hey guys like the title says, i dished 1300 on repacing the engine in my 1997 maxima. After 2 days of driving it, it overheated. Looked under the hood and found a small leak under the throttle body. I removed the throttle body but its still a little lower. It leaks when i push the throttle, the leak is like spraying windex. I have no more $ and i dont know what to do its spraying antifreeze on the rubber hoses that are under the throttle body. I pray to god the engine is not cracked. Is their a common leak in the area im talking about??

 

I am certain that there are coolant lines around that area which could be your culprit. Any hose could have gotten damaged during the swap. How bad did you let it overhead? How long was it driven in it's heated form?

 

i was on the highway and it was like 1mm from the H i drove like that for 20min it didnt 100% hit H but it got pretty close and kept fluctuating. I really hope the engine isnt cracked. Its so hard to diganoise because by the times it leaks the anti freeze gets so hot.

 

If you drove it for 20 minutes after seeing it that hot, I'd bet that you did damage more than not.

 

I would say you should have pulled over. No offense but if you knew the issues that could be caused by the over heating why were you hesitant to pull over? Highway or not, im sure there was a place you could have. And at that point im sure you could have managed to diagnose the issue or at the very least let the engine cool down...

Sad to see you drop in a newer engine to let it be destroyed so quickly.

I would say, replace the coolant hoses that go to the Throttle Body and check the Oil. I wouldn't be surprised if you have Coolant in your Oil.

 

Check your coolant levels. If it's will in range, I don't think the leak caused you to overheat. You will have to find out why it overheated in the first place. If I had to bet, it'll be on a faulty installation. Here's an article to get you started.
http://www.aa1car.com/library/overheat.htm

 

Who did the install on the engine?

 

just open the radiator cover & look inside if there's oil mixed in with the water it's cracked................

 

Go back to the shop that you just gave 1300 bucks to and have them fix the leak.
Make sure the cooling system has been purged of any air and you should be fine.

Good luck!

 

no thank god theres no oil in the radiator and my car doesent have white smoke from the exhaust... so hopefully my head gasket is ok. The leak is resposible for the over heating because when i fill the radiator and drive an hour or so it starts to overheat, when i check the radiator again its empty. Heres another thing when i go to turn on my heat the overheating gets worse instead of better. I dont know what this means, it blows luke warm air in 90 degree weather, when i put it on max heat. I know it was stupid to drive when my needle was on H by i had my 9 month old nephew in the car and he was crying.... im guessing because of how hot it was and ,my main concern was bringing him home. It never completly hit the H but it got pretty close.. if the engine is cracked am i out 1300?? can weld fix it?

 

Bgawad,

Are u sayin that u think that the TB is cracked or the nozzle for the coolant lines may be cracked??

I think u are savvy enough to check the coolant hoses yurself. And u are correct, you wdnt be able to see this coolant spray/leak until the engine was hot.

If the engine is "cracked" that sucks but not unfixable. easiest fix may be to find some high temp rtv sealant and spread it over the suspected area. U gonna have to find the leak first tho by letting the engine heat up to operating temp and observe where the leak comin from. There are other sealants you can buy or if u have a torch and a metal hanger weld over the crack. Aluminum to iron or aluminum will hold.

EDIT:

I agree with NJmax, go back to the shop and have them fix it. I think its definitely fixable and not require new engine. THey prolly didnt even know about the crack. Hell, the engine shd have a warranty on it from wherever they or u got it from. They shd fix it for free no problems. when i got tranny replaced it had a 6 month warranty on it. Tranny was used from JY

 

ok guys i took out the throttle body, and it seems the leak is comming from a metal thing that looks like a circle. Do any of you guys know the name?? its lower then the throttle body, is a circle, and is metal

thanksss

 

prolly missing a gasket. u can buy a cardboard gasket type plate from autozone and cut out the shape u need

 

It looks like coolant is coming from the intake manifold if it is coming from the throttle body.

 

You still havent specified who swapped this $1300 job/engine in...

 

He had posted earlier about his misquoted engine install by a shop in newark, remember? they quoted a low price and then backed out because he had a 99 engine with more stuff to install....

 

Good memmory eddie. Thats all correct my $300 install turned into an $900 install. The install took 3 months. So theres no way in hell im going back to the guy im lucky i got the car back after the police had to come. Its NOT leaking from the throttle body its under the throttle body its spraying on the two rubber hoses the carry anti freeze to the fire wall.

 

check the coolant lines to the throttle chamber and under it,if need be replace them top it off and Bleed the air out of the system....Air pockets will cause you to overheat also.

 

That would be the cold idle booster, it's part of the throttle body and does reside in the coolant path in the TB.

You have two choices:

1) The quick fix - Tie the 2 coolant hoses that connect to the TB together, bypasing the TB, and you should be OK. (You may experiance a high idle at times.)

2) The correct fix - Look in the FS section here for a used throttle body.

 

impressive

 

njmax might be onto something, but i would suggest making sure the hoses to the TB are in the correct order, there are many hoses that run in the general vicinity of the TB and more often than not they can get mixed up. Also make sure that there is no air in the coooling passages. Try to burp the system...

Has any speculation arisen regarding a Thermostat?