Yesterday I took my max in to the dealership to replace the passenger side wheel bearing. Well, they told me it was my axle, and replaced that for me, but also told me the my water pump was leaking badly. I have never noticed any oil leaks, and my engine temperature (once warmed up) has always stayed between 184f-194f, so I figured they just wanted me to go ahead and give them $500 to do nothing at all. Well, today I drove about 5 miles and looked at the temp gauge and it was nearly at H, so i checked the temperature and it read in at 260f. I looked at everything, and the radiator fans are working, very well I might add, there is no dirt buildup on the radiator, so it should be working properly, and the coolant is full almost to the max line. My question is, is it possible that the dealership screwed with my water pump, or could this just be a bad thermostat. I might also add that when i got up to highway speeds with the heater on full blast the engine did cool down to about 215f-220f. Any ideas? I really dont want to take it back to them, for fear that they'll screw something else up. Also, please keep all e-thug responses to a minimum, im not gonna to down there and make them bite the curb or anything, i just wanna ge this fixed as quickly and cheaply as possible.

 

your water pump pumps the coolant thru out your engine. Have you noticed any coolant leaking out. If so then you have a bad water pump. This is what usaully happens when your car has a bad water pump. The only thing that seems odd is that your water level has not gone down.

 

The guy at the dealership said he saw water leaking like crazy, but everytime I've looked under there I've never seen anything leaking... I dont know what to think about them over at the dealership.

 

First mistake..

Well, that is the side of the water pump.


Unless you've noticed it, don't believe them. Get under there and check for yourself.... but for ***** and giggles, do you pay attention on a regular basis if your leaks anything? Most people who take their cars to the dealership do not.

Just curious how you have an exact # to go with ECT?

I got mine done for 1/2 that, parts and labor included.

Your best bet is to take the pass wheel off, and shroud and inspect for yourself. And if it is bad, find another place to have it fixed....Or you can attempt it yourself, but buy a haynes.

 

There was grease all over the place from the outer cv joint self destructing. The axle was only 4 months old, but it was a cheap autozone piece of crap. When the replaced it, all the grinding noises stopped, so I assume that that is all better. As for getting an exact temp, I have a scan-guage that plugs into the odb2 and tells me what all the sensors are reporting. I always try to take care of my car, and this is the first time I have taken it to a dealership. I just ran it for about 10 minutes just parked in the driveway, and I did notice a tiny little puddle about the size of a quarter, so I guess it could be very slowly leaking, but why would this affect the temperature so drastically?

 

The water pump bearing is what goes, typically in a 4g, and that's what causes the leak.

My AZ axles have lasted a looong time, but with reman parts, it's the luck of the draw.

So, now you're saying you did in fact see a small "quarter' size puddle? Now, I bet that's your problem.

Only wierd thing is, when the bearing went out on my H2O pump, I did not have overheating problems, so maybe your problem is more extensive

 

Yeah, I never had any problems until I brought it in, then they said there was a problem, and lo and behold, magically a problem came to back them up. Ohwell, I guess I gotta bite the bullet and find a shop to do this for me.

 

www.pinnaclenissan.com for the part..~80$ LAbor shouldn't be more than 2.5hrs(from a mechanic)

 

I had a bad messed up water pump. My water would leak bad, I would have to pull over every couple hours to add a gallon of water in. And if my car was parked up it would drip over time, but I noticed that my reserve stayed full. It wouldnt suck the water from the reserve. My reserver tank would be half full, but in my radiator it was empty. Next time after your engine cool down, open your radiator lid and see if its empty. Changing the water pump aint all that hard, the only problem i had was trying to remove the crankshaft damper bolt.

 

Well, just filled the radiator and it took about 3/4 of a gallon, so i guess thats why it wasnt cooling properly. Gonna order that part from Pinnacle ASAP, thanks for posting that NmexMAX. Thanks everyone, dont know if I would thought to check in the radiator itself, I always figured that the reserve actually did something.