Nissan Hardbody 3.3 v6 head skimming and gasket kit

[KobusVanZyl]

Hi All

I am new to this forum thing and apologize in advance if this is the wrong place .

I have a 2003 Nissan Hardbody 3.3 v6 with second stage conversation done by Maus Performance .

I was recently on a trip with the wife to hartebeespoort when i noticed my heat Gauge going from half to red then back to half and then back to red were it stayed
I then pulled over at the garage and filled up the now empty radiator

i decided to turn back home then , where the vehicle overheated again and had a misfire as i reached my house , I then replaced my thermostat that was R150 from My Zone in Orchards which did not sort my problem of overheating .

i did a tests for example check if there is water in the oil sump (which was clean )

But now i have noticed that my radiator has a small non violent boil when i start the hardbody and that there is also a creamy like color of oil where i put oil in to the motor (only on the top where the cap is)

I have bought a service kit , but will install it after the fix and checked all the spark plugs which is firing

so my questions are
1-this is probably head gasket?
2 if so can any 1 help me on a price for a job like this?
3 might it be something else? (maybe someone experienced something similar that was another problem )
4 what should i have looked at while this motor is open?

Please excuse my long message ( don't want to leave anything out and ask if i did)

Thank you in advance for your advice and help

[melly8994]

Probably the head is gone

[KobusVanZyl]

Thaksx melly8994

I was thinking that .

Tomorrow my father and i will start the task of taking the heads of etc , so i will post the total amount that it cost to do it privately after we have finished , so that someone with the same question in the future might see some guidelines to what it could cost when doing it yourself

Thank you for the reply

[Mr Q]

i would suggest you have the heads checked properly.worst case scenario you might have a cracked head. Headgaskets are available aftermarket, but the headbolts are not.
I'm not to sure if the vg30 and vg33 uses the same headbolts, you do get aftermarket headbolts fot the vg 30. i know that the gaskets are diffrent. while you have the heads removed do youself a favour and check the metal coolant hose that runs between the cyl heads while its stripped. they tend to corrode and leak and its a crap job to replace. good luck and hope you get it sorted.

[Mr Q]

Oh and make sure the intake manifold gaskets are oem. aftermarket ones does not work. I made that mistake and had to remove the intake manifold again.

[KobusDJ]

I did the valves on my VG30 more than a year ago after the timing belt stripped off its teeth.

Space is limited in that engine bay. Removing/Fitting the plenum/intake with all the water connections is the most fun.

Voorspoed !

[KobusVanZyl]

Thanks for your advice Mr Q and Kobus on this

When i removed the head i will send it in to check for cracks and if it warped and now also know what else to look for after your advice

Thank you i will keep you updated

[nizmozilla]

If its bubbling in the radiator it could be a cracked head. I agree with the advice given above some of us have been there and learnt the hard way in some cases lol. Now being one of the manne from the old Nissan site most of the guys here love to see pictures . So pull out that I phone and take a couple of kikkies for us . As the saying goes without pics it never happend hahahahahah good luck with the repairs and keep us updated