Fix or not fix? 2002 Nissan Sentra

[alphatarget1]

My sister has been driving our Sentra for the past 3-4 years. We bought it brand new and it's been paid off for 5 years at least. Has 118k on the odometer.

Problem: It started having starting trouble a couple of weeks ago. No check engine lights. Sister took it to a shop, didn't find any problems. A few days later the CEL came on, and she took it to a stealership. They told her that they found some coolant in the #4 cylinder spark plug hole and the idle air valve is malfunctioning. They supposedly checked compression, but I didn't remember to ask what the values were. $1800 to fix it all + $150 diagnose fee.

I told her to take it to another shop to have a 2nd opinion. She took it there and the guy said he checked smog levels and found HC in the engine bay, and the exhaust does have some coolant in it. The mechanic said the diagnose was free since it was her first time there, and he actually suggested that she trade the car in and buy a new one since it still runs! His options were:

Replace head gasket, about $900.
Replace engine, about $2200.

They said the cylinder head has to be sent out for inspection, ok, fine, reasonable. But then he also said the head could be cracked, or even the engine block could be cracked, and we'd have to put a new motor in anyway in that case. I asked the mechanic if they did a compression test but he said it doesn't always find the leaks.

OK, so I'll be up front and say I'm biased, since it was my first car out of high school... Car has never been overheated when I drove it, and I'm pretty sure my sister didn't overheat it either. What would you do in this case?

 

[tbike06]

I would personally say fix it, $900 is way cheaper than getting a new used car that may have problems as well. I spent more than that fixing my 91 Accord this past year. Plus 118k miles isnt that bad, you should be able to get more out of it.

 

[alphatarget1]

I would personally say fix it, $900 is way cheaper than getting a new used car that may have problems as well. I spent more than that fixing my 91 Accord this past year. Plus 118k miles isnt that bad, you should be able to get more out of it.

I guess the only risk is I don't want them to tear out the motor and tell me that I have a cracked block, in which case I'd have to get a used engine installed.

 

[Vette73]

Blocks rarly crack unless abused or if its a known problem. I have never heard of block problem with the sentras and never saw one when I worked on them. They were known to have bad timing chain guides.

If you brought it to my shop I would say do the head job, replace the therm, water punp (if never done), rad cap, plugs, and replace as many timing chain guides/supports you can get to with the head off.

If the job is done well you should get another 100k+ out of it, as long as you don't have timing chain issues and don;t abuse it.

$1000 is a lot cheaper than another car payment or another used car you don;t know the history of.

 

[Bartman39]

$1000 is a lot cheaper than another car payment or another used car you don;t know the history of.

Plus everything else he said...X2

 

[desy]

fix it

 

[T2urtle]

02 sentra... with what? 1.8, 2.0 , 2.5 ?

you have fault for idle air control, replace that valve/ or if its one unit as the throttle body replace that. should be $300 at most places. Price around other places for engine installs. might be able to get a motor installed for $1200-1500. Or do the headgasket, most likely nothing is cracked. While your there, not sure if the engine is belt or chain driven but if belt change that with water pump as well, save on labor, do the serp belt and you should be good for another 100k. the pump, belt ( if equip)and other seals and gaskets should be mainly parts of $100 more to install while doing the head gasket VS paying $500 for the pump/belt replacement on its own.

 

[exdeath]

Repair manual: $15
Pull a used engine from a bone yard yourself: $500
Case of beer for a buddy if you don't have tools or garage: $30
Pride getting your paid off car up and running another 200,000 miles: priceless

It would be nice if you had the time to tear it down (and leave it sitting pending what you find) so you can verify if it's just the head gasket, easy fix compared to an engine swap.

 

[steppinthrax]

The sentra is pretty low-end nissan. I'm somehow not surprised of this. On the other hand a blown head-gasket is pretty weird at 118K.

 

[alphatarget1]

02 sentra... with what? 1.8, 2.0 , 2.5 ?

you have fault for idle air control, replace that valve/ or if its one unit as the throttle body replace that. should be $300 at most places. Price around other places for engine installs. might be able to get a motor installed for $1200-1500. Or do the headgasket, most likely nothing is cracked. While your there, not sure if the engine is belt or chain driven but if belt change that with water pump as well, save on labor, do the serp belt and you should be good for another 100k. the pump, belt ( if equip)and other seals and gaskets should be mainly parts of $100 more to install while doing the head gasket VS paying $500 for the pump/belt replacement on its own.

1.8L QG18DE motor.

I found a TB for $280 at Courtesy Nissan, not sure if we're replacing it yet. I think the chain and all the guides that we can get to will be replaced. Maybe replace the water pump too...

 

[alphatarget1]

Repair manual: $15
Pull a used engine from a bone yard yourself: $500
Case of beer for a buddy if you don't have tools or garage: $30
Pride getting your paid off car up and running another 200,000 miles: priceless

It would be nice if you had the time to tear it down (and leave it sitting pending what you find) so you can verify if it's just the head gasket, easy fix compared to an engine swap.

My sister (hell, my whole family) doesnt really take care of their cars and whenever I go home I work on cars. I only have about 4 days and I wasn't sure I'm confident enough to do this.

 

[Arkaign]

Fix it, it's not that old (I'm guessing it was sold in '01 as an '02 model?), so only ~12k/year?

Even an engine swap would be cheaper and more trustworthy (provided you get a trustworthy source for the motor and labor if not done yourself) than some mystery car for the same amount of $$ invested. But yeah I'd be pretty surprised if there was actual severe damage to the block unless someone just ran it a long time out of coolant or didn't change the oil for like 30k miles lol.

 

[classy]

Using car-part, you should be able to find a decent motor and have it installed for around a grand to $1200 total. 118K is not a lot of mileage...................

 

[zCypher]

Fix it, it will still have plenty of life left.
Unless you got the itch real bad to get something nice shiny and new!

 

[alphatarget1]

Fix it, it's not that old (I'm guessing it was sold in '01 as an '02 model?), so only ~12k/year?

Even an engine swap would be cheaper and more trustworthy (provided you get a trustworthy source for the motor and labor if not done yourself) than some mystery car for the same amount of $$ invested. But yeah I'd be pretty surprised if there was actual severe damage to the block unless someone just ran it a long time out of coolant or didn't change the oil for like 30k miles lol.

We bought it in 02...

 

[mvbighead]

If the body and suspension and such is all in good shape, definitely worth fixing, IMO.

 

[cprince]

The sentra is pretty low-end nissan. I'm somehow not surprised of this. On the other hand a blown head-gasket is pretty weird at 118K.

my sister's 01 sentra recently had a blown head gasket at ~65k miles. We think the oil change people put too much oil in the engine--at least 5 quarts instead of 4.

 

[alphatarget1]

Oh, forgot to update you guys. Got the HG replaced for $8xx. Car is still running strong, at 146k now!

 

[Monkeywrench]

NVM

 

[Doppel]

Oh, forgot to update you guys. Got the HG replaced for $8xx. Car is still running strong, at 146k now!

Nice!