I just got home, and I turned the engine off of, but the blowers behind the radiator are still going! I did not do any long distance/hard driving, I just drove down the street. I turned engine on and off a few times, but the blowers are still just constantly going. I put a cone filter in about 2 weeks ago, could this have caused the problem? I don't know what to do, and the blowers will drain my battery if I don't do something quick. PLEASE HELP, THANKS!

 

The radiator fan is usually working overtime (still on when engine off) because the cooling is not sufficient when you are driving around town.

Open your hood, and check the level of your coolant. If it does not help (still on even after 10 minutes), start your car, open your windows, turn on the AC fan (with AC off) at highest setting and select the hottest temperature. Find an open road where you could go easy for 50mph. Do this for about 25 minutes and watch your temp. needle.

If the needle goes up, stop the car safely, turn off the engine (but with the key on ACC), and open the hood. After about 2 minutes, turn off the engine to cool it off and drive home.

If the needle stays steady, go home and turn off the engine and check the coolant level once again. If it goes below minimum, you want to fill it up with water (purified drinking water is nice).

 

Thanks a lot!

 

hmmm, after the car is OFF the fan is still going? lucky.

 

A friend's daughter called home and told her dad that her car was overheating. He talked her through checking the cooland level, which was low. He said to get as much water as she can and put it in the radiator.

She called back 30 mins later and said; "I only had enough cash to get 2 bottles of Dasani out of the vending machine..."

(Scarily enough, this is true. Actually did happen to my neighbor...)

 

I don't think our fans run when the car is turned off. My old Honda would turn the cooling fans on when the car was off if it was really really REALLY hot! I've never heard of a Maxima's cooling system working that way. I suspect something is wrong with your cooling system, like a stuck relay. Keep your eyes on it, if indeed they are supposed to run under certain conditions, they should shut off in about 5 minuts. If they don't, disconnect your battery and find the relay for the fans and replace it.

 

no, mine did this a few weeks ago for the first time ive ever noticed it too... it was freaky.. i got back in my car, turned it on, and shut it off 10 seconds later, and the fan went off. it was normal driving, definatly not hot from driving hard. havent noticed it since??

Hall

 

..and it happened just two weeks back on my trip to Yosemite National Parks. No, I was not driving a my Max (still in Milwaukee), but I got a Volvo XC70 AWD (you know, the station wagon with 4wd and all.

I drove from LA to Fresno, via Sequioia National Park...and I did the mountain roads with the transmission in manual shifting mode.

Guess what, the fan was on until I stopped looking at the trees, and I smelt something burning from the cabin (from the AC). Well, open the hood and it was extremely hot (ambient temp. was about 65 F). I left the hood open and walk around the trees. When we came back about 30 minutes later, the fan was still on.

I then drove it easy (downhill, what do you expect) and arrived in
Fresno. At that time, we knew something is wrong with the car.

The next morning, 104F from Fresno to Yosemite and the check engine light is on. It said "Stop the car safely, coolant is low". Well, stop the car, open the hood and *just* opened the reservoir. It was boiling!

So we sit on the shadow are for about 12 minutes or so, start the engine, no engine light, and drove off. 10 minutes later, it gave us the same warning but this time there is a convenience store nearby. We bought a gallon of drinking water, wait for the coolant to settle, and add about 1/3 of water.

No engine light from that point off, but I did have to refill the reservoir again when we came down from Yosemite to San Diego on that Sept 2 weekend.

On I-5, I spot a lot of cars with coolant problems (you know, that peak on I-5 where 4-cylinder engine tends to overheat with AC on), and I gave my jug of water (1 gallon jug) to a fellow so that he could fill up his coolant.

Just remember one thing, before you said the relay is malfunctioning, make sure that the engine is having some coolant problems. If you shut off that relay when the engine is really having coolant problems, you are pretty much screwing yourself.

Sorry for the long post...I am just trying to help. Fortunately, my Max coolant level is always at Max and never had coolant problems (overheating/leaking). But hey....knock on wood! Knock! Knock! Knock!

 

I just got home today, and the same thing happened again... the fans were still on! No hard driving this time either.

When this happened 3 days ago, I just added some water, and after a while (30 min), they didn't turn off. So, I just disconnected the 2 power harnesses that hooked into the fans. I came back the next morning, re-attached the harnesses, and the Max was running as usual, with the fans turning off when they are supposed to. I had just assumed that adding the water did the trick.

But today, the same thing happened again. Adding water obviously didn't solve the whole problem so I need another solution. I am not sure what to do from here. I might take it in somewhere to get it checked out... but I want to try to avoid that if I can save some money and do it myself. If worse comes to worse, where would be a good place to go for a good price that deals with this type of problem?

Is there a possibility that some temp. sensor or something is malfunctioning in the radiator, making it think that it is hotter than it actually is? If it is the relay for the fans, where is the relay located and how do I replace it? Does the intake that I added 2 weeks ago have anything to do with it (I moved the sensor that was in the stock airbox to the outside of the filter, but very close to it, zip-tied to the power wire coming off of the Negative side of the battery). Would resetting the ECU help out any (The check engine light is not on).

I know this is A LOT of questions, but I really have no idea what to do here. PLEASE help me out..... thanks a lot!

 

Everything you states is a possibility.....bad temp. sensor, bad relay, or even a low coolant.

If I were you, I would take the car to a mechanic and listen to what he says.

It's kinda hard to diagnose this since I could not see the problem myself. Let me ask you one thing, when is the last time you do a pressure test and flush your coolant?

Leaving the coolant fluid for like 3 years or more will decrease its cooling efficiency (plus you might be having some rust laying around).

 

I don't think that I have ever done a coolant flush.... but I have only had the car for a year. But, I will take it in and get it checked out. Thanks!

 

Just a thought to consider. Your profile says your Max is a '96. You said you have only owned it for a year so it is very possible that your cooling system is in need of a flush and new coolant.
That is not a high tech job. You might try doing that yourself before taking it in to the shop.
Try the simple fix first............

 

Will any ordinary oil change place also do a coolant flush? I don't really want to go to the Nissan dealer and have to pay A TON. I think that I am going to just stop by there and see what their opinion on the problem is..... but I am definitely going to get a coolant flush ASAP, just to see if something this simple is the problem.

 

If possible, do it yourself. Since your Max is 6 or 7 years old, you may want to replace the upper and lower radiator hoses when you replace the coolant. You do not need to get a fancy flush.....just use the search function and read how members have removed the old coolant, run fresh water through the system, and then added new coolant.
Even if you want to take it to a shop, research what is involved so you know what to tell the shop regarding what you want done.
Hope it is a cheap fix for your problem.

 

It could probably be a electrical problem. Perhaps the relays (if it's connected to a relay) are gettin sticky or somethin.

 

Just to let everyone know.... it turned out that the relay for the fans was the problem. The #3 relay was getting stuck. Thanks for your help guys!

 

Glad to hear your problem solved. I had problems w/ sticky relays before (old car- 89 celica).. but that was in regards to the starter-kill relay on my alarm system.