MaximaFan4140

Ok to start its an 03 3.5, ive just developed a leaking radiator issue which turned into an overheating issue. Ok heres my problem, i just replaced the radiator to take care of the overheating problem, or so i thought, cooling fans were working intermittently to begin with which caused my overheating issue with the leaking radiator. I havent gotten to replacing cooling fans yet but now all of ansudden i went from having heat in the car to my car blowing cold constantly, even at operating temp. Why the hell would a radiator replacement cause me to go from having heat to none at all??

SubwayVQ

2k2albatross

MaximaFan4140,
Subway VQ is correct. I swapped my 2002 Maxima radiator out during Summer 2017 and I took about 30 minutes to bleed the system. My heat has been working fine all winter.

Tool:

I used the information from this tsb which I had from our 2002 Altima:
http://ww2.justanswer.com/uploads/ba...7c06heater.pdf

krismax

iTrader: (15)

or bad head gasket

MaximaFan4140

I was thinking the same thing, unfortunately i dont have one of those funnels available so can i just bleed the coolant withe the radiator cap off?

maximatech12

I had an issue somilar to this back in the 2000's in my Cutlass Calais 2.5L
What I had to do was flush the heater core with water every year cause it was plugged up with rust.
I think i was using the wrong antifreeze.
I shoulda been using the GM genuine stuff.

PhalC1

Something as arbitrary as coolant shouldn't have that much of an effect on your car. There has to be something else

2k2albatross

The TSB has instructions to make a home made system for bleeding.

Derrick2k2SE

iTrader: (3)

I've never had a problem bleeding a Maxima cooling system.

* Fill it and leave the cap off.
* Start it and add coolant as the level drops. Have coolant ready, it will drop quickly.
* As it heats up the coolant will expand and start to overflow. When this happens, put the cap on.
* Go drive it around.
* Let it cool for a little while, remove the cap and add fluid if necessary.

You shouldn't have to do more than that.

What's the coolant level look like right now?

maximatech12

it was a known issue in some cars, maybe not Nissan. What would happen is the metal heater core would corrode inside. The motors were cast iron so the antifreeze was a bit different than what you seeing now-a-days.
Its common to dump radiator stop-leak into the system before a new radiator. This could plug up the heater core then when youve put tge new radiator in the heater core is plugged up with stop-leak.

MaximaFan4140

Well the fluid level is still full, it started raining heavily to where i couldnt bleed the coolant yet, to which its still raining heavily now but im otw to my nearest pull it yard to find a working cooling fan assembly because i dont have 100 bucks for a new one just yet...not to mention i was kinda leary at letting my car run without fully functioning fans because i didnt want any overheating issues while trying to do the bleed correctly.

Derrick2k2SE

iTrader: (3)

Good deal. I'm all about the salvage yards. Try and find one that's already been replaced. You can probably just get the fan motors cheaper than the whole assembly. I've got two here that look brand new. Pulled them from a car that had a bunch of new parts added before they junked it.

2k2albatross

MaximaFan4140,
Were you able to resolve the issue?

maxinout93

dont chance it too much because you will run the risk of possible overheating if you are just sitting idle. I remember I accidentally left the primary fan unplugged and got on the freeway on a 2 hour drive, pulled into a drive-thru and say the temp was higher than normal. shut the car off and saw the fan was unplugged.