eK9aT10pSi

iTrader: (1)

hey guys, i got my car flushed yesterday and switched to toyota red ; 50/50 mix is what i did. but i noticed that i didnt completely get all the green out so there is a little bit of green mixed with the red, is there going to be any problems? i am planning on reflushing it better again this coming weekend unless it is going to do harm. thanks

MaxFan

I think it should be fine. I replaced the coolant in my pathfinder with the GM's red stuff (heard some bad things about it later on) @30Kmiles. Then did it again @60K and @90K. The red stuff is long-life (150K rated). So I stopped flushing afterward, just check and refill. At 130K+ I don't see any sign of trouble. Everything is still original (hoses, radiator). I look under the hood all the times but everything is solid. It's such a solid SUV. Just need a bottle of Techron cleaner every couple of years to clear the random SES light. Just passed a CA full emission inspection (test only station).
For my Max, I flushed it with Preston's new mix-all green stuff, also long life (150K). Will do the same as in the pathfinder again at 30K intervals later on. It's not that hard to flush with the Max. My pathfinder has a protective plate up front which covers the radiator's bottom. I had to loosen the bottom hose, such a pain.

2002 Maxima SE

iTrader: (3)

Mixing Nissan and Toyota coolant should be fine. I assume they are pretty much the same, just different colors.

You'll need to flush the engine until clear water comes out to get it all.
1)Drain radiator
2)Fill with distilled water
3)Run engine with heater on until operating temperature is reached
4)Repeat 1-3

xoomer.com

iTrader: (19)

^^^ It is VERY IMPORTANT to use distailled water in step 2.

andrei3333

im thinking of getting mine power flushed for $80 canadian + whatever the coolant cost is, worth it ?

i cant do the work myself

eK9aT10pSi

iTrader: (1)

yeah, i had my friend at toyota do it. he used whatever water they use to normally do it on toyota's. i am going back to flush it out again once the mgr isnt there. for the ones that did it, how many cycles did it take to get the green out [as good as you could]? afterwards, i plan on removing the radiator overflow resovior and draining it out and filling it with the red too. since i live in tx, im also thinking of adding water wetter. worked wonders in my turbo civic.

MaxFan

I'm normally very careful about other stuffs. But I only follow your instructions upto before steps 1-4. Just drain, flush clean and refill 50/50 (mixed with tap water). Of the 25yrs I've owned cars some passed down to other people passed the 200Kmiles mark. None has a radiator issue. My 1st car even got in a T-bone accident (luckily it was a capital T) where the whole front bumper ripped off, the radiator survived.

twiggy144

The debate about using tap water or distillesd water depends on the quality of the local tap water. If the tap water is hard, then I recommend distilled water.

Love_00_Max

This is a useless debate. Goto Walmart and buy as many gallons of distilled water for $1/Gallon and do the flush. Don't cut corners with distilled water and Nissan Long Life Coolant ($20/G).

Bobo

I had this debate with myself last weekend and decided not to go with the power flush.

I went to a stealership and bought a 4 litre jug of Nissan longlife antifreeze and went to Minit-Tune. They flushed the rad for $39.95 plus the $5 environmental levy plus tax.

One advantage of the power flush is that it cleans out the heater core.

However, if your heater is working fine, why bother going that route as it could result in leaks to an older vehicle (depending on the condition of the radiator).

It's your call.

andrei3333

from what i heard to drain the heater core u need to remove 2 bolts and those require the y-pipe to be removed -- motorvade

as far as i know the dealer just drains and refills the rad for like $100 and canadian tire does the power flush for 80 but they do not open up the heater core.

i am thinking power flush -- but how do i know if my coolant can still go some distance? i mean know what the colour GREEN looks like im not colour blind, but what does BAD coolant look like ? or any other symptoms ? what do u mean heater working fine ?

Bobo

Go to a radiator shop and get them to test the pH of the radiator with a test strip in order to determine the condition of your coolant.

Does your heater work normally or does it not? What is so difficult about that question?

I think you have been misinformed about the heater core being flushed.

sky jumper

andrei -- it is usually not possible to ID spent coolant by it's appearance, unless of course it has gone far too long and has actually caused problems in the cooling system. in that case you'll likely see "floaties" in the coolant, corrosion building up in the radiator core, etc. but just b/c you don't see these things doesn't mean the coolant is "ok".

a pH strip is one way to judge condition, although I've had inconsistent results with them. my advice - when in doubt, and/or it's been more than 2yrs, flush the system.

if you have no obvious signs of corrosion in the rad core then more than likely your heater core is also clean -- no need to "power" flush. just do a "regular" DIY flush -- drain/fill radiator with *distilled* water, purge air & heat cycle. repeat until the radiator drains clear. then fill radiator with full strength coolant, purge air, heat cycle, and you're done. the entire process will likely take 3 or 4 cycles, and about 3 hours time. or you can take it to a shop, but watch them like a hawk to make sure they put the right coolant in, and use distilled water. most shops will use "regular green" coolant and tap water unless you provide the materials and watch them work.

andrei3333

interesting. My heater -- well it actually worked fine this whole winter but it was not as hot as my other cars have been, is that what u mean? like on speed one i feel warm air coming out on speed 2 its hotter and speed 3 its very hot

i know speeds have nothing to do with this but all winter (when it was like -10 to -20 C) the AC was on like 2 or 3 most of the time cause 1 was not doing it for me

Also i remember when i got on the gas HARD during winter really hot air came thru the vents but i could understand that because the engine is producing more heat so i think its normal.

When i look into the rad its full and the coolant is nice and green i dont see anything wrong there how can i tell corrosion in the rad if its Full to the cap? the resevour is another story its messy in thee with all kinds of dirty stuff

here are some shots that may help u understand what i mean:

andrei3333

here is the rad


also check out my break fluid resevour, its full i just changed the front pads, do i need to flush it as well ?

i got her used so i have absolutely no history i dont wanna thro money away by doing stuff i dont have to

sky jumper

based on the pics, I believe what you have in there is the "regular silicated" green coolant, not a long life HOAT. I say this based on the bright milky fluorescent green color, which is typical of traditional green coolant. Nissan OEM coolant is a darker/dimmer/translucent green. so unless your camera's flash is playing tricks, I'd say you've got the wrong coolant in there. if so, my advice would be to flush it completely with distilled H2O (get ALL of the old coolant out of the system), and then put Nissan OEM in. be sure to remove and clean the reservoir.

brake fluid - if it were my car, I'd flush it too. should be done every 3 years. I've seen worse than yours, but that doesn't mean much.

andrei3333

that sucks is it that much worse ?

i cant flush it myself i really dont wanna boil like 15 litres of water to flush the rad and then mix new coolant, the dealer only drains it (5 of 7 litres) is it ok mixing this coolant i have with the nissan coolant ?

i think im just gona get it power flushed and be done with it its been working this long what's gona happen

sky jumper

do NOT mix coolant types. especially a HOAT and silicated green. go search for dallas' radiator/heater core debacle to see what happens if you do.

silicated green coolant only lasts 18-24 months. after that you risk the silicates gelling and plugging things up, and you will have a nightmare on your hands.

andrei3333

i c ok the choice is clear for me then get it power flushed at a NON dealer location, get the NON nissan coolant and flush it every 18-24 months

i am not gona put myself thru the trouble of gettin to the heater core and draining out the whole 7 litres of coolant, just gona stick with what i got now

EDIT: btw that dallas thread is awesome he's gone thru all that work, i am not willing to do it tho
here is the coolant i wanna get put in there
http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/pr...=1177525957593
i think this is the lighter colour u r referring to and say i should not mix the two ?

EDIT AGAIN: just got off the phone with nissan dealer and the canadian tire shop, the power flush DOES 100% flush so that includes the heater core. nissan charges $21 can for 4 litres of coolant 9at 50/50 that makes 8 L)

sky jumper

well, my advice is to stick with OEM coolant, especially if you are going to pay labor to flush it. you will save $$ in the long run and rest easy knowing that you don't have finicky silicates in the system.

btw andrei -- this is what my OEM coolant looks like. in this photo it might look just a bit darker than it does in person, but you get the idea...

Bobo

andrei:

All you need is 4 litres of Nissan OEM coolant. You don't need 8 litres.

andrei3333

Well just got back home from getting the coolant flushed -- let me tell ya what an experience

went to an infiniti dealer to get the coolant (it said nissan canada approved on the container and it was called long life i am sure its the same) the guy at the counter said it was the same as the nissan. went to canadian tire to get it power flushed. the girl mechanic said she flushed the whole system with the heater core. i also got her to take out the resevoiur and clean that up, it was a mess.

Got the flush done and as soon as i paid i went to the car and popped the hood: here is what i found:
1) the GIRL that did the flush took of the air scoop to get to the hose behind it, well she put the scoop back on and forgot to put one of the two screws back on, i ran into the shop and she found it on the floor (appologized of course)
2) she goes back to the lot to put the screw back in and i see a screwdriver on the side of the engine bay (appologized again said its NOT like her -- i kinda believe her) i know its not my screw driver mine are clean and that was dirty as fawk

Now the heater is VERY hot, i turned it on just for fun and on speed 1 its like as if i had it on speed 3 this past winter.

here are some afterwards pics:

andrei3333

compared to my old coolant this nissan long life stuff is definitely a different colour, its darker not a bright green as in my before picture.

she said she used all of the coolant i bought, basically i bought 2 jugs and she used them both 4 litres each so mixed 50 / 50 thats 16 litres she used to power flush the whole system, its good that i was prepared and bought 2 jugs cost me 20 each thats 45 including tax for both

sky jumper

looks good. you should be good to go for at least 3-4 years. I know nissan says 24 months after the first flush, but it will go longer. just check on it at every oil change to make sure there's no crud building up.

just curious - what did you do different in the last photo? that one looks more like the photos I took of my coolant, whereas your other 2 "after" pics look more like the old coolant.

MichMaxFan

Since many change their ATF regularly via drain/fill to keep the stuff refreshed, why not do that to coolant? Do you all recommend that or mess w/ 4-6 drain & fills every 2-3 yrs? You'd just have to do it more often but not so much at any one time. Your thoughts??

sky jumper

yes you can just drain/fill coolant with pre-mix. in fact that's what Honda does (honda blue is 50/50 pre-diluted). but you have to stick with the same coolant (no mixing different types), and drain/fill will not remove any crud that might be in the system.

personally, I prefer complete exchanges/flushes to partial drain/fills for ATF & coolant -- better protection, and better use of raw materials. drain/fills by nature will contaminate the new fluid with the old stuff, leaving you with still dirty/spent/somewhat acidic fluid. doesn't make much sense to me.

andrei3333

im not exactly sure which photos of mine u r referring to, but if its the LAST 2 photos of that "after" post then ill tell u: the second last one i used flash and a different angle on the rad opening, where as the last one there is no flash involved. basically the last one no flash, second last 2 i used flash.

sorry but im unsure of which exact photos u r talking about, let me know if what i said does not make any sense

Bobo

I suspect you were long overdue for a radiator flush, andrei3333.

You should be able to go longer than normal with this Nissan antifreeze, but like skyjumper says, don't extend it beyond 4 years. Check after 3 years.

MichMaxFan

Let me clarify my thinking...When I got my Max it had green coolant, which I thought was traditional peak brand or whatever, which it likely was since it was that bright color. Anyway, I learned of the toyota red qualities and since it needed to be changed, I did a drain via lwr hose and filled w/ straight distilled water and idled car a few minutes and allow to cool and did this over and over till basically no green was left, which was like 8 times. Put in the red coolant, and now I got new red fluid at 50/50 mix. So, rather than doing that drain/fill numerous times again in 2-3 yrs to get what will then be ALL old red coolant out, why not just drain the rad and refill every 6-9 months cause then you have continual influx of new fluid and removal of some of the old and so you never have a situation in which all the fluid is 2-4 yrs old and maybe not protecting well. Granted, you gotta mess w/ it more often, but then again it seems like it may prolong things better since there will always be fresh fluid to lubricate and maintain properties. It will cost slightly more than if you did a drain/flush of all the old w/ just distilled and then put in all fresh coolant, but I am just thinking that since regular drain/fills of ATF are recommended to keep fresh new properties and purging some of the old fluid then why not do that w/ the coolant? Then you never will have old fluid again, atleast only some of it will be old, but will eventually get diminished in concentration as new is put in, etc.

Just thinking about this and seems like maybe a good route? Not sure. Your coolant properties, it seems to me, will be much better and you won't be driving the car w/ all of the stuff on a downward spiral of degradation and maybe won't have to "check" properties of coolant any more.

zgrm100

okay guys need some guidance. I have had my 01 max since it was new (6 years now) and never did a coolant flush. I am a complete newb when i comes to working on my car but I do, do my own oil changes...

Do you guys think I should take it into a shop like firestone or something and get it power flushed, or is it easy enough for a newb like myself to do? Also would I be able to achieve the same results by flushing myself versus getting it power-flushed? Thanks.

Love_00_Max

I think one doesn't need anything more than 1G of OEM coolant to get the job done since the total capacity of the cooling system is around 7 liters based on the service manual.

I am presently using OEM Long Life coolant after a bitter experience with Dexcool (my radiator shot and I spent $500 to get it fixed, $110 for local shop to diagnose, $150 for dealership to rediagnose, $150 for radiator).

Never monkey with coolants, lesson learnt!!!

twiggy144

I would not order a power flush. A plain drain and refill will do. If you can change your oil, you can most certainly drain the coolant. Instead of make several drain to eliminate all the old coolant, I recommend draining the one gallon out of the radiator, but edo this very year instead of a full system drain every second year.

andrei3333

several drains will not clear the heater core of the old coolant

if u r switching coolants or dont know what coolant has been used before u need to power flush the system until all the old coolant comes out

dont compare oil to coolant, two different systems and fluids

MichMaxFan

Why wouldn't/doesn't drain and fills accomplish things correctly to get all the old fluid out??? If you run the heater while doing drain/fills, then the heater core is getting purged, right?

Zgrm100: By the way, if you do decide to do it yourself, what I found that works great is to disconnect the lwr radiator hose instead of monkeying w/ the drain plug on the radiator. Too many people have had issuses w/ them leaking after monkeying w/ them and then ya gotta get a new one or whatever. B4 I did mine, I called the local dealer & they said on all their changes they use the hose...drains faster, works better - just gotta get the car jacked up on stands to get some room under there to work is all. Look for posts on the .org - there are some good ones on coolant changes. I did the drain/fill like 8 times to get all the old out, so I am puzzled why andrei says you gotta pwr flush...makes no sense to me if the heater is on, then shouldn't the coolant be circulating in the core? I know mine kept coming out lighter w/ each cycle, and looks great now, so I can't, (and others did it this way) see problems w/ doing lots of drain/fills.

Love_00_Max

To do a flush all u need is 6G of distilled water and 1G of Nissan Long Life full strength coolant.

1) Remover lower radiator hose (LRH) and drain radiator and reconnect.
2) Remove block bolts and drain block.
2a) Keep heat to high.
3) If the block bolts are hard to get, then fill radiator with distilled water, remove upper radiator hose (URH) and plug the upper radiator hole and then start car and keep filling the radiator with distilled water while thermostat opens and sends out the coolant out of the block.
4) Run thro 4G of distilled water, and after sometime its only water that comes off the URH.
5) Stop and reconnect URH. Remove air via air relief valve, water should stop dripping from valve. Drain radiator of remaining water and put full strength Nissan coolant (leave 1/2 L for overflow tank)
6) Block has 3L of water and radiator 3.5L of coolant (total capacity is 7.1L including heater)
7) Cycle thro for the water and coolant to mix.
8) Fill overflow tank completely with 1/2L coolant and distilled water.
9) Allow the baby to cool.
10) Purge remaining air in system but opening radiator cap on an inclined drivethro and keep running for 45 min.
10a) EDIT : Get the coolant funnel from Walmart, that yellow one, stick it into the raditor cap hole, using tape to tape the funnel to the radiator cap so that it doesn't keep dripping from the side of the funnel, remove the overflow tubing and plug the radiator end with tape, put some coolant into funnel and run car at idle...
11) All air is out of the closed loop system. Fill overflow tank if needed.


Done.!!!

sky jumper

when you guys pull the lower hose to drain the radiator, doesn't the coolant come rushing out horizontally making a huge mess? I always use the drain plug for the sake of cleanliness.

MichMaxFan

It does come out a bit messy, but then again, if you pull it out just enough to get a good flow, then it's not bad. Good side is that woosh! and it's all out!

^^^the guy recommends running for 45min w/ cap off???? How can ya do that? Any car I have ever owned pours over the rad when running w/ out the cap on after just a few minutes of running????!!! I don't think that's really necessary w/ the air valve screw and if you pour the coolant in slowly as well, is it?? Never heard of running a vehicle like that after a coolant change...my FSM mentions nothing even close to that!

sky jumper

the FSM does say to remove the radiator cap while purging air - at least the 99 FSM does. to my knowledge, the 4th gen does not have an air bleeder screw.

at idle you can leave it off for a long while before the radiator overflows. if you rev it up like FSM says it will overflow soon after the thermostat opens. I cap it when that happens, then drive the car a mile or two, allow it to cool, and repeat a few times until I'm confident all air is purged.

Love_00_Max

I just pushed in an edit 10a

MichMaxFan

I do let it burp w/ the cap off, but when the car is slightly warm when ya been chaning coolant and drain/fills, then it certainly won't go 45mins w/cap off w/out overflowing. Mine, and any vehicles i have, go "maybe" 15 mins but I never timed it since when warm it starts to overflow. I still don't understand how this can be...yes the FSM says run w/ cap off, which I do, but 45 mins??? even 20mins seems impossible to me w/out overflow. Do you really get it to go that long???