Hi Everyone,
I have a 2000 Sentra GXE w/ about 110k miles, and it's been having
overheating problem for few days. Also, there's no hot air when I
turn on the heater. The first time I noticed the problem was when my
sentra won't start moving after getting stuck in stop-and-go traffic
for about 5 mins. I pulled over, turned off the car and started it
again, then it started driving, then I noticed the thermostat was all
the way up almost reaching High. I turned on the heater all the way
up, but there was no hot air coming out. After I got off the freeway,
I checked the coolant level in the reservoir, and it was almost full.
I got a new radiator about 2 months ago, I don't think radiator itself
has problems. The mechanic noticed the upper radiator tube(hose?) was
boiling hot while the lower one was just warm. The first time I
brought it to a shop, the mechanic replaced the thermostat. I had to
take the car right back to the shop, because replacing the thermostat
didn't solve the problem. My mechanic hasn't figured out what went
wrong. He checked the water pump and the propeller, and there's
nothing wrong with those. I've done some research online, and one of
the possible reasons is damaged head gasket and it seems to be a
common problem w/ the same year same model.
I've experienced another common problem w/ 2000 Sentra: broken
dipstick. Unfortunately, I wasn't lucky enough to solve the problem
with a pencil and crazy-glue. My mechanic friend had to struggle with
it for hours and hours to get the rest of the dipstick out.
I was told the estimated cost of the head gasket repair is $1500. Is
it worth it to spend that much money for repair when the value of my
Sentra is just around $3000 since it has high mileage? Does anyone
know the average life? Has anyone experienced same over heating
problems? Can anyone tell me what other common issues with Sentra I
should expect?
Thanks very much in advance!!!
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