Nissan dealer is telling me I have a small leak at one of my head gaskets after replacing my water pump. They have said they will use Rad Weld to seal it. Will this work?

I wouldn't let them put that in your Z.

 

How they established that you have a head gasket leak?

 

Steve E

OMG! NOOOOOOOOOOOO Do not put radweld in your Z:(

They are saying they have done a compression test and had poor reaults and noticed a leak from the head gasket. Is there anything else that can seal it?

id get a second opinion if i were u

I have told them NO anyway so can pick the car up. I will take it to my 'usual' garage who I trust. Anyway, lets just say there is a leak coming from the head gasket. Is it anything to worry about if it is very small of does it look like I need to replace the gasket?

 

Thanks

This could prove to be serious.

 

Firstly, hot combustion gases could escape into the cooling system and will raise your coolant temperature.

 

Secondly, if coolant escapes into the oil then this will kill your engine!

 

Have the garage tested your coolant for any contaminants?

 

A low compression test could be a result of other things than head gasket.

 

Definate 2nd opinion required here.

 

Steve E

There are no signs of contaminants in coolant, oil or white smoke from exhaust. However, as they have just replaced my water pump, they have renewed all the coolant anyway, but when I check before there did not appear to be any coolant there at all, just water!! Does anyone know if the leak can be sealed at all without the need to replace the gasket?

They don't know wtf they're talkin about - take it somewhere else!!!

Yeah I got told my head gaskets was "probably leaking" simply because there was some dirty brown stuff in the expansion tank.

 

:mad: Take it elsewhere.

Have they done a pressure test on the coolant system? This would be first thing to do IMO. It sounds like either one of the under-plenum coolant hoses or a matrix hose thats leaking to me... Do you have the results of the compression test they did? Would be interesting to see.

That makes sense Andy. It could be the impression that it is the Head. Remind me again why I took it to Nissan? Anyway, I will be getting my usual garage to check it for me tomorrow. He is a very experiance mechanic and has done alot of engine work on V6s and my old 200sx's for me!! He seems to think radweld can be used in the coolant system/head but that there is no guarantee it will fix it. I just want to drive it to the other garage tomorrow morning without worrying if the head will go!! For what reason should I not use it in a Zed particularly??

Why not use radweld? Well you risk severely clogging up your entire coolant system thats why - also, radweld won't fix a split pipe, which I think is your problem ;)

Don't forget we're talking about a car with ally heads (ergo prone to warping, though not as much on Z's as some), where the coolant holes in the headgaskets are about 4mm dia.

 

Stick radweld in there, and I wonder how many of those little holes it'll block completely..

 

It's a highly tuned, turbo charged sportscar, not a 1.1 Fiesta, where you don't care about head hotspots, or head temperature.

 

Anyone who sticks Radweld near anything midlyly exotic wants shooting..

Um...........good point! That answered my question.....

So I guess your advise would be start saving for a new Head Gasket as it doesn't look as though the small leak will 'go away' but the inevitable will eventually happen.....

 

I will let you know how I get on tomorrow. Please let it be a hose from under the plenum...........I will say my prayers before bed tonight.

 

It has made me feel slightly sick as I have had such bad luck with my last two 200sx's, and wasted so much money on engine repairs. I thought this one would be different because it is a quality car. I can see me selling it after a week of ownership if it is going to start costing me big bucks. I wasn't prepared for this and had to work so hard to convince the wife to get me one...ho hum!

 

:rolleyes:

My guess is that it's almost certainly going to be a hose at the back of the plenum - I've yet to see a Z HG leak out of the block like that (into cylinders, yes, but that's different)..

 

Make sure they do a sniffer test for combustion gasses in the coolant, and a pressure test on the coolant system to check for leaks (any garage should be able to do either).

 

The hoses at the back of (and under) the plenum, and the ones that feed the two turbos are somewhat of a weak point after 10 years or so - the little 8mm rubber hoses get hard, perish and start to crack, and eventually give up under pressure..

 

I know what it's like, don't worry - two weeks after getting my first Z, it expired on the M40 about 200 miles from home when one of those little hoses burst..

Well as I posted elsewhere, my wife bought a Supra the other week. Same problem leaking head gasket - only noticible at 100+ mph. There replacing all the gaskets.

So don't compromise - hope you can sort it out.

Geoff.

Well. Picked my car up this morning. Payed £328 for the water pump replacement and coolant etc. I asked them for a copy of the compression test results and they said they didn't have it and I also asked them to show me where the water is leaking from the head. They said it is so small I won't be able to see it and pointed to the front left of the engine and said it was beneath the two large pipes. So I drove it 25 miles to work and everything seems fine. Truned the engine off, no hiss or bubbling noised from the head, no leaks and a constant engine temperature. Everything is looking okay so far. Will be taking it to my local garage today though for another compression test and a second opinion. When I told Nissan I was taking it elsewhere they said "If it was my car, I wouldn;t let any old garage look at it, not without a manual!". I proceeded to take the CD out of my pocket with the electronic manual on it and gave them a big f u c k y o u !!:D :D

 

I said at least I will be going somehwere that won't rip me off and then asked if they did a discount for Club Members!!! :p :p

 

I will let you know how I get on.........

 

P.S. What is the Plenum??

Plenum is the upper intake - the big silver thing on top of the engine lol. Sounds like its a leaking hose to the drivers throttle body - under the plenum ;) They didn't have the compression test results? Funny that... :rolleyes:

Don't use rad weld, I speak from experience!!!!

Originally posted by Jezz_S13

Don't use rad weld, I speak from experience!!!!

 

Jezz he is talking about putting it in his car,not drinking it:D;)

Originally posted by MAC 1

Jezz he is talking about putting it in his car,not drinking it:D;)

 

Oh I see. :o

It may be worth getting a cylinder leakage test done to see if there are any leaks from the head gasket. At least this will put your mind at rest.

 

You will be able to tell which cylinders are suspect by a compression test. You should be looking at around 140 - 150 psi per cylinder. If you have a low compression (i.e. maybe 10 psi or so below the rest) on one or more cylinders, then it will be worst doing a cylinder leakage test on the cylinder(s). Air leaking from the zorst will be exhaust valves, air from the Mas or balance bar housing will be the intlet valves, air leaking to an adjacent cylinder will be head gasket as will air/bubbles in the coolant. Air/bubbles in the oil/dip stick holder will be piston rings.

Drove home from work tonight. Had both windows open as temp 31 outside. Thought I heard a loud whistle from outside. Temp constant and all seemed well. I decided to check check the coolant level and the dip stick was bone try!!! Then moved her to park her up my drive and notice white smoke from the exhausts.

Is this it??? Correct level of coolant was put in today and she is not leaking any water from underneath. Opened RAD but couldn;t really see level. Check oil, didn;t look contaminated. I think I will give up. There is no way I can afford to replace the Head Gasket if it goes so I have decided to try and sell her on and let someone else take it on. I also got two new rear tires today!!! Gutted!!

 

Or am I just panicing?:confused: :confused: :mad: :mad: :(

Get a cylinder leakage test done mate. it will tell you what you need to know.