1996 Other Nissan Models cylinder head keeps cracking

JHEENAN

MEMBER
1996 NISSAN
4 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
117,500 MILES

Im from Australia - I drive a nissan pulsar here (1.6L, 4 cylinder car) and almost 2 years ago the cylinder head on my car was cracked and thus repaired with a reconditioned head, costing $AU3500. Six months later it happened again, despite following the guidlines by the mechanic for the check ups and coolant change etc. They fixed it again at no charge. And now its happening again, bu im picking up the symptoms first before I get stuck on the side of the road again. Its almost 2 years but having paid a fair bit of money should cylinder heads, even recondioned ones, last longer than that? Its done no more than 20,000km since it initially got repaired. Is it just how it is, or is it bodgy workmanship (Kmart Tyre & Auto fixed it up for me) or a bad part? I drive the car pretty conservatively.

1 Reply

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,937 POSTS

Hi there,
I is important that these engine have the head bolts replaced (torque to yield) with no exception. And there is no re torquing of head bolts at all, ever. If the standard precautions are taken, you should not have a problem, I would be checking if the head bolts were replaced, as this is the main cause for head failures with these type of bolts. By the way the 3.5K repaire sound very excessive indeed for that engine.

Mark (mhpautos) Australia.