During an oil change on my 1996 Maxima at Nissan dealership recently, I found a seam at top of radiator that is slowly leaking. The original radiator was replaced in 9/05 with a Modine radiator and 168,000 miles, along with new Nissan upper and lower radiator hoses and Stant T-stat assembly unit. It appears that the coolant was drained and replaced only three times since 2005 and 122,000 miles ago - not good!! Having spent so much money in last 4 years on my Maxima that I have owned since new, such as new tires last month, front and rear valve cover gaskets in 3/19, new alternator, drive belts, 4 Monroe quick struts, and front sway bar links in 2020, I decided to replace T-stat/gasket and upper and lower with better quality Nissan parts. A local radiator shop, Sims Radiator, is going to replace the radiator with one of their best copper and brass radiators. Should I go all out and replace the radiator fluid with costly Nissan fluid ($30/gal.) and replace the original trans cooler hoses, as well as the original coolant temperature sensor. Final question, the current Nissan coolant looks surprisingly like new, but should I put radiator flush in during flushing the old coolant out. My mechanic who owns a large repair shop says he never uses chemical flush products. Any other suggestions for replacing my radiator would be appreciated. I know I should be selling this car with such high mileage, but it has been such a great car to drive and it is not my primary vehicle.

 

The price for coolant varies depending on if it is 50/50 (ready to use) or concentrated (mix with distilled water).
I assume your coolant is deep green and you want to stick with that. If so, get Nissan 999MP-AF000P, Zerex Asian green, or Pentofrost A2 and don't flush.

With those miles and age there is no reason not to replace the rubber parts. No one wants to go back in there for a bad hose.

 

Replacing radiator and hoses is such an easy job, you should consider DIY and save tons of money. The weak point in radiators is the top area and it usually fail there. Radiators are cheap to purchase on Amazon. You could replace radiator, hoses and coolant for <$100 in parts.

 

In case you’re interested, Rock Auto sells a TYC brand unit for $78.00 including a LLT warranty.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo...t=2172&jsn=406

 

Given your car’s age and mileage, I would keep it running by spending as little as possible. Mine is a 2000 with 190,000 miles. So in the same boat. I would not bother spending extra on some fancy brass radiator.

Amazon sells a radiator for $67.88. Free shipping with prime.

DPI 1752 Factory Style 1-Row Cooling Radiator Compatible with Maxima Infiniti I30 AT 95-99, Aluminum Core https://a.co/d/bGzMjWg

These cheap radiators last a good 8-10 years which is typical of most radiators. The heat from the coolant will eventually affect the plastics over time.

I would also just run to Wal-mart and buy their brand of coolant in green. Really cheap. That is what I use.

Drain the coolant, unhook the hoses, remove the fan, remove old the radiator. Put in new radiator, reinstall fan and new hoses. Add coolant. Done.

 

Thanks for the quick replies and advice, fellas. Unfortunately, due to ongoing back and hip problems, and as much as I would love to replace the radiator myself for economic and self-gratification reasons, my only choice is to pay someone to do the work. The cost of the radiator at the local radiator shop is $108 plus taxes and approx. $160 ($90 labor, plus 2 gallons of coolant, disposal, etc. I plan to provide them with coolant and have them install my Nissan upper and lower hoses and T-stat assembly unit that I have purchased at Courtesy Nissan at a good discount. Over the years I have often had Nissan parts installed in my Maxima that I purchased online at discount, rather than using aftermarket parts. If the weather holds up today, since draining the coolant should not be too physically challenging and local shops do not want to fool with a simple radiator drain and fill, I may try draining the coolant myself and run distilled water through the system several times until clear. Do I need to take steps to open up the heater core to clean it out during the draining process, according to suggestions on the internet and how do I remove the T-stat since it is part of the assembly unit during the cleaning process. As you can see, my knowledge about this seemingly simple process is limited. By the way, on a completely different subject, is there any way to stop AI from putting words in my messages on this website? Typing skills are not good anyway and this just slows me down by throwing words in that too often I have to delete.

 

Over the many years that I have spent maintaining for car, I have only done drain and refill. I never bothered with a flush.

 

I've alway just removed the hoses off of the firewall and put my own short hoses on the firewall then use a garden hose to flush out the heatercore. 4-5 minutes one way then 4-5 minutes the other hose, just make sure you don't use a pressure washer because you can blow out the seams on the heatercore with too much pressure. You also have to be careful and gentle removing the heatercore hoses off the firewall if you do this because if you break the fittings, you will need to replace the firewall and that's its own headache. It's just if you have poor heat you really need to do it, I had a buddy buy a old car a couple weeks ago and it had lukewarm heat. I ran a low pressure hose through the heatercore and some gunk came out then boom cooking hot heat