... i also post some of this information on another nissan owners web site with message boards. everyone should do the same. rr70

... i also post some of this information on another nissan owners web site with message boards. everyone should do the same. rr70

Where is this site located??

[QUOTE=roadrunner70]thanks for following up. when you say the back of the engine, since the engine is mounted transversly, are you speaking of the rear part near the firewall, or the "rear" where it is mounted to the transmission? also, when you get the care repaired, can you please tell us what parts were used.

thanks, rr70

The Nissan mechanic stated that it was leaking coolant on the drivers side rear (near the fire wall) and over the transmission. (2 places). The dealer still hasnt performed repairs, but they provided a loaner car. Someone at the dealer told my wife they are trying to get authorization from Big Nissan to replace the entire engine with a brand new one instead of tearing our engine apart. If true, that would make me feel better than the original engine torn apart to that extent.
Modified by riderman at 9:31 PM 2/9/2010

thanks for keeping us up to date. it sounds like your's was leaking quite a bit, since for mine, the holding tank took 11,000 miles just to drop a inch or so. one other board is nicoclub.com. rr70

Day 19, no Murano yet! After they got the motor back in the tranny wasn't acting right. The gear selector P,N,R,D, etc, would not change from P. (Motor's been back in a couple days, and they've been chasing this problem) They talked to Nissan, Nissan sent a tech out to the shop. They thought it was an electrical connection/computer issue originally, but couldn't fix it. Now we're getting a new transmission.

Timmbo--you got any pull with Nissan? As you can see, this antifreeze issue is quite prevalent and I think Nissan needs to do something about it or they will lose some dedicated customers. What say you?

Doug Frye

monoptn wrote:Day 19, no Murano yet! After they got the motor back in the tranny wasn't acting right. The gear selector P,N,R,D, etc, would not change from P. (Motor's been back in a couple days, and they've been chasing this problem) They talked to Nissan, Nissan sent a tech out to the shop. They thought it was an electrical connection/computer issue originally, but couldn't fix it. Now we're getting a new transmission.

Sorry to hear this...keep us updated please--hopefully Nissan will do the right thing and address what is becoming an increasingly larger issue.

Doug

riderman wrote:Well, had the 09 Murano checked for the third time today. The dealer found the leak this time. It is the head gasket in the back of the engine. 7-9 day's for parts and repair. The mechanic called tech support and I guess they formally aknowledged the issue with our car. It has 11,000 miles.

Well, got the car back today. The dealer did not replace the engine. The wife smelled antifreeze before she drove it home. They told her to "put some miles on it". Well, about 50 miles later, the coolant overflow is about empty and the oil fill cap has this white "frothy" foamy thick goo on the side facing the engine. The paper work we received from the dealer never even mentions a head gasked\head replacement. How can this be? One of the problems we took it in for was a defective remote. That is all the paper work mentions, replacing the remote. My wife saw the engine removed and on the floor, so some kind of repair had to be performed. I hate being lied to or played. GRR.. Now what? I guess I gatta get involved now. She will probably get fired and I'll be stuck with a POS because of my temper.

Modified by riderman at 5:41 PM 2/16/2010
Modified by riderman at 5:51 PM 2/16/2010

don't loose your cool. not worth it. however, they will just have to do the repair again.

i took my altima in today and they could't find any problem, and didn't smell the coolant smelll which is quite prevalent when the car is warmed up.

anyway, now i have it documented. i have another year on the warranty so i will see how things go. i would prefer the car get fixed, but sometimes, as i said above, better to leave things alone.... for now. bt the way, this topic is also being discussed on other boards.

rr70

roadrunner70 wrote:don't loose your cool. not worth it. however, they will just have to do the repair again.

rr70

You are right. I just needed to vent I guess. The "non"\missing paper work just added to the frustration. I was thinking cover up. Another thing you dont know, since my wife works at this dealership: The GM at the time I purchased this Murano threatened her next pay raise. He told me that since she worked there, that he had final say on her next pay raise. He told me he could fire her If I didnt take the deal he offered, and purchased from a competitor, even though the other dealer had a better deal ($700 less) on the same vehicle. He, the GM, claimed that he has the final word on questionable warranty work and that service was the key. That is a true story. I sucked in my pride because of the economy. I didnt want my wife to lose her job and deal with that issue. Long story short, the GM has been replaced, I paid more than I should have for the car, and the wife didnt get a penny raise for the last 3 years, now this issue with the leaking coolant.

Modified by riderman at 6:39 PM 2/16/2010
Modified by riderman at 6:45 PM 2/16/2010

Riderman...sorry to hear about your troubles! I hope you and others are elevating this issue to Nissan HQ as I have. If more and more bring this to their attention, I'm hoping that they will address it nationwide!

Doug

i have no doubt that they will repair the car. the important thing now is to ask for a complete engine. this has been done at other nissan dealers and there is no reason why this will not be done at yours. as far as the employement issue, the old gm is gone, and thats that. now its time to work with those who are there. looking back in about 5 - 10 years, the $700 will seem like a small amount. at the time, it was the best thing to do. its always a problem when work and play and or spouses business mix. seen this before. rr70

A few months back Nissan replaced the Head Gasket in my 09 S at the same time they replaced my tranny cause that had an issue as well..... recently got a letter in the mail from nissan extending my warrenty till 100K miles

riderman wrote:
You are right. I just needed to vent I guess. The "non"\missing paper work just added to the frustration. I was thinking cover up. Another thing you dont know, since my wife works at this dealership: The GM at the time I purchased this Murano threatened her next pay raise. He told me that since she worked there, that he had final say on her next pay raise. He told me he could fire her If I didnt take the deal he offered, and purchased from a competitor, even though the other dealer had a better deal ($700 less) on the same vehicle. He, the GM, claimed that he has the final word on questionable warranty work and that service was the key. That is a true story. I sucked in my pride because of the economy. I didnt want my wife to lose her job and deal with that issue. Long story short, the GM has been replaced, I paid more than I should have for the car, and the wife didnt get a penny raise for the last 3 years, now this issue with the leaking coolant.

Well,This could be a case of a poor repair job or just a not so thorough one. Let me preface this by saying these are my optimistic thoughts for you/your Mo.

First off, the empty overfill could be nothing mored than the fact they did not get all the air out of the system and it sucked the overfill dry doing so on it's own.

The foam on the oil fill cap: Hows the dipstick look?? If the oil is clean then the foam could be no more than the fact they allowed a little antifreeze/water into the crankcase when they pulled the head. Even if the oil is a little milky the same could be true.

Depending on how I (you) and the Service department felt, I would have them change the oil/filter, top off the coolant/overfill, and drive the vehicle. See what transpires rather than have them tear back into it blindly...

Now the pessimistic: They fubbed up the job as I would have feared and you now have an even larger mess. DEMAND A NEW ENGINE!! They may not give you one but they should at this point.

I wish you, your wife, and your sanity/patients the best of luck.

Keep us posted!

God speed!

[QUOTE=KJSmitty]

Well,This could be a case of a poor repair job or just a not so thorough one. Let me preface this by saying these are my optimistic thoughts for you/your Mo.

First off, the empty overfill could be nothing mored than the fact they did not get all the air out of the system and it sucked the overfill dry doing so on it's own.

The foam on the oil fill cap: Hows the dipstick look?? If the oil is clean then the foam could be no more than the fact they allowed a little antifreeze/water into the crankcase when they pulled the head. Even if the oil is a little milky the same could be true.

Depending on how I (you) and the Service department felt, I would have them change the oil/filter, top off the coolant/overfill, and drive the vehicle. See what transpires rather than have them tear back into it blindly...

Now the pessimistic: They fubbed up the job as I would have feared and you now have an even larger mess. DEMAND A NEW ENGINE!! They may not give you one but they should at this point.

QUOTE]

Hey, do you work at this dealer? LOL Folow up: Took it back to the dealer yesterday. They presure checked it, could not find anything wrong other than the coolant low, empty overflow, and low fluid in the radiator. Their comments were like yours, the engine "burped, etc. They would not even entertain the idea that coolant went into the oil. I forgot to mention I noticed coolant sealant in the radiator cap, a tech admited to my wife to putting coolant sealer in my radiator. (WHY?) They claimed they flushed the engine oil after the head gasket repair. It's been 3 day's since the repair and I demanded an oil change due to the missing coolant and their inability to find a leak. The 3 day old oil they removed is BLACK! The shop foreman stated to my wife "this is NORMAL"! This is the seventh oil change in this 11k miles engine. BS that black oil is normal for this engine. I'm going on record stating that it the oil is contaminated with antifreeze. I have a 20 ounce sample from that oil that is almost black as coal. This is 3 day old synthetic oil. Yes the filter has been changed everytime. All oil changes have been performed by the dealer. I'm going to get it (oil sample) tested, but it will take several weeks. Ya'll will love this part, NO paper work was given to me for any of these repairs. I have NO proof of anything, but this sample of oil. They got me by the short ones, because, as I stated earlier, the wife works there, and her boss is the Service Director. GRRRRRRRRR

Wow,If you had not stated that you saw the engine out of the vehicle and on the floor I would "completely" suspect that all they did was add a little "silver-seal" (radiator stop/leak) and thats it. To tell you the truth, the fact that they did not document it on a work order still has me considering they did nothing.... If it was not for your situation/wifes job I would highly recommend you call Nissan Corp and demand paperwork. Trust me, the paperwork exists otherwise the dealership would not get paid by Nissan for the warranty work.

As for the "3 day old" black oil - it must not have been changed etc. Also, antifreeze would not cause the oil to be black - rather, it would have turned into something looking like a light colored chocolate milk.

Even if my wife did work there, I would no longer use them for Service/Warranty.

Truly despicable

I got my Murano back today. When the new transmission came in, the case was cracked, so they had to order another one, hence the additional delay. I think it was 24 days for the tear down, head replacement, and transmission replacement. They returned it to me today all cleaned up, and it seems to run good. I drove it about 40 miles tonight, and it checked out fine. I have not checked for an antifreeze smell yet. I figure I'll give it a couple of weeks to burn off everything before I start sniffing around again. My fingers will be crossed, because i sure don't want to be without the car for such an extended period of time again.

I posted on the rubber smell thread as well, my 09 SL with 16K miles is in the shop having the head gaskets replaced as we speak, I never smelled any antifreeze, just a burning rubber odor that seemed to come and go. The car didn't use any antifreeze and never overheated or leaked on the ground. When we took the car in last week they found the leaking head gasket. Nissan told them to replace both as there is a redesigned gasket now available. I guess we'll see if the burnt rubber smell is gone after this.

EDIT - Dealer just called -says it's done. He says the rear head gasket was leaking pretty bad, dripping onto the exhaust, I know what antifreeze smells like, but I'm not sure if I've smelled burnt antifreeze before, maybe it smells like burning rubber?
Modified by woodydog at 2:02 PM 2/22/2010

Thanks to you all on your posts...I hope to use this info at my dealer. Again, it would be helpful if Nissan would put the word out. My dealer is/will act stupid--this I know!

..... they found a leaking crossover tube. perhaps not the dreaded head removal. perhaps some of the heads are being removed that don't need to be. more to come once I have the part number etc. rr70

This is the written report on 3 day old, 50 mile oil from Blackstone Laboratories taken from the Murano. It's a pdf, I'm not sure how to attatch the complete file:

ZZZZZZZ: We don't see many coolant leaks on new engines, and looking at the potassium, silicon, andsodium levels, this Nissan had a good sized one. You can see by the high iron, copper, and lead readingsthat the contamination has attacked the bearings. Hopefully this extremely short oil run will help to flush theresidual coolant and metal from the system. We suggest running the next oil under 500 miles to help speedup the process. The viscosity was low; this may be due to the antifreeze. Check back after your next oilchange. We'll know more then.

[QUOTE=riderman]This is the written report on 3 day old, 50 mile oil from Blackstone Laboratories taken from the Murano. It's a pdf, I'm not sure how to attatch the complete file:

Is this something Nissan ordered...or did you have to do this??

Doug

..... update... the crossover tubes were replaced, and the strong coolant smell persists. going back in on monday. rr70

Is this something Nissan ordered...or did you have to do this??

While a mechanic at Nissan was changing the oil, my wife got a sample from him. I sent this in to Blackstone. I'm getting ready to get the oil changed again this week by Nissan and sending another sample to Blackstone as recommended. I'm concerned about the constant coolant leaking, that they cannot seem to find the cause, and the coolant and sealer in my oil causing bearing wear\ bearing material to be in my oil. How does one refute an issue like this? A Nissan Mechanic put coolant sealer in my car and then told the wife this is common. How does one come up with informatiom refuting this that the dealer cannot just blow off? I'm getting screwed and I seem to have no recourse. I purchased the truck 19 months ago, the Lemon law in VA sems to expire in 18 months. It's almost like the dealer knew this, the 3'rd visit for this problem resulted in the obviously failed head gasket replacement last month. GRR

riderman wrote: How does one come up with information refuting this that the dealer cannot just blow off? I'm getting screwed and I seem to have no recourse. I purchased the truck 19 months ago, the Lemon law in VA seems to expire in 18 months. It's almost like the dealer knew this, the 3'rd visit for this problem resulted in the obviously failed head gasket replacement last month. GRR

Have you ever received the work order/documentation that they actually did the work/changed the head-gasket?? If they will not produce this I would take the attitude that it never took place - Inform Nissan Support of this specific fact!

- Have you called Nissan Support (number in back of your owners manual) and informed them of the overall issue?- When you speak to Nissan Support request another dealership as well!

Above all I would be researching for a "different", more reputable Nissan Service dept around town then taking your Mo there and explaining the issue and request assistance. Sometimes another dealer likes nothing more than being able to air another competing dealerships dirty laundry to Nissan Corporate - not to mention hopefully gain your business!

I despise car dealerships..

I wish you the best of luckI'm taking my wife's Mo in next week thus my fun begins soon.....

Yes, I received the paper work a few day's later. A tad over 2 thousand for the repair, all covered by warrante. Good luck with your MO!

Sorry you're having so many issues riderman...what does Nissan main have to say about it?? Anything? Personally, although it sucks, I would trade the vehicle away.

Riderman -

Your two posts regarding the oil/coolant are most interesting. I cannot follow what you are suggesting however. You are saying that the mechanic put coolant sealer in the oil to try and cover up a problem? What do you think is the exact problem and how is it related to the head gasket failure?

If you can connect some dots for me as far as the sequence of events I might learn something valuable here.

Whitestar16

Bottom line, on the 3rd official visit to Nissan about my coolant smell, The head gasket's were replaced and the engine oil flushed, not just drained. 3 day's after the head gasket replacement, the coolant overflow bottle was empty and I smelled coolant comming from the exhaust. I took it back to Nissan. They stated the engine "burped", that an air pocket was in the engine that dispaced the coolant. I requested an oil change. The oil was changed and a sample was taken and sent to Blackstone Lab's. (the oil was black, not light brown as expected) The result was posted here. The mechanic stated he put coolant sealer in the coolant system after the head gasket was replaced. The oil sample show's silicone and sodium, this indicates coolant sealer in the oil. To answer your question as to what the exact problem is, I cant answer that. I have paid on "answer.com" a 30 year Master ASE Nissan mechanic for his opinion, he stated a crack in a head casting could be the problem and that pressure testing would never find it. He has seen this on new engines. My Opinion? I had a head leaking coolant external of the engine. Nissan replaced the head gasket's only. Now I have an oil sample after their repair that show's antifreeze\coolant sealant and metal bearing material in my oil. To me, the mechanic's screwed up the repair, the heads are warped, the head casting has an internal crack, or another head gasket failed. Nissan will admit nothing, that the coolant smell exiting from the exhaust for the first two weeks after their repair was normal.


Modified by riderman at 11:48 PM 3/20/2010