Head gasket replacement- nissan altima 07

Maintenance/Repairs
21

Rings usually wear out due to lack of regular oil changes, overheating, or plain old wear from high miles. The fact that it’s 2007 means nothing.

This all goes back to running a compression test on an engine before any head gasket replacement is done. Any cylinder that is open to a head gasket fault will not provide a valid ring test but testing all cylinders at the same time will because if even one cylinder shows a ring problem then the end result is still the same; the need to rebuild or replace the engine. Usually the latter.

The question still remains though. Was the engine severely overheated and running poorly, dying, etc?
Was the vehicle still running or towed in?

22

The vehicle runs, its just the smoke and the noise that’s wrong with the car. @ok4450 which are two very big issues

23

I understand that, but what I’m asking for the fourth time is whether or not the car overheated, had to be towed, etc?

If the answer is yes then odds are the engine was damaged and any head gasket replacement was an exercise in futility. A compression test from the get-go before replacing anything could prevent running up a bill on a trashed engine.

24

No the car did not have to be towed and it did not over heat. I can still drive it. @ok4450

25

Altima 4cyl? Does this car have a CVT trans? U should take it to another Nissan dealer and have them do a trade in assessment? They will FOR SURE tell u what’s wrong. This, that and so on. That show they rationalize the extremely low trade in. Hehe.

26

Something must have caused the need for a new head gasket, head gaskets normally don’t wear out like brake pads. It seems the sight of smoke inspired the the head gasket replacement but that doesn’t really offer a clue as to how the engine was damaged. I am guessing that this engine was overheated.

When an engine is overheated a multi-layer steel head gasket won’t fail as quickly as a composite head gasket. A composite head gasket will break apart when the cylinder head becomes too hot, warps and the clamping force is reduced on the gasket. With a multi-layer head gasket the driver will be able to drive an extra mile before compression is lost resulting in far more damage; a warped cylinder head beond resurfacing, warped block deck, distorted cylinder walls and damaged piston ring lands.

It is often impractical to repair a late model engine that has been badly overheated, the most economical solution is to find a used engine.

27

@nevada_545 I am going to replace the engine with a used engine my friend mechanic found for me! Hopefully this will solve everything

28

@tiff403616 thought I’d weigh in here . . .

I believe you should buy a rebuilt engine with a warranty

No offense to your mechanic, but how can you be sure that the used engine he found is in great shape and has been maintained correctly?