How can burst radiator cost me an engine??

[Calvin_Ong]

This happened during my journey from Batu Pahat to JB. About 2 mins before reaching Yong Peng toll using trunk road, heard a "thump" sound coming out from aircon vent. Thought I hit something under the bonnet, off my stereo to hear any other noise. All fine. Then after the toll, heard a pinging sound when i step on the accelerator to gain speed but noise dissappeared after higher rpm. I slowed down and and start looking at my dashboard, temperature slowly going up and I off the aircon. Keeping going up until 3/4 then stopped by the roadside. Open up the hood and saw water oozing out from top side of the radiator. Keep story short, towed my car to workshop and told me gasket burned and better to change the engine due to warp. Car still in Nissan service center.

Is this Nissan fault? Aint it suppose to have some kind of indicator to prevent this minor fault which leads to serious engine warp or auto cut off engine before it fry the engine? How can this happened even i took precautions to stop my car before the temp meter hit the red mark? All this happend in less than 5 mins and probably 5 km travelling.

To replace the radiator cost RM300 but now I had to fork out RM4 to RM5K for engine work.

Can we get anything back from Nissan?

 

[tks]

doubt nissan will compensate you for anything. how old is your car?

also don't think you ruined the ENTIRE engine. In cases like this your cylinder head can warp, so we'd normally just carry out a top over haul + fix the cause of the overheating, ie; broken radiator/hoses/fan or whatever. and anyway, once the cylinder head is off, your mechanic can check for other damages.

IMO, its not that you ran the overheating car for long, damages could be minimal, your mechanic can do a compression test first to confirm if there are any leaks internally. If in any doubt...you have the right to remove your car from that workshop and bring it elsewhere.

Cheers!

 

[huakenny]

Top overhaul will do.

and cooling system check properly to avoid same incident happen again.

unless urs is very new car or still within the warranty period, then u can opt for warranty claim in such case but whether it is approved, its no guaranteed :)

 

[bkf8660]

Agree with TKS!!! bring somewhere else..i had enough of Nissan...Even the car is under warranty or so ever...they will claim as my fault!

 

[weikee]

Is your car under 100k warranty? if not i doubt you get anything, i like to know too which nissan service center will compensate anything. Even Toyota or any car manufacture won't do that if is not under warranty.

The car will give you warning, but not many people are aware and know of it, recently (2 weeks ago) my fatty also had this problem, but i was lucky. My Wife was driving it, and it stall on the way up hill. Lucky i always educate my wife (If A/C not cold, and engine feel jerking CHECK the water temp), true enough it was all the way to H. She stop on the road side and get some help. The car was sent to my usual workshop, and the fix was rm 50.00 (small hose leaking).


Overheating normally will need top overhaul. But for some engine like X-Trail if the overheat is bad, the head need to be replace.

 

[sb3]

This happened during my journey from Batu Pahat to JB. About 2 mins before reaching Yong Peng toll using trunk road, heard a "thump" sound coming out from aircon vent. Thought I hit something under the bonnet, off my stereo to hear any other noise. All fine. Then after the toll, heard a pinging sound when i step on the accelerator to gain speed but noise dissappeared after higher rpm. I slowed down and and start looking at my dashboard, temperature slowly going up and I off the aircon. Keeping going up until 3/4 then stopped by the roadside. Open up the hood and saw water oozing out from top side of the radiator. Keep story short, towed my car to workshop and told me gasket burned and better to change the engine due to warp. Car still in Nissan service center.

Is this Nissan fault? Aint it suppose to have some kind of indicator to prevent this minor fault which leads to serious engine warp or auto cut off engine before it fry the engine? How can this happened even i took precautions to stop my car before the temp meter hit the red mark? All this happend in less than 5 mins and probably 5 km travelling. To replace the radiator cost RM300 but now I had to fork out RM4 to RM5K for engine work.

Can we get anything back from Nissan?

I doubt that they will compensate you if the screw and nut is cracked. For a normal engine (none aluminium head) you just need to skim the heads , replace gaskets and sometimes replace the rings (pistons). But for our type of engines better not skim the head coz the head/s will warp during overheating. It will cost more problem unless the heads you change are new ones. Setting back the timing chain is another headache. If the chains are wrongly set , get ready for an engine swap. My advice is also do an engine swap instead of spending $$$$ on your current engine. You can do it (head swap) if Nissan agrees to pay you compensation. Pls note that the VQ HEads are not cheap.

 

[calvinong]

THank you all for your postings. I felt painful due to the fact I took good care of the engine and everything under the hood. I had the care complete serviced and some parts replacement a month a go and my total bill abt 3K which I dont mind paying for taking care of the engine. It had 145K mileage and 10 yrs old Cefiro A32 2.0. The engine running so smooth like new and never got any problems at all.

Now, with what I called a "system defect" by Nissan which does not look into this problem by giving enough warning or engine cut off before overheating. I had stopped my car 3/4 temperature before hitting the red mark and yet damage were so costly. Nissan confirmed gasket burnt, head warp and could lead to other parts damage! I still cannot understand this until today.

Was told by mechanic it was so bad because of aluminium head. Other cars would not have this problem even you overheat it until engine dies on you. But why Nissan can't do this?

I decided to replace the engine, manage to find one at Mun Lee and transport down to Batu Pahat. I will not feel good anymore with the engine replacement, never be the same again even though I have not drive the car yet with replaced used engine.

For those A32 owners out there, just make sure you stop your car when you see temp level is not normal even up tiny bit, otherwise will cost you an engine. I have learnt my costly lesson with disappointment by Nissan technology. Once bitten, twice shy. New 2010 Teana? No way!

Once again, thank you all and Happy New Year. Cheers

---------- Post added at 03:58 PM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 03:55 PM ----------

Can we bring this matter up to Nissan?

---------- Post added at 04:03 PM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 03:58 PM ----------

Thank you for your reply.. The only warning I had is a "thump" sound, 5 mins later temperature up to 3/4 level and stopped my car. Now, cost me an engine. DOnt think this is wat we call "WARNING". I am not good at car parts, but what I know, it has temperature sensor at bottom part of engine, but why not on the top part to protect the most crucial part of the whole car? Hmmmm...Flat battery give you warning on dashboard, but no warning when engine going to fry. hehehee

 

[tks]

something to add...

If you really wanna go one step further to make sure your engine is gonna be 100% when it goes in...Overhaul it. of overhaul the one that overheated + replace the head. This way its like you've got a brand new engine! Cuz coming from the chop shops, the condition could be somewhat unknown till its in and fired up.

Cheers!

 

[Calvin_Ong]

Appreciated for your advise. Initially wanted to overhaul it like what you suggested. But when comes to bill, gasket alone cost min RM500, which already cost half of the engine price which I got for RM1100. Changing the heads or maybe other parts, will adds up more.

So, I just bite the bullet and take my chances to replace the engine knowing chop shop engine is a gamble. Really hope I win this time.

Will update here after I got my car back next week and see how it goes. Worth it to keep my old fried engine as parts?

Cheers

 

[weikee]

2L engine got a lot in chop shop. So is cheaper to replace it, with also oil seal change. Try looking for 3L, it will be more expensive to change.

Is not fair to say Nissan this. Are you sure all other car manufacture don't have this problem? Any car with have this problem, cause many (if not all) car engine are now aluminum block and head. Even the vtech.

 

[Calvin_Ong]

I just bought the 2L engine from Mun Lee, aint that great condition but definitely will save me money compare to overhaul. Service center confirmed this morning that new head cost RM3800, thus prompted me immediately to proceed with engine replacement.

I had overheat situation with Toyota Corrolla many years back, driven it till engine dies on the highway. After engine cool down, fill up the water and ready to go again till i reach a workshop. Just replace water pump and thats all. My brother had Kancil died twice on the road without knowing no water in the radiator, top up the water and no changes nor repair. Having said that, both cases temp meter level already hit the red mark but yet no gasket burnt.

My A32 case, temp meter level only 3/4 and I already stopped the car, travelled probably less than 10 KM on trunk road. And yet gasket burnt and engine warp. I accepted my fault if I do really ignorant about this and kept moving till it dies, I deserved it. But I had take precautions and yet damage was so serious. On top of that, I had thorough engine service just a month ago, oil seal, transmission oil change, belt change, etc...

Your questions, am I sure other cars don't have this problem? My cases stated above, answer? You decide.

As for Nissan, I just wait and see what they come up with their reply to my email to their HQ.

 

[huakenny]

this is wat we call Incident, sometimes even we gv enuf precautions.......but it will still happen

coz of the aluminium head, it cant be skim or watsover, replace is d only solution.

and if brand new nissan spare parts, its always tat costly no matter what nissan you are riding :)

 

[weikee]

Hmm, my wife drove my A32 till overheat engine all the way to H, and still running now.. without me doing anything to the engine just replace the hose.. hmm maybe my cefiro is not using VQ engine..

 

[sb3]

I just bought the 2L engine from Mun Lee, aint that great condition but definitely will save me money compare to overhaul. Service center confirmed this morning that new head cost RM3800, thus prompted me immediately to proceed with engine replacement.

I had overheat situation with Toyota Corrolla many years back, driven it till engine dies on the highway. After engine cool down, fill up the water and ready to go again till i reach a workshop. Just replace water pump and thats all. My brother had Kancil died twice on the road without knowing no water in the radiator, top up the water and no changes nor repair. Having said that, both cases temp meter level already hit the red mark but yet no gasket burnt.

**BTW how much did you buy the 2.0L half cut from Mun Lee?


My A32 case, temp meter level only 3/4 and I already stopped the car, travelled probably less than 10 KM on trunk road. And yet gasket burnt and engine warp. I accepted my fault if I do really ignorant about this and kept moving till it dies, I deserved it. But I had take precautions and yet damage was so serious. On top of that, I had thorough engine service just a month ago, oil seal, transmission oil change, belt change, etc...

Your questions, am I sure other cars don't have this problem? My cases stated above, answer? You decide.

As for Nissan, I just wait and see what they come up with their reply to my email to their HQ.

Bro , sorry for the unhappy news when we were crossing over to 2011. But do not fred. Replacement of half cut vq r not that bad after all , I had mine replaced about 5 years back. So far its still running strong without any major issue except for the dirty AFM which was cleaned following WeiKee's advice. (Knock on the wood).

I don't know about Nissan but I had a blown gasket on my civic (due to overheat ) . Skimmed head , replaced gasket and piston rings. :proud: It runs like a brand new engine now.

For VQs, i 've heard of many negative comments on skimming the head and replacement of gasket and rings. Replacment of the whole engine would be a wiser move although its a bit overkill.

But look at the bright side , you would have loads of parts to spare from your old engine. Once com May , these parts would be expensive if you know what I mean.

 

[doraemon98]

But look at the bright side , you would have loads of parts to spare from your old engine. Once com May , these parts would be expensive if you know what I mean.

Change the car or change the gomen. I love my car and I will change the other one instead.