Nissan needs to address the problem with head gaskets on 2005 Nissan Sentra 1.8 L engines. At 75000 miles I replaced spark plugs, driving belts, new battery because the car was shaking, I thought that a tune up was needed. After a few days the car start running rough. I did a research on line and find a lot of forums talking about the same problems on 2005 Nissan Sentra, describing HEAD GASKET FAILURES .This is a manufacturer's defect. The same problem is occurring over and over in these engines at around the same mileage. Nissan should have a recall and help consumer. Average bill to fix this problem run from $ 1100.00 to $ 1500.00 depending on what service shop you take your car.

I am relieved and distressed to read the other head gasket complaints. I have documentation that the problem started while under warrantee. My car has such low mileage I can hardly believe this is happening. This is definitly a factory issue as I meticulously maintained this car. At this time my car is taken apart at the dealer while I do my best to get the company to live up to the standards the Japanese are typically known for. Nissan needs to take responsibility for this.I am outraged by this situation and will certainly never buy Nissan again.

Bought this car on Feb. 13 this year. Took it home and didn't have a problem - except that the dealer never put any windshield wiper fluid in it...

Spring Break came along (early March) and I'd driven it a couple hundred miles by this time. I decided to visit a friend who lived in Boston, and since my tax refund came in just before and another friend of mine wanted to go too, we opted for a road trip.

We made it from central Indiana through most of Ohio before the car out-of-nowhere overheated and stalled. When I took a look under the hood, I saw that the car was really sucking down the coolant. Fortunately, I thought ahead and brought along a fresh jug of the stuff, and sat around for a little while before filling the tank back up and making it the rest of the way to Boston without any problems.

I decided to take the car to a mechanic up in Boston to take a look at my cooling system and a day later, they had found that my thermostat was destroyed - by destroyed, I mean that all working parts of it were gone and all that was left of it was a rusty ring. They replaced the thermostat, flushed the system and found an excessive amount of stop-leak in the system. The manager of the shop expressed his concern that there might be worse problems with the car with the amount of stop-leak he found, but for the meantime, the car was good to go.

A few days later, we began to make our way back to Indiana and we made it as far as Connecticut before we started stalling again. We had a GPS, and the work on my thermostat had a national warranty, so we called the phone number to the warranty office and they connected us to a participating garage relatively nearby. We eventually got the car there (doing about 35-40 on the highway) and they squeezed us in before closing time and sent us on our way, saying that the car was low on coolant, but didn't find any other problems. About a mile down the road, the car overheated and stalled AGAIN! We called the garage and told them what happened, at which point the mechanic said "yeah, it's definitely the head gasket". The mechanic was nice enough to bring out his wrecker and bring the car back to the garage after hours and take my friend and me to the nearest hotel he knew of. The next morning, I talked to him again and he gave me the rundown: the work on the car was going to be in the $1500 range and take about a week since they had to order the new head gasket. From there, we rented a car to take home, and I returned the rental a week later when I went to pick up my car (the return trip took me about 35 hours - I wouldn't recommend anybody else do this). In all, Nissan's/the dealer's flub-up cost me about $2500 that I'll never see again. A couple days ago, I found that my battery had died on me too. It turns out that the dealer switched out the battery they got with it for a 5-year old aftermarket one, so there's another $100 gone.

Unfortunately, Indiana's lemon laws have no teeth whatsoever, so I'm unable to do much of anything about it. I'll never support Nissan or the dealer again, and recommend anybody who lives in Indiana stay FAR FAR AWAY from Z-Imports in Indianapolis, or any car that ever came through there.

After reading this forum, I realize I am not alone. My car started having starting problems a few months ago. It would quit starting, work for awhile, and quit again. We replaced the crank sensor, cam shaft sensor, and spark plugs before giving up and taking it to a mechanic. The mechanic said it was definitely a blown head gasket, and the head is possibly cracked as well. Ironically, he had another car of the same make and model (smaller engine size and 1 model year older) with the exact same problem. He implied that is a problem with Nissan factory part and they should be responsible for the fix. However, upon calling a Nissan dealer, I was informed that it would be my responsibility to pay for repairs. I have only had this car for 18 mos., and as fun as it is to drive, I don't think I will be buying another Nissan, especially after reading about all the problems they are having, and Nissan's unwillingness to take responsibility for their shoddy parts. What a shame...

Adding to all the other complaints I see on here about a blown head gasket on a 2005 Nissan Sentra. My car only has 65000 miles on it (interestingly 5000 over the warranty for such a thing) and the head gasket blows. My car has never over-heated and up until a week ago ran great. Week ago noticed it was idling rough first thing in the a.m. Once you put it into gear it ran fine. Once the heater seemed to not work, but turned it off and on and worked fine again. This week it wouldn't start at all and had to have it towed to mechanic. His diagnosis....blown head gasket. Really? On a 5 year old car with 65000 miles? Nissan, c'mon, you can do better than that!!

Let me start by saying that I have done anything and everything to keep this car in tip top condition. I'm not a person go goes hot-rodding, nor do I treat my car badly. I'm absolutely compulsive when it comes to keeping my car clean and in good shape. I have had every maintenance done, regular oil changes; you name it. It all started in November 2009 when my check engine light came on. I brought my car into the mechanic, and they looked at it, drove it around, but couldn't find anything wrong with it. During November, the check engine light continued to turn on and off with no reason. Around the end of November, the heat started acting up- it would only work when I was accelerating. That's a real pain during the winter to have to constantly have your foot on the gas petal to have heat! Then in the end of December, right before I went out of the country, the car wouldn't even turn over. I had to have the car towed to the mechanic. I had done my own tune up on the car a couple of months earlier, and they told me that the 2005 Nissan Sentra has to have 'special' spark plugs. So they did another full tune up and changed out the spark plugs, AND also did an oil change and fluid flush. Then in January of this 2010 the check engine light came on again!! I brought the car back in and the mechanic couldn't figure out what was wrong again. He drove it around, and had it for a day and the light was off again the next day. The problems I started having in the beginning of February were far worse than the little prior annoyances. In fact, I would give anything to go back and only have the check engine light on. I was on the highway one day, and the heat stopped working- I looked down at my temperature gauge, and it was way past the H. I didn't know what to do because I was on the high way, and luckily I had to get off on the next exit. The heat continued to go from hot to cold with no rhyme or reason. I brought the car back into the mechanic, and they did a diagnostics test on it, and couldn't find any evidence of a busted head gasket. They didn't want me to pay some $1200 if that wasn't the problem. The mechanic did find that the thermostat was broken, so they replaced that. My car worked again for another few days and I started having the same problem again. I brought the car back in, and they kept it for two days. They replaced the thermostat AGAIN saying that my car has to have a 'special' thermostat. I felt better, but after a few days, my car was overheating again. This past Friday, Feb 26, 2010, my car began to overheat on the way to a birthday party. I felt very uncomfortable driving it at that point, so I turned around to go home. Out of nowhere, my car stalled out in the middle of the road and everything locked up. Luckily, it started right back up and I was able to drive it home. I then had to call someone for a ride. My car has continued to arbitrarily work whenever it feels like it. Sometimes I will go two or three days with no problems, and then the heat will go out, and it will start overheating again. This has happened numerous times, and I have to leave my car somewhere and call for a ride, and go and pick it up later when it's cooled off. If I'm making a short trip, I'll have to turn the car off when stopped at a red light, because that's when it overheats the most. I think Nissan should really take a look at this car and do a recall. Whenever I take this car out, I can only drive it for about ten minutes at a time. This car is only 5 years old- 5 year old cars SHOULD NOT have these problems. I had a 11 year old Toyota that lasted for more than 350,000 miles before this. I am so disappointed in my purchase I can honestly say I will never buy a Nissan again, nor will I refer my friends to them.

I have been reading everyone's complaints about the blown head gaskets on this Nissan and I am now convinced that all of my problems are going to lead me to the same conclusion, that I too have a blown head gasket. I have had to add coolant. My check engine light has been on. The car has been running rough and continues to do so. I will either sell this car or keep driving it until it completely gives out. I think Nissan should take a card from Toyota and take care of these seriously recurring problems before they wind up in the same boat. I have owned Nissan vehicles in the past and never had as many problems with a vehicle as I have had with this one and I bought this one brand new with 0 miles. Very disappointed.

I was at a red light when my service engine light came on. By the time the light turned green my car barely accelerated. It was making a loud strange noise. I thought I wasn't going to make it up the street. I had it towed to an auto shop. At first the mechanic didn't find anything wrong with it except my heat wasn't working. They flushed the coils and still didn't work. The thermostat was replaced and it still didn't work. That's when he told me he thought it was a blown head gasket. When I picked up it up he said it's a good chance of the head gasket blowing again. I had to pay close to $1,070 for repairs. I will definitely look for a new car within the next couple of months.

I ASKED THE MECHANIC HOW I COULD BLOW A HEAD GASKET WHEN THE ENGINE NEVER GOT HOT AND THEY SAID THESE CARS ARE KNOWN FOR THAT AND THERE IS NO EXPLANATION. I CALLED FACTORY REP AND WAS TOLD TO BAD SO SAD. WHEN I GET IT FIXED I AM TAKING IT TO DEALER, PARKING ON STREET IN FRONT OF DEALERSHIP WITH SIGN TELLING EVERYONE WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR IN A NISSAN AND IF I CAN DISCOURAGE EVEN 1 PERSON FROM BUYING A NISSAN IT WILL BE WORTH IT TO ME. THE REP THOUGHT I WAS ONLY KIDDING. IF I COULD FIND A WAY FOR ALL TO BAND TOGETHER ON THIS AND FILE A CLASS ACTION SUIT OR SOMETHING TO FORCE THEM TO STEP UP AND FIX THE PROBLEM I WOULD. I HAVE A 2005 SENTRA 68000 MILES

I was preparing to sell my nissan. The car had not started on the first try for qutie some time. I had replaced the battery and thought maybe the spark plugs needed replacing. I replaced the spark plugs. After two days the car ran rough and service engine light came on. I took it to the shop and they said bad spark plugs. I replaced spark plugs again and still the car ran rough. I took it back in to the shop for a total of 5 times now. NIssan has replaced the coil, which didn't resolve problem either. They then thought it was fuel injector. I didn't want to continue to pay for the problem not being solved. They ran a different test on the car and turns out it wasn't the fuel injector. Nissan didn't know what was wrong with the car. They called the help tech line. To make long story short now they are saying I need to replace head gasket. After logging on line and seeing other complaints I decided to voice mine.

I have always had nissan cars/trucks. They have been wonderful until now. I firmly believe Nissan needs to take care of this matter.

Unfortunately Around me, There was no skilled mechanic. Nobody turned off check engine light. Scanner said cyl 2 miss fire. According to several mechanic's advice, I changed spark plugs, ignition coils, fuel injectors, and gasket intake. All those were not the problem. After reading a complaint posted in this site, Finally I changed the head gasket. That fixed the check engine.

Nissan vehicles mostly are good at acceleration. That's why their head gaskets blows out earlier than other makes.

Don't buy Nissan if you're concerned about endurance of Engine.

Well, first i had a panic attack when i first noticed my heat gauge shooting up to the H and staying there. I pulled over and put some coolant into the radiator and everything seemed fine for 2 days. After that, the heat gage would shoot back up to the H and then seconds later, it would calm back down. Problem is, it would do it like every 5 minutes. So i took it to the shop and payed 200 for a freakin thermostat! Car still was acting crazy so i took it back... Come to find out it was the blown head gasket! The mechanic said well, you should buy a new car because your mileage is high and this repair is going to cost at least 1200. although i found someone that can do it for 1000, im still pondering about getting a new car because i dont know how long my car will last anyways since its almost at 150000. O well

My car broke down right before Memorial Day. So far I have replaced the hose, the t-stat, the belts, done the tune up, checked the relay and still the same problem. On and off whenever it wants the temperature gauge goes up and just as easy it goes back down. I have the check engine light on and there was a misfire already diagnosed

Since my car has 124K miles there are no warranties that cover it. Now it appears that I have a blown head gasket. I have gone through 6 mechanics and now the the latest one apologized and told me that there's a test that can be done that takes about 2 minutes and lets you know if it is a blown head gasket. If it is we're talking $1K + . Great! I hate this car!

First thing was the rough starts. Thought maybe it was dirty fuel filters/injectors, so I bought some Gumout and the problem seemed to go away. Kept happening every now and then, but it was no big deal. Next was the cruise control. Every now and then (and it became more frequent) while cruise was engaged, it would shut off and the CRUISE light would flash on and off. Finally, the temperature gauge. Even at idle, it would rocket to H, then slowly drop down to normal. I thought these were all individual problems, but I was soon to be proven wrong. Took it to the Nissan dealer to have a diagnostic done. $93 and some change to test, and they wouldn't even check the cooling system. They said they've had problems with the same year/model just like we've described. I said screw it, and took it home and looked up on my trusty google overheating issues with 2005 sentra, and what do I find? Hundreds of forums/posts/websites describing HEAD GASKET FAILURES! Now I have to dish up at LEAST a couple hundred dollars, or try using my limited experience to fix it myself. One things for sure, 5 months after purchasing this car, I'm about to trade it in.