well i have put the stock CATS, exhaust, and air intakes on.

I will be selling the rims/tires/headlights/tail lights for some stock ones and will put the stock springs on. at that point it will go in for warranty work. Now that the cats are back on, i smell antifreeze smell after driving it and parking it.

you can see it with either a mirror or a scope. its right under the manifolds heat shields and above the engine mounts. It looks as if it leaks alittle bit upon every warm up cycle and then dries out. so it is a layered/caked up residue along the length of the heads

 

^ good decision to go back to stock on all the potentially warranty voidable parts(exhaust, cats, intake etc) but no need to go through the hassle of going back to stock on the headlights, taillights and rims.

I would just put back the stock springs and take it in... at most get stock rims to show the dealers that you havent modified anything major your decision though, better safe than sorry i guess.

 

this is weird because

a) if you were leaking as much as you say you suspect you are, you def should be overheating and your radiator should be low on coolant. this would be especially true for the VQ35 because these engines start to cry when they are down a thimble of water.

b) you should only suspect a blown headgasket after you troubleshoot all the symptoms for overheating, then confirm via compression test/leakdown test.


either or, very interested in what the dealer has to say

 

it really seems as if only a few drops of coolant make it out in between the head and block during each cold start warm up. with the stock intakes/exhaust tracts back in, the car is super quiet again. but you can still feel the stuttering at about 2 mins into the drive. at 5 mins into the drive its back to normal. once parked you can smell a very small hint of antifreeze around the sides of the car.

i researched the issue and found the 09+ muranos are having the same issues. I know they arent the exact same as our motors, but they have gone to an overall similar engine design in the brand new muranos/maximas. they report an antifreeze smell after driving it. dealers are replacing the head gaskets and machining the heads if necessary. But numerous people have to take it to the dealer 3-5 times before they find it and fix it.


thats why im pointing the issue out when i drop mine off.

and 350z HR's are having the stuttering issue during warm up as well. I havent seen any of them find the coolant leaking on the block. But they have YET to resolve the problem after numerous trips to the dealer.


I am still trying to sell the headlights/taillights/grill/springs/intakes/test pipes/rims. when its back to stock i will take it in.

 

GTM stroker time?

 

stop guessing. perform a compression or leak down test. the latter can be more specific for head gasket failure. I'm not saying your wrong, just saying you should do these tests before your speculate/tear down your car any further.

 

yes i have a compression tester, and yes I will test it. I was just keeping you up to date. I am selling the parts and then the car. i never drive it anymore and its just sitting there depreciating in value. I have some pediatrician bills and a credit card i want to pay off(10mo old twin boys). I am looking into getting a cheaper car to tinker with and let sit in the garage

i will update when i check the compression or take to the dealer.

 

Subscribed. Please let us know how it goes. I'm hoping it's only a bad headgasket.

 

what are the symptoms when you first started figuring this out? i wonder if it would fail a block test at this time?

 

yes interested how this comes out.

 

upadates? I think i'm in the same situation.

 

I thought it might be usefull to add that I've seen some dried coolant on my block. I've put 90K miles on the car and it's never dripped a drop in my garage or anywhere else. When I observe the coolent it's a small amount and always dry. I've done the regular service of course but I've never lost coolant to the point where I needed to add some. The quantity seems far less then in the pictures above but I didn't disasemble anything. This is just a superficial visual inspection. I do see it on both sides. I don't have any performance issues so I'm thinking that it may be seepage due to the block and exhaust manifold expanding and contracting at different rates. If that helps...