I got a 97 Pathy 4WD that has been great to me but has had issues throughout the time I've owned it (4 years). This morning, it seems like the head gasket finally decided to retire. Plums of smoke, running rough, water on the dipstick... the whole works.

My question is, will it be worth it to replace the gaskets? I would do the work myself. She has 207K miles, everything works, she runs great (well until now), couple of small oil leaks (front main seal and valve cover gaskets), had some transmission issues till they recently stopped acting up...

If I were to do this job I would replace some gaskets and sensors while the intake is off. Do the timing belt as well. I have never done this extensive job on a Nissan before and doing other smaller repairs have been an absolute nightmare on this truck... so I can only image what's it's going to be like doing head gaskets.

Will it be worth it to do this job to keep her going and what else should I replace/check if I decide to go through with the job? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

If it's worth the time and trouble to you then it's worth it. If I was doing it, like I did with my old '91 Pathfinder, I would tear it down to the block and rebuild everything back up. However, with the miles you already have on the engine and the crankcase now contaminated with coolant, there may be more troubles is store than just replacing gaskets, sensors, and the timing belt. The cost of an already rebuilt engine swap would be an easier way to go.

mdmellott wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 11, 2019 9:39 pm

If it's worth the time and trouble to you then it's worth it. If I was doing it, like I did with my old '91 Pathfinder, I would tear it down to the block and rebuild everything back up. However, with the miles you already have on the engine and the crankcase now contaminated with coolant, there may be more troubles is store than just replacing gaskets, sensors, and the timing belt. The cost of an already rebuilt engine swap would be an easier way to go.

I have yet to start the tear down but I plan on doing so in the next few days. My plan is to tear down and analyse the heads and everything else. If everything looks good, than I'll but all the parts needed. Full rebuild would be nice but like you said, with the mileage it may not be worth it. Hopefully there is nothing to serious that needs to be done. Fingers crossed.

Thank you for the advice.