2007 Maxima, 27k miles, blown head gasket!!!!

[WalterGA]

Thought I was getting a car with one of the best engines ever made! Never have run the engine hard; it's never run hot. Used passing gear on recent trip and noticed lots of white smoke in my rear-view mirror. Not much doubt about what that means! Also smelled anti-freeze when first cranking up in mornings.

Is this a common problem with this engine? Anybody else have the same problem? I know it's under warranty, but this really disappoints me!

[CPS]

I'd take it to the dealer and have it looked at before making any assumptions. If it is a blown head gasket, you'd have to chalk it up to just one of those things that happens. Remember, every part of every car has human involvement and no human is perfect. But to answer your question, no, I have not seen a 3.5 blow a head gasket just out of the blue. Every single failure I've seen is related to low coolant, overheated engine, or excessive combustion cylinder pressures.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Headgasket problems are definitely not common with the VQ35. It would certainly be frustrating.

[A.Tech]

The only thing I can think of something was defective or speced wrong. Or the Head could of been taking off and the right Gasket or RTV was not placed on. How is the oil level in the car? Have you done a compression test to confirm it is a headgasket?

[Chris92SE]

I'd take it to the dealer and have it looked at before making any assumptions. If it is a blown head gasket, you'd have to chalk it up to just one of those things that happens. Remember, every part of every car has human involvement and no human is perfect. But to answer your question, no, I have not seen a 3.5 blow a head gasket just out of the blue. Every single failure I've seen is related to low coolant, overheated engine, or excessive combustion cylinder pressures.

+1

Head gaskets seem to be pretty rare with Maxima, in general. Not to say that it can't happen, but it's not very common.

Stuff happens.

At least your car should be under warranty. Did you have a SES or anything?

[Rex]

You bought it used correct?

Hard to say what might have happened while the previous owner had the car??

The VQ35 isn't considered a poor/weak engine.

[audtatious]

In fact, this is the first head gasket problem I have heard about since I bought my 2k2.

[WalterGA]

Misstated one fact: 22k, not 27k. I bought the car new. It's never been low on coolant; never run hot. Will definitely take it to dealer. Just can't do it before I put another 500+ miles on it, due to family emergency.

[CPS]

I'd rethink taking it on a trip. You could suffer a major failure, which would make the trip even worse.

[Rex]

Yeah, if you bought it new, I would call the dealership and have them come get it ... and ask that they bring you a loaner. A 500 mile trip could cause more damage and they may try to say it was all owner neglect.

[WalterGA]

When my daughter's Volvo was in for warranty work, she got a loaner car. I don't believe that Nissan has the same policy, but I'll check. Car's still running great; still getting same mileage as before white smoke.

[NutriaforBreakfast]

Dont drive it or the dealer might say you have voided thewarranty.

I think the dealer should also replace the water pumpand thermostat. Blown head gasket material might alsostop up the radiator. Ask for compression readings AFTERthe new head gasket is put in. If more than 20% differencebetween the cylinders on PSI, then piston rings could be bad.Also the oil passages in the block could be stopped up with thesame so they need to clean that our the best they can. Try tonail them down on what the spark plugs look like so you cantell which cylinder(s) are bad.

[WalterGA]

Thanks for the input, guys. Will check it out soon.

[WalterGA]

Update! Just got off the phone with either Goober or Gomer, over at the Nissan dealership in a small town near where I live. If that guy has an I.Q. over 82, I'll eat my Maxima, part-by-part. Will not be taking my Maxima to that toad. Unfortunately, I live over 200 mi. from the dealership in Atlanta where I acquired the car. Will wait until next trip to Atlanta in a couple of weeks, in order to discuss the problem with somebody more accustomed to speaking in polysyllables.

FWIW, the toad informed me that the 3.5 engine didn't use gaskets, that a "filler" was used. Does that sound right?

[Rex]

... FWIW, the toad informed me that the 3.5 engine didn't use gaskets, that a "filler" was used. Does that sound right?

I know the early 90's Q45's used RTV instead of gaskets on the valve covers and such, but I'm not aware of what's used on the Maxima's motor.

[NutriaforBreakfast]

You could ask the following about head gaskets;1) What is made of?2) How many Ft pounds do you tighten it to?3) How many rounds on the torque wrench do you make beforefinal tightening?4) What is the RA rating on the head supposed to be?5) Do you tighten the head when the engine is warm or cool?

[robo_geek]

Update! Just got off the phone with either Goober or Gomer, over at the Nissan dealership in a small town near where I live. If that guy has an I.Q. over 82, I'll eat my Maxima, part-by-part. Will not be taking my Maxima to that toad. Unfortunately, I live over 200 mi. from the dealership in Atlanta where I acquired the car. Will wait until next trip to Atlanta in a couple of weeks, in order to discuss the problem with somebody more accustomed to speaking in polysyllables.

FWIW, the toad informed me that the 3.5 engine didn't use gaskets, that a "filler" was used. Does that sound right?

All I can say is what a _____ idiot your dealer tech is. Looking at page EM37 of the 2007 Maxima factory service manual clearly shows that there is a very conventional head gasket in use for each cylinder.

If you really did blow a headgasket, driving it any distance is likely to do more engine damage, like putting a hole in a piston.

Check your coolant level and inspect your oil for signs of milkyness (water in oil). A blown headgasket sometimes causes air bubbles to be seen in the radiator with the cap off, and in extreme cases causes the radiator to vent it's pressure.

There are coolant passages in the throttle body/intake manifold, and maybe just something there is leaking.

I would be really surprised if there are not some trouble codes stored in the ECU...a blown headgasket would cause it to store at least a few fault codes (cylinder misfire, I would guess).