Issue with Engine on a 93 sentra xe ga16de
625

Asked by Joshua Mar 27, 2012 at 03:32 AM about the 1993 Nissan Sentra XE Coupe

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Just when I thought my sentra was fine and getting better, something else goes wrong and it could be serious. I need to know if
my head gasket could be gone or going: First notice- Engine seems to be running faster than normal at every rpm; seems to take
forever to get to 60 mph.; shifting patterns are now closer than before because in each gear, my rpms seems to be running
higher to the redline so when I'm driving before this situation, 0-20mph. is 1st gear, 20-40mph. in second, 40-60mph. in
3rd....now when I reach 60mph., I'm reaching 5th to save the engine from redlining. Second notice- I'm burning more oil than
normal. Doing some small revs to warm the engine and noticed that my exhaust made a black residue on the asphalt and exhaust
is smoking; checked the oil and its almost black; I've only got about 1200 miles on the oil change. So, is this caused by a head
gasket failure or is it something more serious?

3 Answers
4,535

Doran answered 12 years ago

Based on your description of the symptoms, I doubt that it's a head gasket. Honestly, it sounds more like piston rings to me...that would account for the oil consumption (bad rings allow oil to "blow by" into the cylinder, burning off with the rest of the combustion process). As far as the redlining at low speed goes, that may be clutch-related. First things first, check compression on all four cylinders, let me know what you find.

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625

Joshua answered 12 years ago

So instead of getting this fixed, it would be better off to get a replacement car for 1200-1400 dollars since I need a car for work and I don't have any money to get it fixed?

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4,535

Doran answered 12 years ago

You know, that might be a good option to look into, since either way, the symptoms you've described point to a major problem.

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