Somebody please Help! I was driving home after having a real great day NOT! Just coming home from helping my big Bro from the Hospital after he rolled his SUV and my enginge overheats. Fortunately I was practically in my yard. Any how I let cool down and refilled the radiator with fresh antifreeze and water. Now my car hesitates when I give it gas. If I presss lightly it picks up speed until I hit the 60MPH barrier and it will go no further. Any suggestions? Eternally grateful for any help.

 

Any ECU codes?

 

same thing happened to me today. i was driving and suddenly my RPM drops down to 2k and hesistates to go any faster. i looked at the temperature gauge it was all the way up, overheating. I checked the coolant and it was still filled up. took it to the car shop and found out my waterpump went out. :\ going to cost $100 to replace, $350 for labor

 

Am I the only one who checks my cluster every once in a while to see if the temperture is okay? I suppose I should keep my eyes on the road instead.

 

I was afraid of that it might be my waterpump. I figured she was due for a new WP (229,000) on the original (at least I don't think it was replaced before bought from the dealer w/90k). Oh yeah I do check my clusters (had it happen to my 83 maxima RIP). Off to my mechanic I go.

 

How did your mechanic diagnose the water pump?

 

60MPH = 2000ish RPMS = Dead or unplugged MAF.
Also, flush your coolant system again. Antifreeze is not needed at much as you might think. I run a 30/70 coolant to water ratio and that is plenty. In NC, 40/60 should be fine for you.

 

Lets see here your car overheating. If the waterpump failed it would not hold coolant as it would run out of the waterpump. You dont seem to be stating that problem of holding coolant so we can possibly rule that out.

You say your car only goes to 60 MPH. At roughly 60 MPH your RPMs are about 2500(5 Spd). A dead MAF sensor limits your RPMs to 2500. Also the MAF could have came unplugged. Check to see if it is connected. MAF the black thing behind your airbox that has a plug on it. But also a bad MAf should trip the CEL.

 

Here is the condensed version of what happened 24 hours later. I checked the codes with the help of may older brother due to the fact all the autozone idiots do not know how use the equipment the use to check why the engine light is on. While getting the codes from my ECM something strange happened.
While my brother looked and commented how smooth my car was running. He also scratched his head as to why my engine was stalling. So I pulled the throttle to show what it would do when I gave it gas, and the engine rpm's got higher and higher with no stall.So we shut the hood on the car and drove it down the street and magicly my car runs just fine.
Realisticly we came to the conclussion that the cars ECM recognized something going wrong and shut the engine down so it would not damage itself. I am not sure? Can anyone shed any light on this?
I have purchased a new radiator, my old one was cracked bellow the cap nozzle.
Water pump and new hoses and anti-freeze have been prescribed and surgery will be performed next week. Thanks to all those maxima fanatics for their help

 

I think 50/50 basically suits most everyone, as long as the temps don't dip below -34. My guess is at 30/70, your coolant probably can conduct heat transfer better than a 50/50 mix. However, with a cooling system functioning at 100%, the motor is operating at the temp it was designed for so probably 50/50 is best for a great majority out there. Imho it's easier to make a 50/50 mix than to use a hydrometer which can be inaccurate. Heck, you fill a 1 gal jug half with antifreeze and the other with water (I use tap, some use Fiji or Poland Springs), and you know it's 50/50. Or you buy the ready made--what marketing geniuses who came up with it. 50/50 mix for the price of pure antifreeze. And who said Americans can't do math?

 

Water wetter FTW.

 

Or a few drops of dish soap.




Unnecessary if your cooling system is working properly though.