Hey Guys,

i was driving my 01 Maxima, it's got 110 K on it. All of a sudden it won't accelerate above 20 MPH. So i pulled over as i pulled over i noticed black smoke coming from the exhaust. i open the hood. i didn't notice anything at first. i checked the antifreeze level in the radiator and radiator was empty so i thought i had blown a head gasket. i checked the oil and it was normal color. didn't notice any other leaks. i had the car towed home. had to go to work the next day so i haven't looked any further. yesterday i hooked up the code reader and i pulled P0217 code.... any ideas on where to go from here.......

 

not sure, i can't find anything on p0217 code

 

FSM says that P0217 is coolant overtemperature enrichment protection. The code is triggered when the coolant temperature is high.

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Maxima/2001/EC.pdf

Go to page 312 and start there. Good luck!

 

That code is for engine overheating. Check the engine bay for leaks. With that much coolant loss you will see it pretty easy. Could just be a bad radiator hose.

 

Start troubleshooting at the beginning. Fill the radiator up with water and start the car and and look for leaks.

 

Thank you guys. Will check and report updates soon.

 

well i'm dumb i looked at the 2000 fsm and it's not listed, interesting

 

check the top of the radiator for leaks. They have a tendency to crack right on the top of the plastic.

 

This is what happened to mine. It was very noticeable, to say the least... all over my engine bay. Replacement was pretty easy though, even did it in the dead of winter. I was driving around with no coolant for weeks, engine temp never went up (presumably because it was so cold).

 

thank you guys for the info.

So far looks to be pointing towards the radiator. There is antifreeze all over it and in the engine compartment. however the car is not starting. it partially cranks but no start. going to pickup the pressure tester for the radiator and compression tester as well to cover my bases.

 

Do you have the Nissan FSM or are you looking in some other manual?

I looked in both versions of the 2000 Nissan service manual that are on Pmohr's website and it is listed in both.

http://boredmder.com/FSMs/Nissan/Maxima/2000/EC.pdf
http://boredmder.com/FSMs/Nissan/Maxima/2000.5/EC.pdf

 

Props to Candian_I35 found the crack exactly where he said it. it's near the upper hose on top.

 

Good eyeballing.

Did you get the starting problem fixed?

 

i am still having the issue of car not starting.... any ideas? the starter engages and stops... Pulled the front 3 plugs no issues, pulling the rear 3 now. also checked battery is fully charged. will hookup the obd2 to see if there are any additional codes.

 

The starter engages and stops as in no cranking?

While this sounds like a battery that cannot develop enough amperage, the fact that this started after the engine overheated kind of scares me. It is possible that the engine seized up. If you still have all the spark plugs out, put a wrench on the bolt in the crankshaft pulley/harmonic balancer. See if you can turn it in the clockwise direction. It will take some force, so a breaker bar is recommended. If the spark plugs are in, you'll need to exert more force.

You may want to take the battery and have it tested for amperage output.

Another possibility is that the solenoid on the starter has burned contacts in it and this would give you the same problem. Unfortunately a starter with this kind of a problem will usually test good at your local auto parts store as they only do a no-load test.

 

Dennis,

That's what my train of thought was, that's what i had planned on doing as well as compression test just to be safe. Also just wanted to double check on the rotation. i thought this engine rotated counterclockwise. can anyone confirm?

 

While I am pretty sure the engine turns clockwise, it doesn't matter for turning the engine just to see if it will turn. Turning the engine backwards won't hurt anything.

 

of course you're always right. but to prove i'm not crazy or extraordinarily dumb




its not there. on further investigation-



whatever fsm i was linked to a long *** time ago was apparently the qx version. looks like ill be updating my files

 

You downloaded that from nico club. Those morons still have it and refuse to take it off of their web site.

I guess you know that the 2000 has 2 manuals. Nico club used the QX manual as the 2000 manual and had the true 2000 manual listed as the 2000.5 manual. After complaints about this, their solution was to switch which manual you got under the label of 2000 or 2000.5. Maybe I got it bass ackwards about which manual is/was under which label, but I won't lose any sleep over it.

So if you have a 2000 Max, how do you know which version is for your car? I have a listing by VIN numbers for that. Here it is.

Look at the last 8 characters of the car's VIN.
for VINs up to and including YT0 12236 or YT2 11680 or YT5 27429 or YT7 40491,
Download the manual called the 2000 manual.
on the front page of the FWD section, it reads
Edition: April 1999
Revision: June 2000
Publication No. SM0E-1A33U3

for VINs higher than the above, download the manual called the 2000.5 manual.
On the front page of the FWD section, it reads
Edition: November 1999
Revision: January 2001
Publication No. SM0E-1A33U5

4th gen org member Pmohr who has the boredmder.com web site has always had the correct manuals for the 2000.

http://boredmder.com/FSMs/Nissan/Maxima/

 

^^ i think i remember from past research i'm a true 2000. will double check though to make sure. interesting that this is how i get it all straightened out

thx dennis

 

Alright after running around with my head on fire for two days trying to thing of best way to tackle this issue finally got some time today to work on the car.. performed a compression check all cylinders have good pressure, engine turns with no binding so i took the starter off and took it to auto zone for the bench test and that was it!!!! replaced the starter and the radiator..... bled the system of air.... all ops checks normal so far!!! will have to put some miles on the thing to confirm if there is a head gasket issue but so far things are looking good!!

 

It's good to hear that you got the car running. Since the compression check was good, I think you will be OK.