X-Trail Exhaust Manifold & Head Gasket Problems

[XNISSAN1]

:censored:
Hi Guys,
Not long finished replacing the Cylinder Head Gasket on my 2.0 petrol X-trail (100k miles). First symptom about 10k miles ago was very slow loss of coolant which got progressively worse until there was obvious loss through the radiator expansion bottle (no water in the oil). Despite how it looks the engine stripdown was relatively simple and not as complicated as the workshop manual suggests (Incidentally I opted for the Nissan liquid gasket for the rebuild which is excellent but a bit pricey).The leakage was around No.3 Cylinder which seems to fit in with what everyone else is seeing.
The interesting thing is that I also recently had to replace the exhaust manifold/catalyst due to corrosion (the sensor before the catalyst actually blew out!) which makes you wonder if moisture in the exhaust helped things along. So if you start topping up the radiator more than normal beware!
On a brighter note I am just about to replace the front brake discs which at 100k miles is pretty good mileage these days.

Have fun in the Sun.

Al S (Scotland)

[Altimama2002]

Hello Al S (Scotland)

I have an 02 Altima that I just rebuilt the engine due to the cat failure problem that caused the cylinder problem that caused the oil use and oveheating headgasket problem you describe.

I have to say that this is a very common problem with Nissan products from the research I've done on it.

The manifold/cat configuration is a design flaw and Nissan knows it - I read recently that they are now redesigned with 3" between man/cat to try to solve the engine damage caused when the cat blows.

At any rate, although I really love my Altima, I won't purchase another Nissan ever! :(