I have a 2000 Maxima I love. Its a 5 speed and if I could find a really nice one I would replace it. I had running hot issues, never overheated, just ran way up in the bracket close to hot. I removed the thermostat and it still done the same. I removed that crazy heat valve and its never done it again. It runs in the normal range. I never smell or see antifreeze on the ground. About a small Gatorade bottle every 500 miles is going somewhere unless i am filling it to full and its going out the over flow tank. I am wondering, after the car sits at night , the next day it has pressure on the radiator, not a crazy amount but some. Is that normal or do you think getting ready to be a head problem? I do love the car and its just a base Maxima 5 speed, I really hate to get rid of it but I hate to spend tons to get it fixed. Starter, and axle is only problems its ever had since 98000 miles-has 190k now. I am not complaining but I love it and having no luck finding a manual Maxima. Thanks appreciate your help.

 

Time to give up on that car instead of dumping money into that car because it has 190,000 miles = 305,775 km.

Manual Maxima are rare though.

Good hunting!

 

Headgasket is probably blown.
If you do it yourself it won't be tons of money.

 

Lol at the responses.

First, you need to do some analysis.

If you are losing coolant, the first things to check are:

1. The radiator. It is known to crack along the top and leak small amounts of coolant. Inspect carefully for cracks and coolant.

2. The water pump. There are orings in the wp which go bad over time. The pump itself usually does not. When the rings go, coolant leaks out through the weep hole. Check to see if you have coolant leaking from the wp which is on the passenger side near the belts. Don't confuse it for condensation from the a/c.

3. What does your oil look like? milky? Is it too full? These are signs of blown HG.

4. Fans. Confirm that your fans both turn on properly. The best way to do that is turn on your a/c. Both should be running.

5. Bleed the cooling system. If you have not properly bled the cooling system after coolant change or replacement, you may be simply looking at the results of that failure. It can make it appear that you are losing coolant and also can cause overheating.

There are instructions on the org for proper bleeding. The short of it is you need to take off the cap, run to operating temp, fill to brim, turn off and let cool, and repeat that process several times. If you havent done that, then that could be the cause.

I have 225k on my 2000 and I have the radiator, wp and fan problems but never a HG. I still have the original thermostat and have never had a problem with the heat valve.

The real test is a cylinder leakdown test. You can rent a tester at most auto parts stores.

Short of it is don't listen to knee jerk responses, learn what to do and learn something in the process.

 

Having pressure in the radiator in the morning is not right. If you had any kind of leak in the system, head gasket or radiator or hose, the pressure would escape through that opening.

In a working system, the radiator cap is why the pressure builds up as the engine runs and heats the coolant, which expands to cause the pressure. When the engine is turned off, the coolant cools and contracts. Again, the radiator cap plays a part here also. If the cooling system was sealed, there would be a vacuum in it when it was cold. The radiator cap has a valve in it to allow water from the overflow tank to be sucked into the radiator as the coolant cooled and contracted.