Earlier this year SWMBO's 06 Sentra 1.8s popped the head gasket randomly. Seriously. Randomly. No over heating, no signs, just started it up at work, drove a mile down the road, got stopped at a light, and when she went to pull away there were clouds of white smoke behind her. Had it towed to the house, spent the next day diagnosing it, trying to figure out why it failed. No oil/water mix, but it definitely starts blowing white smoke when it comes up to temp and the thermostat opens.
Looked at costs to repair it properly, and it comes out to more than buying an engine from a salvage yard and dropping it in. (deck head, quickie valve job, seals, timing set etc) Motor has 160k on it. Serviced regularly. It's been a good appliance.
Quick look on the internet, and this seems to be a known issue with the QG18 motors? Anyone know why? anything that can be done to prevent it from happening again? We ended up buying her a new car, so I get this thing if I decide to fix it, and I'm not sure I want to have it looming over me. At the same time if I can fix it and make it reliable for another 100k or so and can pass it on to my soon to be 17 year old niece... Again, I don't want to hand her a time bomb.
Or should I just throw a $350 salvage yard motor in it, detail the piss out of it, and put it up for sale to fund something I would enjoy?
