped it up is over a month ago and its still full. i like to take care of my vehicles which is the only reason i asked them to take a look at it in the first place. they said there is NO external leak which i also find hard to believe because i do find a little coolant on the pavement when i park in my underground parking. but theres no oil or nothing there. |
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| flatboy |
| I thought my headgasket in the Taco was gone too, but did a coolant sydtem pressure test. Found one of my heater hoses was leaking. Might want to get that done first, just to be sure it aint' something like that. 0.02 |
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| jamaican |
i changed my radiator and hoses (brand new OEM) summer 2006, and the coolant is still full today
even 2L is a good amount to lose, just check you hoses for cracks etc. |
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| Thegnome |
Get somebody to pressure test your coolant system. If its low, then do a compression test or vice versa on your cylenders so you can kind of narrow it down.
But if your oil looks fine, I kind of doubt you have head gasket issues. Do you have any sludgy white shit inside your oil cap or pcv hose?
Have you over heated the engine lately? If you drive the truck for a while do you get bubbles inside the over flow container?
If not, you probably just have a pin hole leak some where you dont notice a sweat from.
I had one on a hose behind my engine that would leak water beside my tranny. I never noticed until I pulled the engine. |
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| 92_WhItE_H23 |
quote:
Originally posted by Thegnome
Get somebody to pressure test your coolant system. If its low, then do a compression test or vice versa on your cylenders so you can kind of narrow it down.
But if your oil looks fine, I kind of doubt you have head gasket issues. Do you have any sludgy white shit inside your oil cap or pcv hose?
Have you over heated the engine lately? If you drive the truck for a while do you get bubbles inside the over flow container?
If not, you probably just have a pin hole leak some where you dont notice a sweat from.
I had one on a hose behind my engine that would leak water beside my tranny. I never noticed until I pulled the engine.
no overheating, nothing that looks out of the ordinary.. the oil is a bit dirty but it smells like oil and looks like oil i dont sense any coolant at all. |
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| tokes |
| If the oil isn't a milkshake and it isn't running hot I would bet it isn't your headgasket. Pop the rad cap while the car is idling. If it's a headgasket there should be bubbles coming up in the rad. Sounds more like a small coolant leak like everyone has been saying, get it compression tested ASAP then start going over hoses. Just hope you don't have a leaking heater core, those are always a PITA. |
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| Alberta_Daytona |
+1, if the oil isnt milky, it isnt a headgasket.
You got a leaky hose/fitting somewhere. |
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| the_fornicator |
if the headgasket is shot, just be prepared. I was in this exact situation, but with a hilux. I'd suggest doing an engine swap in a big way.
apparently my head gasket was mauled so bad that where the leak was, it corroded a bit of the engine block. I couldn't get it machined down enough to a true state without having enough clearance for the pistons.
if you haven't caught this soon enough and coolant been leaking into your oil, you might get a bottom end knock from all the corrosion. another thing to keep in mind. I guess coolant is super corrosive.
your engine hasn't been overheating so that's a HUGE bonus. Not really much of a chance of your heads being cracked. (I needed two new ones).
can you smell coolant or see coolant coming out of your exhaust? if so, that's a pretty good indicator that your head gasket is shot. hope not and good luck :) |
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| 92_WhItE_H23 |
| no, nothing is pointing towards my headgasket being shot after i looked at the truck myself.. i think this is what you get when you take it to canadian tire..you tell them you have a problem and immediately they need to rebuild the engine lol. just to be safe ill throw in a can of stop leak..if there is a leak its not very big at all and that should seal it up. ill get the coolant flushed and the oil changed next weeked and see what happens. |
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| 92_WhItE_H23 |
*******UPDATE***********
So, i decide to bite the bullet today and take my truck in to get my headgasket replaced, based solely on the advice of the so called mechanics at canadian tire. However, i took my truck to a place i trust alot more to get the work done. (Economy Auto and Muffler on Fort Road :thumbup: ). Anyways, i get a call at about 2pm this afternoon from them and they tell me my truck is ready. I just about shit myself that they did it this fast but before i sharted, they begin to tell me that my headgasket is perfectly fine. They did thier own pressure test and found a hole in my upper rad hose. They replaced it and did another pressure test and found no leaks what so ever. So, ive learned my lesson for the final time, i will never take a single car , not even my $500 beater to canadian tire for so much as to even get my wipers replaced. I went from a 2600 quote from CT to paying 290 dollars to get my coolant flushed, oil changed, rad hose replaced, exhaust bracket rewelded, and a new serpentine belt replacement.
so at the end of the day, a big :mad: for CT and a HUGE :thumbup: for Economy Auto and Muffler, a great bunch of honest guys there.
Now i can put my truck up for sale as planned =D |
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| RiceKing |
quote:
Originally posted by 92_WhItE_H23
*******UPDATE***********
So, i decide to bite the bullet today and take my truck in to get my headgasket replaced, based solely on the advice of the so called mechanics at canadian tire. However, i took
I don't get it, I thought you got tons of advice from here that it might not be a head gasket?
Good to hear you got this resolved... when this happened to me my wife had to take a 2nd job so we could pay the bill. :D |
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| SilverNeonRacer |
I know it's resolved, but for the rest off you... I had a head gasket go on one of my trucks, no coolant in oil or visa versa...
Inthat case the headgasket near the oil and coolant channel between cylinder #1 and #2 was deforming under pressure, so on the compression stroke the oil system and coolant system was being pressurized, the oil system just release the ppressure through the pcv, the coolant system ended up dumping alot of coolant through the overflow in the reserve tank.
On my other truck, the head cracked between the valve in the #3 cylinder, I was burning coolant, but it wasn't getting into the oil... |
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| elrhyso |
| ONE time i took my car to Canadian Tire's shop, and ONLY because it broke down in the parking lot, and I worked there... they tried telling me my engine was fucked, my distributor had broken, all this bullshit. it turned out i blew the fuse to my fuel pump when i went through a puddle. they charged me $90 to replace said $0.25 fuse. Lesson learned. Canadian tire (at least Fort Road) automotive shops shouldn't be trusted to to fill your washer fluid. |
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| flatboy |
quote:
Originally posted by SilverNeonRacer
I know it's resolved, but for the rest off you... I had a head gasket go on one of my trucks, no coolant in oil or visa versa...
Inthat case the headgasket near the oil and coolant channel between cylinder #1 and #2 was deforming under pressure, so on the compression stroke the oil system and coolant system was being pressurized, the oil system just release the ppressure through the pcv, the coolant system ended up dumping alot of coolant through the overflow in the reserve tank.
On my other truck, the head cracked between the valve in the #3 cylinder, I was burning coolant, but it wasn't getting into the oil...
How much stuff would be in the overflow tank? Say in a givin week or month? |
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| SilverNeonRacer |
quote:
Originally posted by flatboy
How much stuff would be in the overflow tank? Say in a givin week or month?
Well it was full, and it kept puking out onto the road, so when it cooled down the rad was low on coolant.
At the beginning I was adding bout 1/4-1/2 L a week, near the end when I figured out the problem I was adding 4L a week. |
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| SilverNeonRacer |
quote:
Originally posted by elrhyso
ONE time i took my car to Canadian Tire's shop, and ONLY because it broke down in the parking lot, and I worked there... they tried telling me my engine was fucked, my distributor had broken, all this bullshit. it turned out i blew the fuse to my fuel pump when i went through a puddle. they charged me $90 to replace said $0.25 fuse. Lesson learned. Canadian tire (at least Fort Road) automotive shops shouldn't be trusted to to fill your washer fluid.
My dad had a K car once apon a time, the head gasket did go, Ft Road CT did do the job, $600...
My Grandfather brought a truck there, I'm not sure why, complaining it was sluggish.. they tested it, fine, he'd hop ing sluggish.. bring it back, fine.. he found out that when they tested they took the floor mats out... the floor mat was holding the peddle up :P
I think after that he brought it back for a different issue... they did the work, left it running and something went boom because they left the rad cap off.... they ended up buying him a new engine... |
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| elrhyso |
| we should start a "Canadian Tire Tales" thread... there is only one other shop in Edmonton with this bad of a reputation :lol: |
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| SilverNeonRacer |
| I've actually had mainly good service at CT.... well that might be cause it was all easy stuff, like Tires, alt test, etc, and I had my friend who works there do it, and I'm in the shop helping him. |
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| 92_WhItE_H23 |
im just curious how thier machines apparently pressurized my cooling system and found no leaks, and yet, a simple flush machine found the leak the second it was hooked up lol im just basicly pissed off that i paid them 40 bucks to fill me full of bullshit. they even said they couldnt replace the belts because its the tensioner making the noise not the belt lol. all the mechanics at Economy were laughing when i showed them the quote. they replaced the belt and pressure tested the cooling system twice and had 2 mechanics comb through it and had no clue how they could even GUESS the headgasket was gone as it shows no symptoms.
in reply to why i bothered to get it repaired even after the advice i got here:
well i just like to take care of my vehicles and didnt want to risk it. i mean, they are SUPPOSED to be real mechanics at CT so i trusted thier word somewhat. turns out they cant even fuckin change oil properly i have no idea how they have thier Jman tickets. needless to say if i break down ill pay to tow my car across town before i bring it to them again.
i dont think i will sell my truck now though unless i got an offer on it, gunna keep it to do some camping this summer i think. |
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