Looking for some advice. I have a 2002 Xterra, supercharged engine. I blew the driver side head gasket yesterday. A few months ago it started using a little oil. A few days ago it started running a little rough. Put my scanner on it, nothing obvious there. Last night on the way home it started running even rougher, missing, etc....while I sitting in front of the house just idling, looking at the scanner again, started smoking a bit. Shut it off, popped the hood and noticed oil dripping from the bottom of the head. Got to be the head gasket. No oil in the coolant, or coolant in the oil. Looks like it blew externally. I've owned this since new, the engine is pretty clean. I've kept it maintained well, always change the oil on time. First 125,000 miles I ran mobil one. I'm now running Pennzoil High Mileage Oil and the truck has 189,000 miles on it. There is no rust on the body, new tires, the interior is a little rougher, headliner fell down so I just took it out. The seats are in good shape. Rest of the interior is just ok. The supercharger was replaced at 90,000 miles. Also has new shocks. My dilemma is what direction do I take to fix this and how far do I take it. I'm a mechanical design engineer so I'm pretty mechanically inclined. I do all my own work normally. Decent set of tools. Money is kind of tight at the moment, just got my wife thru nursing school. She got her first paycheck today. Probably won't share it, lol.........

Anyway, should I just pull the heads off and replace the gaskets, and do the mill work, or should I do all that and have the valves done as well. I already have a timing belt and water pump I've been meaning to replace, as well as a stupid knock sensor. Plugs and wires are new. If I'm going to go thru this trouble should I just pull the trigger on a complete rebuild. Not going to do an engine swap. I know this engine has been taken care of and is pretty clean. I was planning on getting something newer in the spring and I have a back up vehicle till then, unless it breaks as well. Wasn't planning on selling the Xterra anytime soon. It's my hunting and kayaking truck. It has the original clutch that will need replaced soon I'm sure. Just debating whether I should just fix the problem at hand and part company with her. What do you guys think. Are these engines and chassis robust enough to warrant a rebuild?


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