Expert: Sean Halliday - 1/15/2008

Question
QUESTION: A friend has blessed me and family by donating to us a very well maintained '97 Maxima. Literally, 5 minutes after he gave me the news, he started to have problems driving home. He notice some antifreeze and the car did die. He got it started and drove it about another 5 miles to get home. I don't see any leaks to indicate a hose. Now when you started, it will idle for approximately 90 secs to 2 minutes and then die. Any help would be greatly appreciated. 150,000 miles.

ANSWER: You say anti freeze?What do you mean?.Leaking or overheating?I need more information such as ,does the car have a good spark?.Getting fuel pressure at the injector rail?.This could be many things as there are so many components that will cause the car to stop.You must eliminate one at a time such as,fuel system,electrical system,from what you say its possible the head gasket has blown so you need to do a leak down test.Also a compression test.

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QUESTION: I received more detail today. When the car started to act up, he was on the interstate. He pulled over because it started to overheat (per the temp gauge). He sat there for awhile and then started back up. He was less than 1 mile from an exit. He drove it with the temp gauge now staying in the normal position. When the tow truck got there, the tow truck needed a tow, so He drove it home (about 5-6 miles). This time the temp gauge stayed on the cold. He poured anti freeze into it and said that it "disappeared." Could it be water pump or a gasket? Or water pump go and warp the head maybe?

Answer
If the engine got so hot it stalled,its most likely damaged the cylinder head/gasket.Your next step is a leak down test on all cylinders to see if the gasket is blown.When the water pump goes,you usually see a puddle of coolant on the ground below the engine.You will need to see why the coolant disappeared.