itsdaveonline

So the real problem just started today. My car lost in cabin heat a few days ago the fans just push out cold air regardless. Occasionally during a drive it gets warm if im going fast, but not hot like it needs to be. Then today my temp gauge was fluxuating like crazy. The temp needle would almost mimic the RPM's. it got to the warning mark right before the last line that the H is on. Obviously i shut down the car as fast as i could.

But what could be wrong? The radiator seems warm, but not as hot as it should be. I noticed my electric fans did not once even go on. It seems like just the engine is getting cooked. The fluid levels seem normal. I added some extra water to the resivor with no luck. I cant see any obvious leaks.

Any help / suggestions? Is this going to be an expensive fix? I think the engine should be okay... I'm guessing my suspects would be the thermometer or a radiator blockage or something? I have a 99 SE. Ill try searching around too.

ChrisMan287

iTrader: (34)

Thermostat?

itsdaveonline

Would that be the obvious thing? I really don't know. I actually have to drain the radiator and remove some tubing to get to it huh? or is there someway i can test it. The engine heats and cools rapidly and unpredictably. But its important to note that the needle does not go below half way ever.

FallenOne

iTrader: (17)

Well Its pretty obvious that you shouldn't Drive it from now until the problem is resolved; I dont really know what the problem could be off hand. But i do have to ask have you looked into the FSM yet for a possible solution? Any Codes? CEL, SES? ect?

Well, first off; do you know if your coolant is mixed appropriately? Second have you checked your fuses, Im thinking your heater core could be bad??? Third is most defintely your thermostat its probably bad too.. So start with the small stuff and go from there.. Fuses, Coolant, Thermostat, if problem persists Heater Core?

itsdaveonline

I wont be driving it, however i had to get home somehow, i was in the middle of nowhere and It was 16 degrees with snow. The car is 2 or 3 blocks away from my place, its been sitting in 16 degress and snow for over an hour. Im going to drive it to my place and leave it there untill i can get it to a shop or fix it. I think a quick 1 minute drive should be relatively harmless.

No codes related to the problems im experiencing. No CEL. No bad lights ever went off either, just the gauge. I dont own a FSM. The only codes that would be present would be:

p0400 egr flow malfunction
p0325 knock sensor 1 bank 1

The coolant mix should be okay although i haven't tested it, i had to put in water today as it seemed lower than normal. I know its not the ideal thing, but all i had was a bottle of water on me. Although i haven't noticed leak

I also had a battery go today too, probably a coincidence and my terrible luck. ill run over the fuses when its warmer out; although they should be okay.

Sinturion

Hmmm sounds like an air lock in your coolant system. Try burping your coolant and checking for leaks.

Either that or it may be a blown headgasket.

atriuum

iTrader: (3)

And move on from there. I'm not sure if heater core is all that likely to go bad. It could be the fuse.

The thermostat assembly is easy to replace. It's like $25 plus the gasket which if I recall is sold separately. You drain the coolant from the bottom plug of the radiator, and reuse it if it's relatively new. If the coolant is old, you need to replace it with some Nissan green coolant & 1/2 distilled water.

I hope you know someone with a garage. It's unpleasant to work on a car when it's 16 degrees outside....

The FSM is available online, on this site.

FallenOne

iTrader: (17)

Such is why i said to check those first

Check My SIG Please =]

EDIT: i forgot the org consolidates so it doesn't have a hundred sigs at once here ya go; http://www.megaupload.com/?d=HRX0TLMH

95-98 FSM i say 98 because im unsure if it contains the 99 Security info

And on the note of the blown headgasket, yeahh... id check your Oil while i was out there.. and if you get a chance change the oil and see if theres coolant in the oil.. Hint: itll be milky white.

fignewtin88

it sounds like a heater core problem the cheap way to check it is to just flush it out open the radiator can and disconnect one of the heater core line the one flowing out and jus runs a water hose thru the cap and see if anything comes out ...i did i had the same problem on another core also sound like thethermostat may be sticking...

trooplewis

iTrader: (1)

Autozone has the thermostat and the gasket for $17, easy fix but you do have to drain the radiator, so if you don't save what comes out you will be out another $9 for coolant and a couple bucks for 2 gallons of distilled water.

itsdaveonline

Well unfortunately i don't have any tools with me so it looks like ill have to call around. I cant exactly drain my entire radiator in this parking lot either. It looks like ill be forced to drive it another few more miles. Ill just do my best to watch the temp and find a shop thats nearby. im guessing that 75$~ish would be fair for the radiator flush and the new thermostat with labor and all.

Good call on the blown headgasket, thats going to be very easy to check. Ill do that tomorrow or something.

Does the heater core also cool the engine? or is it just a function of the climate control. At this rate i could care less about a cold car, it just needs to run without overheating and compromising the engine.

Also i will mention, when the car does get warm on rare occasions, it smells absolutely terrible, it never did this before. The car also warms up ridiculously fast, i drove for 2~min about 1 mile or so and it warmed up completely in 9 degree temperature in blizzard conditions, typically my car would not even move the temp needle on this trip under these conditions and this short of a drive.

FallenOne

iTrader: (17)

Def. check your fuses bud.. Im wondering if your fans arnt out due to a fuse?? also the smell can you describe it for us? is it like burning OIL? cus tha tcould be a Bad Valve Cover Gasket which is Typical on the 4th gen and in some cases not that big of a deal... mines leaked 3 years now... ha. Actually!!!! before you drive it! Look into Jime's manual Control Rad Fan Mod! its easy you can do it super quick and set it up so you can turn the fans on when you drive and than off when your done, just for now while shes limping around! should give you some time for leaway! ill even link ya!

http://www.jimesmaxima.com/fan.html

OR

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...ag-racing.html

atriuum

iTrader: (3)

Unless it's gushing oil, I don't see it being head gasket related. The smell is most likely hot coolant being regurgitated from the overflow. At least that would be in line with the problem you're describing. I'm assuming you would not let your car run without oil.

I'm no expert, but 75-ish at a shop is wishful thinking. It's easy but it's time consuming and people don't work for free. Like the man said, pull the relevant fuses, see if they're broken before anything else. Even if they don't look broken, put a different but identically rated fuse in there to check (pull it from another spot).

As far as replacing the thermostat, you need to remove the horn bracket, and the windshield wiper reservoir neck( just pull it off gently), then lower the belt tensioner nut (the belt will be fine and stay in place because you're not touching the pulley, just moving/dropping down the nut out of the way to get to the three 10mm bolts on the thermostat assembly). Pull the hose off....

Working on a car at low temperatures ... there is a tendency to crack plastic parts because of the cold, some metals too. Use your judgment.

atriuum

iTrader: (3)

Did it smell when you lost your cabin heat? Would you say that's when the smell started?

bryan163

iTrader: (2)

Take off your radiator cap and fill the radiator. Don't just fill the reservoir. It sounds like your cooling system is half empty... or half full, depending on weather you're an optimist or a pessimist.

Cutler

iTrader: (3)

I agree with "Burping" the system....that and do a full flush along with a thermostat swap...

vqmaxman

From reading your posts,It sounds like your just filling up the resovior and not the radiator. To check your coolant level in your radiator your going to have to make sure the car was not driven or started, this test is done well if the car was off in the last 12-24 Hrs prior to the test. Open up the radiator and check what is the color of the fluid and if it's light green it's fresh and if it's dark green it's dirty and sticky it needs to changed. Check how much fluid you have in the radiator and look for any rust or any kind of elements floating around and If there's any change out the coolant. The coolant has to be pre-mixed 50/50 with water and the coolant has to be green Nissan or OEM standard. If you have coolant in the radiator and the car Is not heating up then your low on coolant or you have air in the system and you will have to burp out the air from the system. If the coolant is full but the car is overheating and there is no heat than try checking the thermostat that might be stuck and it needs to be changed. If the hose are soft or crackling up change the hoses out. good luck.

itsdaveonline

ok thanks everyone for the suggestions and advice. I agree that throwing in a new thermostat and new fluids may help it out.

When i check the car out tomorrow can i just throw some water into the radiator itself? do i just fill it completely to the top? I know water and winter is not a great idea, but it would get me to a shop with a less likely chance of overheating. I dont want to buy more coolant and waste it when the entire system is burped out.

I cant describe the smell very well. But it smelt like a fluid that was burning or leaking into the air. It was probably coolant, it smelt like a sweet polluting smell, it is not an enjoyable smell by all means. I don't think the smell was oil, the engine has been serviced regularly and only has 73,000 miles on it. I do my best to check the oil regularly, but ill check the levels and make sure the oil is not milky. A blown head gasket would almost be grounds to total the car huh?

Sinturion

A blown head gasket isn't always oil related though. It can be just be blown between the coolant passage and the cylinder bore. Hence why his coolant is disappearing and is possibly having air bubbles interferring with his temperature sensor and heater core.

A faulty thermostat wouldn't explain the coolant loss unless it is leaking somewhere also.

FallenOne

iTrader: (17)

I almost asked him to check and see if his exhaust was White... HA its winter duH

Sinturion

heh, I was going to mention that but then thought the same thing!

vqmaxman

I was going to say check the white smoke in the tailpioe,but that won't make a difference because of the weather. Try smelling the tailpipe than you will know if you smell coolant and the smoke color Is really snow white.

FallenOne

iTrader: (17)

We Are Fail!

So, I'd say hes got a good laundry list lets let him get to it.. Im puttin my dough on heater core and thermostat. Yes.. I get two.

atriuum

iTrader: (3)

It sounds like you're aware of the peril.

If you're missing a lot of coolant, and it is 16 degrees outside... you can end up with the water freezing and cracking the radiator.

If it's not below freezing you can do that, as long as you know you'll be draining it right away. It really depends on how much coolant is missing - it seems like a lot - and what the temperature outside is.

itsdaveonline

Well heres an update, there is no milky oil so that should eliminate the blown head gasket. The fuses are all okay, i checked them with a multimeter.

I believe i have a leak somewhere. The radiator was practically empty today. I went ahead filled it with water to get there and gave it to the shop, i cant repair a leak myself, epically in a snowy parking lot in -16 degrees. I noticed that my engine sounded very weird when it started up. It sounded alot deeper and kinda like a sick v8. I dont know if its a result from my battery being nearly dead and a partially frozen reservoir would do it. hopefully my engine didn't warp, it got to the last mark before the H on the gauge, I immediately found a place and turned it off right as this happened so it was only at that mark for a few seconds. So technically the engine didnt reach all the way to H. Should my engine be okay? After everything was warmed up it seemed to sound okay, it idled pretty, i just don't know if it was the extreme cold that did this its been in the negatives for a few days and my car has just been sitting there in the snow.

FallenOne

iTrader: (17)

dont worry man, the VQ is pretty solid, at worst youlll cook your oil and youll hvae to clean it out with some treatment.. well.. a few times, but anywho. Im sure if you got it to the shop they can handle it. and yeah; Replacing a radiator or whatevers wrong.. Not a good idea in the snow. that would suck. i will say this. your guarenteed to replace that radiator considering you left it full of water cause they are not going to let it stay indoors..

itsdaveonline

Actually i told them that putting water in the radiator was the only means of getting to the shop in 1 piece, so they put the car in the shop untill it gets worked on and has coolant in it. But im sure the radiator is already **** haha.

itsdaveonline

****, im pretty sure my car is totalled. they tell me that the head gasket is blown because the engine was running hot, the say i also many need to resurface the cylinder head cost being 4,000$~ish.

They said they ran some kind of emissions device over the radiator and there is emissions leaking out and that it can cause the coolant to boil so its basically underivable. Im going to go see them test it myself and ill report back. what should i do? any advice?

ChrisMan287

iTrader: (34)

Buy a used engine out of a junked Max plus whatever else you need and swap it in.

sicivic89

iTrader: (58)

Definitely don't spend $4000 on it. Used engines go for alot cheaper. A used Vq30De can be had for a couple hundred dollars. Thats what I would do.

itsdaveonline

So heres the test results, not only were these results horrific but the maxima was spewing coolant everywhere when they were doing this.


So installing a new engine or anything like that is entirely out of my league. This could be a total on my end boys. If anyone is remotely interested in purchasing the vehicle feel free to contact me in a few days. It has 73,000 mi fully loaded with black leather. even has the se limited perhporated seats with the SE logo on them. I have no idea what to ask for on this car, it also has a bad airbag module / typical 99 airbag light problem. Whats this car worth in this condition?

phatboislim

iTrader: (27)

so u blew teh engine/headgasket? u shoulda changed the thermostate and flushed ur coolant, shoulda solved the problem.

itsdaveonline

Well ill take partial blame for this, but i had to drive the car home or i was stranded in a snowstorm, it only overheated once. But i lost the car only because someone who had previously worked on it did not fasten a 2$ clip to the engine block properly, the coolant hose became detached and the coolant leaked. It all went down hill from there.

vqmaxman

It's all ways important to check your car out everyday before you leave your house or your job ect. What a devastating blow to your car. the worst part is that it's a 99 with leather and It had only 73,000 miles on the car. If I noticed something ASAP I would get on it no matter what the weather is and did you check the level of coolant in the radiator.
It's so saddening to hear this and the worst part is that you will have to find a way to ride out the winter,unless you have found a way to get through the winter. Try to go back to the shop that had installed the clip wrong and tell them that the car has a blown head gasket now because he did not install the clip in right and the hose cracked or slipped off and know the car leaked all the coolant and the engine has to be rebuilt. This could have been avoided and something so simple to becoming so major. GOOD LUCK.

atriuum

iTrader: (3)

Never woulda thunked it. My bad. I learn something new on the org every time I read a thread...

Too bad on the damage.... It sounds like a sweet ride. I assume this head gasket is other than the rocker cover gasket and you need to take the whole engine apart to replace it?

Sinturion

yeah you need to pull apart most of the engine to fix it. Then there's the possibility that the head is warped/cracked also.

Best thing to do would be to get a second hand motor and have your mechanic drop it in. Either that or see if any local forum member is willing to do a cash job or so.

phatboislim

iTrader: (27)

find a DE or DE-K motor to put back in from teh org man...if i was working i'd make an offer

phatboislim

iTrader: (27)

found this on the org....

http://forums.maxima.org/5th-generat...dek-100-a.html

use what u have off of your old motor to have this one running 100%