So i bought a 2002 Nissan Sentra for $1500.00 I knew it had overheating problems when I bought it. I did the tear down to replace the head gasket and and found a hair line crack in the cylinder wall of #4 cylinder. So it was not the head gasket causing the white smoke coming from the exhaust. I used to be a tech at ford and Toyota before I joined the navy. I now am a helicopter mechanic working on the MH-60S. Anyway, does anyone know if I could use some type of cylinder/engine block sealer to plug up the crack? Or do I need to replace the engine? I found a short block on eBay for 800 bucks here is the link...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nissan-02-05...ht_3422wt_1037

like I said bought the car for 1500 and it has 143,000. The car has all the options except for leather. I don't know if Nissan offered the Sentra's with leather. Its the SE-R with 5 speed and the QR25DE engine(2.5L). Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! I don't want to join a Nissan forum cause this will only be a drive to work car. The interior, paint, transmission, and everything else is in great condition. The engine has new water pump, radiator, radiator hoses, thermostats, and timing components. I really like the car but I want to keep the cost down on the repair. I just don't know if there is a trick or cheap way of sealing the cylinder wall. Thanks for all the help in advance!!! I'm looking to you guys for advise! Thankfully I have my 2002 FX4 screw to drive for the time being!

I'l post pics when I have a chance!

 

At this point I would think that a J/Y engine and total transplant would be the least expensive/reliable for you.

 

There's no permanent fix. I bet you can find a used low mileage for under 1000. Ready to drop in. The SE-R models are probably harder to find though.

Thought the SE-R had a different engine than a standard sentra. Guess they switched in 02. Those things eat up head gaskets. Worse than a 3.slow toyota on a hot summer night in the backwoods of the Mississippi.

 

You could try liquid glass, but I think I would just do an engine swap junk yard engine.

 

Well...I'm sure the head is warped or cracked if the cylinder wall is too. So I am going to be saving up for a junker engine maybe even a re manufactured one from here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NISSAN-SENTR...ht_3425wt_1037

I prefer to get a re-man or one with low miles so I don't have any problems and have some type of warranty. I am going to put the engine back together with a new head gasket and use this stuff and hopefully it will hold until tax return! I plan on keping this little car forever to commute with. Here is the stuff I found

http://www.amazon.com/Permanent-Meta.../dp/B00030415W

or

https://secure.steelseal.com/index.p...9705966-525364

or

http://www.midwayautosupply.com/p-11...oz-401232.aspx

I heard good reviews about the first link.

 

Well Its kinda expensive but the warranty looks really good! I will have to see what kind of small print there is. I might have to have it professionally installed.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-REMAN-NI...ht_1632wt_1270

 

The easiest fix is to bore #4 cylinder and sleeve it. But before you do that, I'd suggest contacting Nissan about that engine. They replaced MANY of those due to your exact problem. They probably won't do anything about it considering the age and not being an original owner but ya never know. Otherwise, get it running good and get rid of it ASAP as it's going to happen again unless you bore all cylinders and sleeve them.

 

I will NEVER AGAIN use KW Block sealer on anything!!!!!

I bought an Olds station wagon to fix & sell that had a head gasket issue. Someone talked me into that snake oil and what a mistake. Did it like the instructions say and it ended up in the oil. Have you ever seen a cooling systen that somebody added Dexcool to and mixed the coolant......THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED TO MY OIL. Had to pull the oil pump and lifters and clean out all the jello. Then flush with diesel fuel. Then with a drill motor I ran the oil pump with diesel in the crank case to clean out all the oil galleys. Then run about 5 oil filters (one after the other) with the motor at idle with diesel fuel in the crank case. Finally got it cleaned out, what a pita. All because I wanted to short cut pulling the head and changing the gasket.

NEVER AGAIN!! Lesson learned.

Do it right like Labnerd said with a sleeve or another motor----or don't do it at all.

Just my humble opinion, Good luck.

BTW K W products would NOT stand behind their product AT ALL for me.

 

Well it looks like I will try and find a junker engine and then sell it. I would love an STI but I don't think that is the most practical car for commuting haha...

 

Well neither was the junker. :o

 

I didn't know the car had a cracked cylinder wall. I took the risk and assumed it just needed a head gasket. Everything else about the car is great! The car is not so much a junker but oh well...you live and learn... After I replace the engine I think I am still going to try and get my $1500 out of it and drive it for a year. For some reason Nissan put two thermostats in the engine. One in the head and the block. The one in the head is set at a higher temp. People are gutting the t-stat in the head and just running the one in the block. A lot of people think that is the cause of the head gasket problem. Just throwing around some ideas. I have the truck but the 60 miles a day is kinda killing the wallet.

 

Is it aluminum or steel? If aluminum try aluminumrepair.com