a couple weeks ago i finally got my max back, and for the first drive of the real winter the temp gauge took forever to get up, and, would go back down during high speed driving

so, i replace the thermostat, just with an advanced auto one, changed the coolant too

now, my car responds the same way

i have tried bleeding the air, overflow tank is at max line, tried the little valve air thing

the thermostat seems to work right, cause i can squeeze close the upper hose when its cold engine, but not when it is hot

i even unplugged the fans and the same response

anyone who has ideas please message

today i was driving 60 mph and it would sit on the C line

Thanks

Chris

 

My car is a 1988, but it does the exact thing that yours is doing. No suggestions from the 1st/2nd generation board. I put in a new thermostat as well, to no avail. Finally, I resorted to putting cardboard in front of the radiator. If someone can figure this problem out, I'd be real happy. I don't know about your car, but mine won't shift into overdrive unless the tranny gets hot enough, and it doesn't get hot enough, since the tranny cooler runs through the rad, and the rad never gets hot enough. By the way, if I run the car without the heater on, it USUALLY gets hot, unless it's really cold out.

 

btw i also did a ecu check but i cant decyper what it means

i turned fully clockwise, then turn ignition to on

then it blinked

1 long red/green

2 long red/green

3 short red/green
4 " "
5 " "

the red and green blinked simultaniously the whole time

thanks

 

Yeah my max did the same thing it just gets too much air flow I guess. You could try and block the front of your radiator with something, that might help I was going to try it but havent yet. Do you have air in your car?

 

that's just the mode selection for ECU tests, you didn't actually run the test

I'm not sure exact details though since I have a VE, try checking the chiltons online site for more info (it's in the maintainence links at top)

 

what does blocking the front of the radiator do? Mine has been doing that for ...heck over a year...when it started, I was like "damn my car's really running cold, the cai must be really working.."lol

my heat works fine too. Any repercussions of the dial being on cold constantly while on the freeway?

 

i am going to try a nissan thermostat see what happens

thanks about the ecu info, i couldnt figure that shi.... out

i just dont think that the car should need cardboard, i never saw that in the owners manual, does anyone know about canadian models?

if your car runs on C all the time, then you will run lean cause your car tries to heat up, bad on spark plugs, gas milage, o2 sensors......

isnt there someone who has fixed this !!!!

 

Maybe your temp gauge is not working? Since your getting heat from the heater I'd think the car is getting hot. Does the gauge move when you drive in the summer?

 

This would only happen when I would get onto the freeway in the winter time. Where the temperature gauge would just drop. then when I got off it would go back up. The cardboard or anything else you wanna stick in front of your radiator just prevents so much cold air from blowing on your radiator cooling it faster. Like I said its just a suggestion you can try, but I dont thik its the thermostat.

 

 

what about your temperature sensor?

 

Yeah thats a good suggestion Phat. If you guys have never cleaned the contacts on the temperature sensor, you might wanna try that. OR even replace it since its only like $20, and clean the contacts on the connector.

For those of you that have replaced the thermostate, Is there warm air comming out of the heater when diving at high speeds?

 

when driving high speeds, the air is warm but NOT HOT like it is in city

also, in a possibly unrelated scenero, my gas milage just recently made a major change


last time, almost all city driving 16mpg
last time almost all highway driving 21 mph
this time, 50%city 50%highway, 23

explain that?!?!??!


is there anyway to check my vaccume hoses, i think i hear a slight hiss, but i cant tell with the engine running only if i am in the engine bay


Chris

 

Exactly the same issue with my Maxima'91 SE. Getting colder on the highway, if it's cold outside. Thanks for the hint that new thermostat doesn't help, I will not mess with it then.

Screening radiator with a cardboard seems to be right thing to do (but I will not). It's a common practice in some less developed northern countries :-).

Unless someone figures out how to fix it in correct way , let's just wait for the Spring to come :-)

 

I had the same problem and changing the thermostat DID fix it...i guess this might make u double minded...but my temp needle would drop everytime i went at high speeds and shoot up as soon as i stopped or slowed down....

now i dont believe its something wrong with the cooling system design in the maxima....i had an 89 GXE and i have travelled like 20 hours on the highway at speeds like +70mph even during snow storms but the heating NEVER dipped. might be the air trapped in the system that needs bleeding.

 

drstillpatient,
where did you get the thermostat? I mean, is it directly from Nissan or "aftermarket"?

Thanks.