Cracked Head Gasket

Speedy

Guys, quit freaking him out. Calling TV stations and picketing in front of the dealer won't do diddly.

Do the head gasket leak test I told you about. If it's positive, take it back to the dealer and they'll perform the same test and come to the same conclusion. At that point suggest a defective head and or block to head mating surface and ask for a new long block. Ask for a loaner car while the work is performed.

Here in the US, if you take the car back three times for the same repair it's considered a lemon and you can negotiate with the dealer to buy it back and get another. Not sure how that works in Canada land.

Here's a little video I put together when I was trouble shooting my supercharged Dodge Challenger. Start at 6:00 and I show how to use the head gasket test kit.

IDZRVIT

Wrong. This is Canada, not the US. We don't have lemon laws so we resort to the media consumer advocates to help out sometimes. It can work. Long story short, Future Shop screwed up a sale item for some Polk floor standing speakers Xmas before last. The advertisement said they were sold in pairs but it was supposed to be each so they wouldn't honour the price for those who thought they were buying a pair of speakers. Some guy in Toronto contacted the Toronto Star newspaper's consumer advocate who printed the story. Within a day FS not only honoured the price for a pair but also threw in a $150 gift certificate for their mistake. Ask me how I know? I was one of the ones who bought these speakers.

__________________
"America.... still builds rockets!"
Vette: 355 cid, 400 rwhp
'13 CTS-V Coupe: 6.2L LSA, 556HP

IDZRVIT

Take this advice. Start contacting consumer advocates if Nissan Canada is shrugging you off. This has gone beyond the dealership level now if the owner or his general manager is not listening or repairing your car properly.

__________________
"America.... still builds rockets!"
Vette: 355 cid, 400 rwhp
'13 CTS-V Coupe: 6.2L LSA, 556HP

Speedy

Interesting. Glad we don't have to do much of that here. I've seen it attempted but results weren't as good as you experienced.

Mr&Mrs

My car just started this today Im out of warranty though so I do not have to worry about dealing with that end of it lol

__________________
Project Z <--Click - Check out the link too many mods to list!

DIGItonium

Your forced inducted car? Has it overheated yet? Mine overheated a few times last year during extreme summer temps over 110+ temps. Warping is something I'm afraid of. So far so good this year.

__________________

IDZRVIT

MHCOSS, I forget about this: CAMVAP - Canadian Motor Vehicle Arbitration Plan. This is your next step when the dealer and Nissan Canada aren't doing enough for you to resolve your issue. I used this years ago when Ford wouldn't replace a catalytic converter that was still under a 96 month emissions warranty. Within a week after my submission to CAMVAP, the Ford dealer called and set up an appointment to replace the converter sans gratis. I believe your warranty book explains the procedure when all else has failed at the dealership.

__________________
"America.... still builds rockets!"
Vette: 355 cid, 400 rwhp
'13 CTS-V Coupe: 6.2L LSA, 556HP

IDZRVIT

Yeah, it sux up here in the GWN sometimes when you're being seen off and don't know where to turn. However, I've noticed better customer service over the past several years. I buy in the US quite often over the internet. Some retailers up here are starting to come around and lowering prices a bit due to canuk money heading south over the border.

__________________
"America.... still builds rockets!"
Vette: 355 cid, 400 rwhp
'13 CTS-V Coupe: 6.2L LSA, 556HP

Mr&Mrs

It has never overheated on me nor to my knowledge by the previous owner. I do not drive my car hard at all either. I have only driven 3k miles in 10 months with it, if even that.

My valves seem to be extra loud I know they all tick pretty loud but more than I was used to. When we had both Z's I listened to them side by side and mine was much louder. I think it may be valve seals....who knows. All I do know is we just bought a new house and I do not have the big build money right now. Trying to decide what to do.

__________________
Project Z <--Click - Check out the link too many mods to list!

mhcoss

Thanks for the replies guys.. I got the kit yersterday afternoon and will be running the test tonight to see. When I started the car yesterday I caught a whiff of that unmistakable smell of burning coolant.
Guess I gotta prepare for another 64 day repair time that doesn't address the problem.

Thanks nissan!

Mitco39

mhcoss- I would be learly of throwing anything in the car that isnt Nissan Certified at this point. I believe at this point they will say or do anything to get out of it, dont give them a reason to. Last thing you want to be stuck with is them backing out and blaming it on something you did (of course we all know that there is no way what your going to do is going to cause the issues). That being said any reputable shop will tell you right away that the engine is ingesting coolant.

One way to quickly tell is try squeezing your upper rad hose after the car is off and cooled somewhat. It should be nice and soft, if it is hard there is pressure in your system.

I would take others advice and go to the infinity dealer instead and not even touch the car. They will just use anything you do as a reason to deny their work.

In the end it is completely up to you however, whatever you decide to do I wish you the best of luck.

__________________
2007 Chevy Duramax - EFILive Tuned By Me
2010 40th W/ Nav - Boosted Performance - UpRev Tuned By Me
The Mrs. Ride -2012 335XI N55 BMW - Cobb Tuned By Me, Built by her
My Build --> http://www.the370z.com/members-370z-...39s-build.html

Speedy

Man, some of the stuff you guys post is just.....bad. I'm not knocking on you guys but unless you know how to work on a car it's best not to give advice on what to do. The test kit puts nothing "IN" the car. If you watch my video I posted you'd see that.

Second, the radiator hoses will not have pressure in them when the car is shut off.

mhcoss

I don't think there is anyway a leak test will void my warranty... I'd rather do the test quick myself rather then waste half a day trying to get nissan to do it

Speedy

You'll be fine. It does NOTHING to the car.

Mitco39

Speedy, I suggest you take a look at my build thread before saying things like I dont know how to work on a car. But to be fair you assumed, as did I with how this test was done.

Also I disagree, a car that does not have any issues will not have pressure when the car is shut off... but one that is pushing combustion gasses into the cooling system will retain the pressure. Its a telltale sign of head gasket issues, along with forcing air up through your coolant reservoir and making a mess.

When a cooling system is working normally no combustion gasses can make its way into the system. Thus its a closed system where when the car cools off the water 'shrinks' so to speak and the system pressure is relieved, thus the upper rad hose returns to its normal self, it may even turn into a bit of a vacuum in which coolant from your reservoir is sucked into the cooling system for the next heating cycle (say if you have a small leak or whatever). However if you have the system being pressurized by the engine it will retain some of this pressure even after the engine has cooled because of the way the rad cap works. Sure it will bleed off some of the pressure, but because air can be compressed much more than liquid it will stay in the system and the rad cap will only bleed off enough pressure to satisfy its internal spring load. Thus once the pressure in the system drops below this spring pressure it will stay, assuming it doesn't leak back into the cylinders, which is why IMO if you want to test for leaks just do a leak down test of the system. I would go as far as to pull all the plugs, apply a pressure to the cooling system and wait say 30mins, then crank over the engine and see what (if any) cylinder has coolant in it.

Speedy - Its well known that an pressurized cooling system is almost always caused by a head gasket leak. When the car is running it can be sometimes hard to tell because the rad cap will be working overtime to compensate for the pressure changes in the system. But once the car is off and has been for a bit the system will stabilize and it will be easier to tell if you have a stiff hose.

What you could also do is a compression test of each cylinder, a cylinder with a leaking head gasket would have a lower compression than the rest of them. Or just take a look at your plugs, a plug burning coolant will look different than the other 5.

Mhcoss - I get what your saying, but something is obviously wrong one way or another. Doesn't matter what test you tell Nissan you've done, they will still do their own testing and disregard your results guaranteed.

Just trying to help you out, and despite what speedy thinks I do know my way around a engine.

I do wish you the best of luck, I still think the best advice is going to the Infinity dealer to see what they have to say.

__________________
2007 Chevy Duramax - EFILive Tuned By Me
2010 40th W/ Nav - Boosted Performance - UpRev Tuned By Me
The Mrs. Ride -2012 335XI N55 BMW - Cobb Tuned By Me, Built by her
My Build --> http://www.the370z.com/members-370z-...39s-build.html