Head Gasket Leaking In Cylinder and Causing Misfire

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Aug 25, 2018
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South Carolina
2006 Nissan Altima
2.5L 4 cylinder
233k miles

The radiator cracked on this car earlier this year and the wife didn't notice anything was wrong until it bucked hard trying to accelerate from a light and looked down to see the temp gauge on the H. I replaced the radiator, but ever since it's been going through about a quart of coolant every 200-250 miles. Some stop leak did absolutely nothing. I've accepted I need to replace the head gasket, but we both agree that it's time for a new(er) car anyway. We're just trying to limp this thing along until after the New Year.

Back story out of the way... the coolant leak is occurring in the #2 cylinder and causing a misfire that only occurs after coasting in gear for a while such as on an exit ramp coming off the highway. I'm assuming this is because the CPU is shutting off the fuel (and therefore combustion) to the cylinders when coasting in gear, allowing the cylinder to fill with a little bit of coolant, and when you get back on the gas, the cylinder isn't firing. When this occurs, I usually just bump it into neutral and peg it off the rev limiter for a second to clear it out, and all is well... much to my wife's dismay. At least my daughter finds it funny.

My solution to the issue is anytime I'm coasting/braking, I just bump it to neutral so the fuel doesn't shut off and the cylinders keep firing, not allowing that cylinder to get wet down with coolant. My wife, however, finds this to be an impossible task and almost every time she drives it, I get a call from her sitting still at a green light complaining about the car doing that "thing" again and she doesn't know what to do. So, I'm looking for a better solution.

It's worse when the plug is caked up with deposits from burning coolant. I take it out and clean it every month or so, and it doesn't seem to do it for a little while until it gets cruded up again. I thought about going to a hotter spark plug (from NGK LFR5A to LFR4A) in hopes that it could keep the tip cleaner, along with a wider gap for a larger flame kernel that might could pierce through the moisture in the cylinder. Then hope the added resistance doesn't kill the coil before we sent it to its grave. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Is that a viable solution?
 
Originally Posted by RDY4WAR
Some stop leak did absolutely nothing. I've accepted I need to replace the head gasket,


Stopleak is for a radiator leak. You need a head gasket sealer for your problem.

[Linked Image from images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com]
 
Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by RDY4WAR
Some stop leak did absolutely nothing. I've accepted I need to replace the head gasket,

Stopleak is for a radiator leak. You need a head gasket sealer for your problem.

He needs a head gasket for his problem.

I don't see the point in trying to limp a car along that could fail spectacularly at any moment.

Repair or trade the poor thing in.
 
Would the coolant not be making its way into the oil as well? I do not see that car making it much longer without some sort of permanent failure.
 
Wait till it leaks coolant into the cylinder after it is shut off for a while, enough to hydrolock it when you go to start it. Seen it happen with a big truck engine that had cavitation issues with the liners.
 
Originally Posted by rooflessVW
Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by RDY4WAR
Some stop leak did absolutely nothing. I've accepted I need to replace the head gasket,

Stopleak is for a radiator leak. You need a head gasket sealer for your problem.

He needs a head gasket for his problem.

I don't see the point in trying to limp a car along that could fail spectacularly at any moment.

Repair or trade the poor thing in.


Not worth the cost on a 13 year old Altima with 200K+ miles to replace the headgasket, unless you DIY, but even then... Sealer could get you a few more years for just $50.
 
It's certainly worth trying the HG stop leak, especially if you agree that you would replace the car in January. Long term, that stuff can clog up the heater core which really leads to expensive repairs. A running car will always sell for more than one that isn't.
 
Waiting for "screwing the next owner" comments in 3...2...1...
lol.gif
I agree with trying the HG repair stuff, you'll pull the head & likely discover it needs resurfaced, maybe valves, a valve job, maybe even rings. In a disposable Altima!
 
Originally Posted by domer10
Would the coolant not be making its way into the oil as well? I do not see that car making it much longer without some sort of permanent failure.
that's kind of a wives tail.
. It burns off before it gets into the oil unless it's absolutely dumping coolant into the cyls.
 
Originally Posted by bullwinkle
Waiting for "screwing the next owner" comments in 3...2...1...
lol.gif
I agree with trying the HG repair stuff, you'll pull the head & likely discover it needs resurfaced, maybe valves, a valve job, maybe even rings. In a disposable Altima!


That wouldn't be much of an issue as I have the equipment to mill the heads and cut the valve seats. It's just not worth the effort to me. I'll probably do it anyway so I can sell it for a better price. It's just that doing that takes time away from other projects.

I'll try the fix in a bottle and see if it helps. If it doesn't, oh well.
 
Use a head gasket sealer.
I would have used it on my car, but I pulled the valve cover and found loose and broken head bolts, so I replaced the head gasket. Probably spent less than $100 and replaced a bunch of other stuff at the same time. Now I have a car with 2 less oil leaks, and no coolant leaks (for the first time in more than 10 years). Really wasn't that hard, just tedious.
 
Originally Posted by Chris142
Originally Posted by domer10
Would the coolant not be making its way into the oil as well? I do not see that car making it much longer without some sort of permanent failure.
that's kind of a wives tail.
. It burns off before it gets into the oil unless it's absolutely dumping coolant into the cyls.


Just figured since it's misfiring, there is no combustion taking place...but I guess still be hot enough to burn off.
 
Blue Devil might get you even more time...

Also, could try cranking down on the head bolts a little bit...
 
Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by RDY4WAR
Some stop leak did absolutely nothing. I've accepted I need to replace the head gasket,


Stopleak is for a radiator leak. You need a head gasket sealer for your problem.

[Linked Image from images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com]


Band aid fix. All it does is buy you a little time.
 
Originally Posted by bullwinkle
Waiting for "screwing the next owner" comments in 3...2...1...
lol.gif
I agree with trying the HG repair stuff, you'll pull the head & likely discover it needs resurfaced, maybe valves, a valve job, maybe even rings. In a disposable Altima!


Too true! Try the magic bottle first but don't go getting your hopes up. It might even last a year...¬ or more. Trouble is with those Aluminum engines is that there's one cardinal rule, call it a Commandment.
THOU SHALL NOT OVERHEAT!!!
Everybody needs to read that every night before they go to bed with older cars. for whatever reason women in particularðŸ¤ðŸ¤ðŸ¤. There I go now Im as popular as orange man but it's true! For whatever reason women just don't believe it when they see that needle start heading up shortly after that idiot light came on that should've been their first indication to get off the road. By the time the engine starts bucking there's likely gonna be something warped under there be at the head the deck of the engine or likely both. And it all could be prevented by stopping what that gauge starts getting near the top .
When my Honda CRX got womantrashed I kept it going for 3 more years but it was A far newer car. I changed the head gasket approximately every 6 months myself and it got old. If the block seal ect doesn't work and you have to pay💸 for the work it might be best to turn it into Forks snd spoons.
 
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