Posted: Mar 26 2008 at 6:01pm | IP Logged

Well my '05 CC Nismo decided to drink a lot more coolant lately; A LOT MORE!!!  Took it to the dealership last week because I saw a bit of coolant (no more than half the size of a dollar bill) and smelt a hint of coolant when I passed by the front of the truck.

3 days later they told me that there was an air pocket a a slight blockage caused by the faulty thermostat.  The temp gauge never showed any increase in temp other than normal readings plus the fans worked on the rad as well.  They replaced the thermostat, burped out the air pocket, and topped it up and sent me home.

After inhaling a strong scent of coolant for 4 days, I decided to look at the coolant level in the rad.  Needed to add 1.75 litres of coolant/water this morning and then took it straight to the dealer.  They added another 1.5 litres of coolant while running their analysis.  They called and told me that a head gasket is gone on one bank (not sure which side yet).  I checked the oil on the dip stick and there were no telltale signs of coolant in the oil and there were no leaks so where it went, nobody knows.  Couldn't smell it out the exhaust either or see the nice white smoke.

19000 miles and I require a head gasket already!!!!  Not Nissan reliability that I was expecting that I have been so accustomed to in the past.

Posted: Apr 04 2008 at 8:07pm | IP Logged

The truck is under warranty so it has been at Nissan since last Wednesday - 35 hours of labour so far to try and figure out where my coolant has gone and they have stated that 3 cylinders have low compression (both sides of the block) and that the valves were not properly set by the factory when initially built.

Not very impressed with Nissan right now and this doesn't appear to be a one off problem.  For a small town, there are 3 Nissan 4.0L with the same problem....how coincidental is that.

The truck ran fine with the exception of the smell of coolant.  No leaks and it ran good.  For 3 cyclinders that were less than 50% compression, it still hauled ass.  If they attempt a rebuild, I'll be selling it before the factory warranty comes up.