I have a 2002 Maxima and was wondering if there is a drainplug on the radiator to drain the coolant. I didn't see or feel one and I'll be dammed if I take it to the dealer and pay $60 when I can do it myself for $5

 

I haven't check the driver manual but the information is usually in the "to-do-yourself" section. Here is a link for the radiator flushing w/pictures: http://www.motorvate.ca/
The instruction is for the 4th gen Maxima (under engine catagory) but the procedure is very similar. Just curious, how are you planning to do it yourself? Are you just draining the old fluid and refill it or flush the whole system? I had mine system flushed last Saturday at Merchant tires. They hooked a flushing machine onto the car's radiator and performed the flushing process. The cost was about $60.00. Expensive but worth the money in the long run. FYI, mine odometer currently at 25K w/only a year and almost 2 months of ownership. What's yours?

 

My car is about 17 months old and I have about 9000 miles on it. I was just planning to drain the radiator and refill it for now. I have another vechicle so I only drive my Maxima when the weather is nice.

 

Why bother at 9,000 miles? Do you have a reason to believe there is an issue? Or are you putting in different coolant with water wetter or something?

 

I just feel antifreeze should be changed once a year regardless of milage. At 5 or 6 dollars a gallon. I just think it's cheap insurance.

 

Smart thinking. Most people wait to long to change it. Vehicles that I service yearly never have radiator/core/engine/waterpump cooling issues. Vehicles that owners push to 30-60k miles almost always have issues and parts replacements.
The $10 yearly radiator drain/refill is smart thinking. Don't forget to use distilled water.

Don't forget other rarely changed fluids like the PS and BF!

 

PM sent with directions.

 

I've owned many cars since new and driven them to 120K -150K milkes and sold them w/o ever having changed the coolant or having a coolant issue. Not saying you are right or wrong-just putting it out there.

Is there a link for changing coolant that's easly to follow if I decide to change my evil ways?

 

Well, here it is for the masses. Check out page 14. Probably better off right clicking and saving it, its 1.40mb.
http://members.lycos.co.uk/LucyLu112/MAINTENANCE.pdf

If you're looking for other stuff, send me a pm.

 

jonbth

not all antifreeze is the same. The subject has been discussed to death before but can't find the link, no search powers. The anti-freeze sold by nissan cost about $14 (rip-off) and it is or isn't silicate based. I don't remember which. By the way I bought nissan's $14 anti-freeze jic


From my own DIY experience:

remove all the black clips under the lip (splash guard) all the way to the passenger wheel. This allows you to not have to hold the guard out of your way.

Turn on the heat to max for 10 to 15 secs to remove the coolant in the core (I highly doubt 10 secs is enough but the directions said so). Remove the radiator cap.

You are supposed to loosen the air relief and a bolt on the front and back. The bolt on the front and back are super hard to get to. The air relief bolt is the first bolt, if you follow the hose from the radiator to the engine. It's under the stock air scoop. It was hard to locate for me from the pic, so thank BigdogJonx for that one.

Look up under the radiator you'll see the plug. A philips screw driver will help loosen it. Note how much strength you needed to loosen it, because it is plastic/nylon and if you go too strong when putting it back I'm sure you will easily strip it.

Drain it. If you wish run a hose thru it. Pre-mix as you wish and refill. If you pre-mix make sure you use distilled water. A corrosion thing. The first coolant drained was exactly one gallon and did not look mixed.

The refill instructions are to fill until the coolant spills out of the air relief gap. Then re-tighten (I forget the torque)
the air relief. Run engine for about 5 min and observe temp needle, top off the coolant as needed in reservoir.


SHIFT_woosh

 

I was unaware that the 5th Gen Max has an air bleed bolt. Is this also true for the 4th Gen? It is not mentioned in Haynes or Owners Manual for either car nor in the FSM link above.
BTW, I read somewhere that Nissan has a TSB out nor to remove the engine block bolts to drain the system but to just perform drain and refills. Something to do with the difficulty of bleeding these engines. This might have been on the VQ30 in the 4th Gen Max where I read this but it may also apply to the 5th Gen Max. Does anyone recall the details on this? BTW, use Nissan antifreeze as it is silicate free. I haven't found any US antifreeze that is silicate free. Only the Asian OEMS seem to use silicate free antifreeze.

 

I didn't touch the bolts on section MA14 in the link above. Too hard to get to and from what you said looks like a good thing not to have messed with it.

The sheet I had of the FSM has the pic of the air relief bolt on that same page MA14. Personally, I think loosening the air relief bolt is not necessary.

Yup SILICATE FREE is the fact I was trying to pass on to jonbth.


SHIFT_woosh

 

I want to thank everyone for their input.

 

so what happen if the coolant fluid is not silicate free?

 

It can be a cause for premature water pump failure and the surface tension of the fluid will most likely not provide the proper cooling when it is most needed. (extremes)

learned it all right here, believe that
SHIFT_woosh