Well, I'm almost at the mark. Was looking over the procedure the other night and noticed that the 2002 does have drain plugs on the block for coolant. Is it necessary to drain the block as well? Do the dealerships drain the block?

Just curious on what everyone does for radiator maintenance. Also, how necessary is a flush at this mileage?

 

I drained mine at 32k and saw maybe a half teaspoon of particles in the bottom of my bright yellow drain pan (makes 'em easy to see).

I only drained from the radiator, not the block. I used the OE Nissan coolant at $14 a gallon, which is supposed to be whoopdedo stuff based on other threads here I've read before the search function was disabled.

I and others have found that depending how you refill, the 3.5 will "burp", needing topping off for a couple of days after your fill. Draining the block will prob eliminate this need. Don't know what the dealer's protocol is.

wish that search function worked, there is a lot of info on this board on this topic. guess i'll have to donate, this site is more than worth it.

 

the manual says to open the heater water bock.
turn keys off to on
move the heater temp control dial to max hot then turn the keys off.
For forget about the block (don't know where where it is)
This is my way
open the heater bock
drain the coolant
then fill it with water
then run the engine for 10 min or more
repeat 3x for a flush ( drain,refill,run drain,refill ,run engine)with heater temp on hi
to get coolant out of the block.
then I do 60%coolant and 40% distill water mix( fill up the neck) , because the 10% of water is in the engline block.
you can use nissan or toyota red coolant ( some swear by it)
don't any other brand. japanese car are different

 

These links may help. Don't know if it is for the VQ35 or not:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....t=engine+drain

http://members.lycos.co.uk/LucyLu112/MAINTENANCE.pdf

 

I would drain the block as well. Sometimes, there is sand left over from the casting process in the engine and it needs to be removed. If you see any signs of it in your drained fluid, you need to flush the system. My 92 SE had a air bleeder vent in the engine to bleed the air when you refilled the cooling system. I believe that the VQ35DE does not have that feature. You have to keep adding coolant after running the engine to bleed the air out.