Dear auto expert brothers,

Please I need your help on my car, Nissan Pathfinder 2004 Model Aluminium Engine Casing. I put in some water in the morning and didn't close the radiator cap well, so got ripped off on the road. The radiator got dried up and the top gasket burnt. I got a mechanic to replace the burnt top gasket with a new one but right now the car wouldn't start. It only rolls but couldn't start. I took it to an auto electrician who informed me that there is no current to the engine, but all troubleshooting had not yielded  any result. Please help cos am gradually losing this vehicle, its been out there for more than a month without solution. Thanks

Let someone check the timing on the car. Also, on aluminum engines, after blowing the top gasket, the head might be crack or warped. Replacing the gasket alone might not help you out.

Wish the car is in front of me to see whats goin on.

That's my little contribution.

Good luck.

Thanx Kunle,
The guy checkd and said the head is not cracked cos that was the fear, he also adjusted the timing on which he has been for some time but no success. At the moment he had brought in about two other technicians but nothing yet. The car is in Port harcourt and i wont mind a good technician having a look at it cos am running out of time with the car having been down for about 6 weeks now. Please any techincian in PH can mail me to david.ayantayo@gmail.com

If the car was still running with the cylinder head gasket blown, it should run even better with it fixed.

I suspect a timing issue here, it's unlikely the engine wiring harness would have lost it's ECU feed. Power isn't meant to go to the engine, it goes to the ECU, so that needs to be checked.

It's also possible the cylinder block / head is warped, so won't seal. Have your mechanic carry out a compression test on all cylinders, and also a leak-down test. The spark plugs should also be replaced, as it's likely they were killed when the engine cooked.

All an engine needs to run is fuel, air, compression and of course, a spark. It must however, all be in sync, so if the timing's wrong, it won't run. So, I'd advice the timing's checked, as well as the camshaft / crankshaft position sensors, if it has both. It would also be an idea to have the system scanned for fault codes.

Keep us posted, and best of luck.

Thanks Siena, I expressed your reccomendations to the technician and asked that the tests you recommended are carried out asap. But the issue of the timing have had two technicians work on the timing with no headway, but i wont mind if you can send to me the timing diagram of the vehicle if you have access to one. He said the timing setting will be more accurate with the diagram in place but he hasn't been able to get it. So I will be glad if I can get one from you. Thanks for your efforts, and Ii will feed you back on the progress.

That's fine, but as I always say, you need to give more details of your car - engine type, petrol or diesel, engine size.

There's more than one engine fitted to the 2004 Nissan Pathfinder.