Hi,

My 2000 SE temp gauge was at High this morning while driving. When I come to a stop and idle it immediately goes back down to normal. My thermostat and 1 fan is only like 1 year old in this car, but the car's fans always seem to run at full blast and sound loud from outside the car. Any ideas as to the problem and/or where to start troubleshooting?

Thanks

 

Coolant level?

 

coolant and the fan... check the fan bearings for extreme noise..maybe it is not working properly...

 

Coolant level is max.

 

Water pump??

How old is the coolant?

 

Though it is 1-yr old, it could still be your stat not opening properly, next time this happens, before the temp drops, touch the upper rad hose (one on the passenger side, going from engine to rad) and if the temp is showing high and the rad hose is not hot then it could be your stat not opening or water pump that went bust...

 

i say check coolant level....and/or thermostat

 

i dont know if the fan on your car can only go one way, but some cars the fan can go both directions, check to make sure that the fan isnt blowing air away. always check the coolant level. maybe running lean??

 

Check to make sure you still have belt around your water pump. I just had the same situation with my Land Cruiser

 

On 5th Gen the water pump is internal to the engine and does not run off a drive/serpentine belt like many other cars do...

 

it may be a clogged radiator. my 2000 was doing the same thing and i replaced the thermostat which didnt fix the problem. finally realized that the radiator was completely clogged (I assume it had never been flushed). so the thermostat was opening but the fluid was staying in the engine block because it couldnt flow through the radiator. found one online for around $100

 

Good point soonerfan. If he checks the top hose he will be able to tell if the hot coolant even makes it to the rad, which it should if the stat opens properly...

 

How many miles on the car ? I noticed that most Maximas with bad water pumps are due to neglecting to do coolant flushes. I personally do a coolant flush on my car every year or bout 30K miles.

Look under the car right by the AC compressor, if you see any traces of coolant there- you need a new water pump.

Dont let it overheat, or you will need a new engine- its cheaper to put a new one in that repair the old one.

 

I'm with Soonerfan on this one. Same thing happened with my 2000 SE at 150,000 kms even with regular coolant flushes and all maintenance done regularly. Dealership tried different things but eventually replaced the rad to fix it.

 

Just got the call that the radiator had a crack in it and needs to be replaced. along with thermostat and some other small random parts.

 

Be sure to second guess things man, sounds like they sure are changing out alot of parts....

J

 

Usually when I replace a rad, I would look at replacing the hoses if they are close to the need of it, and would replace stat regardless how old the original one is...

As far as the crack in the rad goes, where was it and have you observed any coolant loss prior to this? Any coolant marks on the ground?

 

Car has 125k. I did notice a little coolant at the bottom of the engine bay. They are changing out hoses and some little things that only cost a couple dollars each. (hoses, gaskets etc) The thermostat was only like $12 or so. They are also reflashing the computer from when I changed the MAF last month. I didn't ask where the crack was.

 

OK, so it is likely a busted rad and I also think stat was too... Judging by the ECU reflashing, seems that the dealer is working on it... Hope they don't overcharge you for this experience!

 

exactly. the dealership was gonna charge me $200+ for a nissan radiator plus labour. like i said before, i just bought one offline and installed it myself

 

just got car back. It doesn't overheat anymore. But when I came to an idle, something was smoking under the hood.. I couldn't tell what is smoking but it's going back to the shop tomorrow.. sigh

 

Dont be overly alarmed by that smoke. When you replace rad, hoses, and stat, there is always some coolant or water left around and on the engine that when engine warms up evaporates shortly after. Simply open the hood, let the car run and look for sources of steam and hopefully it is just that...

Another thing is that I hope when the car overheated that the pistons or the heads did not warp. Just something for you to be aware of in the future should you have any problems with compression or leaking head gaskets...