A leak down test is going to beyond the average person's mechanical ability. The head gasket test is easy peasy and will tell you the same thing in seconds.

I personally wouldn't tell Nissan I had tested anything. I'd test it to know for myself then drop the car off and tell them the head gasket blew again and let them do their own test, likely the same one.

Bubbles in the coolant over flow tank at idle is another sign of HG failure BTW.

Let us know how the test turns out. I'm curious.

Yea this is my plan this evening.... Will post the results. Also good tip on the rad hoses mit.. I completely understand what you mean and from my engineering background it makes perfect sense to me. I'll check the hoses to see if they are pressurized as well

Well guys just when you think it couldn't get anyworse... It does.

So I got that leak down test.. turns out the kit I got requires an external vacuum source which is not something I have laying around so I returned it.

Started up the car today and saw the plume of white smoke shoot out. Drove it to sherwood Nissan right then and there.

After speaking with the service rep I was warned I may have some "out of pocket expenses related to diagnosis etc."

I told them my car was under warranty and I will not be paying for anything. I also gave them a list of things that are wrong with the car (tpms, mirrors not working, head gasket).

The service manager came out to talk to me. He told me that if they determine the cause of failure to be from Erricksen Nissan's workmanship that the repair would be out of my pocket! How does that even make sense? I got warranty work from a licensed Nissan service center. How could I be responsible for the quality of their worksmanship in any way? If they did a bad job that is NISSAN'S problem not mine. My warranty clearly states I can take it to any Nissan dealership I want for warranty work and that they will restore it to factory spec. The service manager literally started arguing with me and wanted to know why I didn't take it back to Erricksen Nissan. I told him my results there should be reason enough I don't need to justify why I am not taking it back there.

Disgusted does not even begin to describe my impression of Nissan at this point.

:facepalm:
FÙCK...

Best to take it back to the original dealer, get in contact with the dealer principle, Nissan NA, media, social networking sites, etc. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Don't stop until you get a suitable resolution.

Really shouldn't matter what dealer I take it to.. My warranty states I can take it to any certified nissan dealership. Erricksen Nissan has a horrible reputation around Edmonton which I was initially unaware of.

PLEASE give me all your info so I can see what I can do

And did you try my twitter method?

Yea they don't even respond to my tweets anymore lol. I'll let you know how it pans out.. I'm waiting for them to finish 'diagnosing' the car. I'll be contacting Nissan tomorrow.. I may take you up on that if Nissan gives me the run around again.

Amazing man. Sorry to hear about all this :/

complain to NNA corporate, it's all you can do. I'd probably let the other dealer fix it and let them try to enforce charging you for it...

It's really frustrating how frequently it seems we have to take it above the dealer level to get issues resolved properly, but at least NNA isn't terrible to deal with

Yeah.. It just blows my mind that the service manager would even consider trying to tell me that I would have to pay for shoddy worksmanship from a licensed Nissan service center..... What planet do they come form that that makes sense on? My warranty doesn't say anywhere I'm on the hook when they **** up.

You made a warranty claim and the dealer botched the repair. Nissan paid that dealer for the warranty work. Seeing the dealer botched the repair, you still have to take it back to them to fix the faulty work. Nissan is not going to pay out for the same claim at another dealer because the dealer who botched the work must now fix it at their expense, not Nissan's. That is what the Sherwood dealer was telling you. Have you contacted CAMVAP as I suggested? Sorry for your woes but this is reality, like it or not.

I made a huge mistake buying a nissan I guess. Either way Erricksen Nissan is never touching my car again they can bicker about who pays for what but they don't need to concern me with it. If your reading this Nissan just fix my damn car without trying to scam me out of my warranty

Wow talk about bad luck. You obviously dislike the car and brand, why not just bite the bullet and trade it. I'm surprised Canadia doesn't have any lemon laws.

Its not that I dislike the car at all.. when it runs. Problem is it has only functioned correctly for maybe 50% of the time I have owned it and Nissan just does not seem to care. That is the problem with the brand

Yeah. I had the same issue with GM so I know how you feel. Did the other dealer diagnose it as a headgasket issue again?

no not yet.. I imagine they will call me today to tell me my 'bill' lmao as well as whats wrong with the car.

Man what a nightmare. Hope your luck turns for the better

You are scrambling and grasping at straws instead of taking the sound advice given by some in this thread. Why didn't you just pick up the test kit I told you about? Do they not have those in Canada? You could've checked it in the auto parts store parking lot. I even posted a video of how to use it.

http://i.stack.imgur.com/XPUir.png

the only kit at the local napa was one that lacked the hand pump. I don't have a vacuum source sitting around in my garage so I could not perform the test.

This kit doesn't require much vacuum if it looks like the one I posted. You could literally suck on it :icon14:

Here in the states, Advanced, AutoZone, and Firestone all have them and let you borrow them. Maybe you have one of those local?

A radiator pressure tester will yield the same results. If the pressure drops after a few seconds and there are no fluid leaks to be found, it's a head gasket leak.

We have CAMVAP for those who wish to use it. It works if your truly being dicked over.

Nissan is not going to pay for the same work twice. The dealer must now correct their shoddy repair if that is what happened as we're only getting one side of the story. It sounds like the OP has burned the bridge with the dealer. Too bad. The Z is a great car.

Edit: I don't believe the OP's car is a lemon so even if we had a lemon law, it doesn't apply here, just yet.

Sounds like you are trying to put this on me somehow? I didnt burn any bridge..

Just receieved word from the new dealership. Multiple coolant leaks.. multiple oil leaks. Yeah. Why would I let such an incompetent shop touch my car again. Either way im escalating to nissan. Ill be amazed if this car ever runs trouble free lol

Agreed. I wouldn't leave my car for any work at that dealer again. It's one thing when you have some minor repairs and there's a fluke, but it sounds like that dealer basically re-built an engine incorrectly. Nissan should take accountability. At the end of the day, their dealers represent them and the fact that they'd allow a franchise get away with such shoddy work is disconcerting.

Have you contacted CAMVAP? If not, why not? It doesn't cost anything.

No.. CAMVAP doens't apply to me sadly.. As an american who bought the car in America to drive in Canada while I work up here I'm in a bit of a gray zone. CAMVAP clearly says it applies to Canadian dealers.. I'll try giving them a call and maybe look into USA lemon laws as well.

Its friday boys.. time to go drink beer hit on women and forget about my car troubles
:happydance:

Sounds like a plan! :tiphat: and good luck

More likely in purgatory. :ugh2: Hope it works out for ya.

Sure they are. There was warranty work performed on the car by a certified dealer which did not rectify the issue. They'll pay for the work until the car is working properly, and if they want their money back, will deal with the dealer that did shoddy work (hint:nissan won't bother).

So if I understand what your saying, Nissan will keep paying dealer after dealer (assuming subsequent dealers can't fix it either) to correct the shoddy repairs of previous dealers until one of them gets it right and then go back to each dealer and deny their claim? Why did Sherwood refuse to fix it? Somehow, I don't think so. You go back to the first dealer and have them correct the problems (I bet their is more than one mechanic at the dealership and one of them knows how to do it right) as the Sherwood dealer told MHCOSS and have Nissan send out their rep to sort out the issues. However, it appears the OP refuses to go back to the dealership and sort it out.

No, they won't deny claims to those dealers, they will pay them. They will usually pay everyone as it costs more to sort out the issues than to pay the dealers.


The dealer did the crappy work acting on behalf of nissan. NNA owns the mistake and will likely advise OP to take it to another dealer. That's what they did when I went through this.

My personal advice would be to pester the crap out of NNA corp and do whatever they tell you. It's slower but more likely to result in a positive outcome

well just a little update here...

Engine ended getting patched back up by Erricksen Nissan. In the process of repairing the motor they killed the AC system somehow and the passenger side power mirror. They tried to charge me for the passenger mirror to the tune of (1000 CAD LOL!) claiming my custom stereo broke it. They ended up fixing it but told me to never return to their shop! As if I needed any more motivation for that. Going to get the AC fixed this summer when the snow melts.. and if Nissan tried to claim its out of warranty I **** you not i'll blow my own head gasket.

So coolant tank low again.. Took it back to Erricksen Nissan where they told me everything is fine..... Sigh

Are you serious? wow.

Yeah, don't forget the AC is still broken from their previous repair as well. :shakes head:

I'm sure when I pick the car up later this week the coolant will magically be back at the normal level.. with no answers or solutions as to where it all went before..

Ok does this count as a positive test for a leak detection test? Didn't have anyone to push the gas while I did this.. but got a slight yellowing of the testing fluid in the upper chamber.

http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/p...ps0ac59918.jpg

http://i404.photobucket.com/albums/p...psdc6bad3a.jpg

Feeling sorry for the OP. Really frustrated for you bro.

This post still kinda riles me. How many times do I have to take my broken car back to the same dealership and ask them to fix it before it gets fixed? Its going on the 7-8th time into the shop for the SAME issues.