NHTSA Complaint #10367288 — 2005 NISSAN SENTRA

1. SHAKING WHEN CAR WAS TURNED ON. LOSING POWER WHILST DRIVING. LOSING COOLANT. 2. HEAD GASKET WAS DIAGNOSED TO BE LEAKING. OCCURRED CONSTANTLY WHEN CAR TURNED ON, LOST POWER AS DRIVING, IDLED ROUGH, FAILED TO POINT COULD NO LONGER DRIVE AS COULD NOT ACCELERATE WITHOUT SHAKING OR FEELING LIKE IT WOULD STALL. ODD PART IS IT SEEMED TO BE BETTER ON COOLER MORNINGS. 3. READ CODES FOR MISFIRE CYLINDER 4, AND RANDOM MISFIRE. ALSO RUNNING A LITTLE ELEVATED TEMPERATURE. WE CHANGED SPARK PLUGS, COILS, AND STILL HAD THE PROBLEM. SEARCHED ONLINE TO FIND THE SAME MODEL AND YEAR ALL HAD SAME CODES. THE SOLUTION ON MULTIPLE MESSAGE BOARDS THAT 2005 NISSAN SENTRA ALL HAD PROBLEMS WITH HEAD GASKET BLOWING. WHEN ASKED MECHANIC TO CHECK, HE FOUND CYLINDER 4 BE VERY CLEAN WHICH HE BELIEVED WAS DUE TO COOLANT LEAKING IN. HE USED A SEALANT PRODUCT THROUGH THE SYSTEM THAT FILLED IN LEAKS. HE SAID THE HEAD GASKET DESIGN WAS DIFFERENT. THEY WERE BOLTS THAT SEEMED TO STRETCH AS THEY TIGHTEN WHICH WOULD OBVIOUSLY CRACK OR BREAK AFTER GENERAL USE. HE SAID THERE COULD BE A PROBLEM IF ANY FRAGMENTS WERE TO BE LOSE IN THE SYSTEM COULD DAMAGE OTHER PARTS SUCH AS A WATER PUMP. WE ARE WATCHING THE WATER LEVELS. WE HAVE PARKED THE CAR BECAUSE WE DO NOT KNOW IF OR WHEN THE CAR WILL REPEAT THE ISSUE. THE COST IS ABOUT 2,000 DOLLARS TO FIX THE HEAD GASKET. WHO KNOWS WHAT OTHER DAMAGE HAS BEEN CAUSED TO OTHER PARTS AS WELL. *TR