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Yes I'm the infamous Altima poster (1998). I thought I'd made things better but I guess I made them worse.
I replaced the thermostat last night, figuring that was a good thing to do. Although it was my first time doing so I followed the instructions exactly and it's not leaking, and no I didn't put it in backwards. I also learned how to bleed out the air (thus you don't need to burp the radiator). After this, it runs hot MORE often.
Before I could go 15-20 miles if I'd just filled up the tank, now it starts acting up within 6 miles or so. The temperature gauge fluctuated before and that was why I figured I needed a thermostat, but it only did so occasionally and now it does it much more quickly, it will be near 3/4 hot but then come back down and be normal again, then a little later it will do it again. Eventually after 10 miles or so it's full blast hot, and that's something it never did before (again many times I could go 15 miles and it would stay on the half mark the entire time).
What else could it be? I'm not thinking water pump because last weekend my belts came off and during that period it was even worse, far worse, and now I have new belts throughout. For the record before my heater sometimes was hot sometimes it wasn't, now it's always cold. Also my upper radiator hose almost never gets warm as of late, and instead of SOME of the water boiling over into the radiator now almost all of it does. Again since changing the thermostat it does all of this worse, but gee whiz that's a simple job.
Blown head gasket? For the record I'm leaning towards selling this but I figured I'd get feedback.
Update (edit), I just did a test run, as before you'll make it 5-6 miles then all Cain breaks loose. I noticed at this point that in fact there is no water boiled over into the reservoir, in fact the reservoir is empty. Now I lost the very small "Oring" you have on the cap and its replacement isn't the same one, I can't imagine it would make THAT much difference. This points to a leak, but I haven't seen one anywhere. Radiator maybe? I know how silly this must sound, if it's a matter of I spend $200 getting a new radiator or water pump and all is well then fine, but I'd hate to do that and it STILL run hot. I'm just trying to decide when to say enough is enough.
"I have a 1998 Nissan Altima. It's been doing OK but ofcourse as it's a 1998 I only paid $400 for I've been smoking out some piddly things to take care of."
"We have a 2000 Toyota Corolla VE. For the past week or sowe've been hearing this "woom, woom, woom" sound from the right-front wheel which you can clearly hear it at lower speeds, as you speed up the sound speeds up with it up until around 45 mph or so at which point you can no longer hear it (but I'm sure it's still occurring, it's merely that you can't HEAR it."
"I have noticed that the overflow tank fills up with what "steams off" from the main radiator, and then it never flows back into the main radiator. Today I got a siphon hose thing so I can empty it outand return it back to the main unit (or dispose of it etc). As long as I have sufficient coolant in the main unit, it doesn't run hot."
"OK, so I know jack about automotive electrical systems.Yesterday I went to jump-start one of my cars with the other car. It jumped just fine and I drove it around for an hour and a half with no problem."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katana49
OP is a prime example of someone who should not be buying cheap cars.
The upper radiator hose not getting hot means the hot water from the engine is not going to the radiator. Overall it seems like you didn't get the air out of the system completely.
Do you have a shop manual?
Don't take the car more than a mile from home until you get this sorted. Repeatedly running the temp gauge into the red is a good way to fail the head gasket.
None of us was born knowing cars. As this guy is, my fellow piston-heads, we once were. As we are, he can one day be. So enough already with posts saying he should throw in the towel and buy new, or some such.
I apologize, it is the LOWER radiator hose (the one with the thermostat) which isn't getting hot. That tells me thermostat, but it's a new one, and the water now emptying out vs accumulating in the overflow tells me something is leaking although I don't see one.
I don't mind having a shop do a pressure test, but that would spend a tow and then I'd spend another getting it towed out when I have a mobile mechanic do it for less if I have the work performed.
I apologize, it is the LOWER radiator hose (the one with the thermostat) which isn't getting hot. That tells me thermostat, but it's a new one, and the water now emptying out vs accumulating in the overflow tells me something is leaking although I don't see one.
I don't mind having a shop do a pressure test, but that would spend a tow and then I'd spend another getting it towed out when I have a mobile mechanic do it for less if I have the work performed.
I have never seen a motor with a thermostat on the lower radiator hose.
are you sure you put the thermostat in properly? it is easy enough to reverse it, and then it will never open.
have you done a compression check? a blown head gasket will show up if you did.
have you checked the temperature sending unit? one that is bad will give false readings.
have you checked the thermostat itself? yes i know it is new, but sometimes they are defective, even new. you can test when the thermostat opens by heating a pan of water with the thermostat in the water, and an accurate thermometer. when the thermostat starts to open, check the water temperature.
i have. the 2.6/2.8 liter ford V6 have the thermostat in the bottom hose, well at the engine end of the hose anyway.
That's news to me, so I appreciate it. I just have never replace a thermostat that is located by the lower radiator hose. I had no idea that such as possible. In fact, at lot of thermostat housings have an air-bleed port that's used to bleed the air after refilling the radiator with anti-freeze. Air usually moves toward the high points of the cooling system. I searched for the thermostat location of a Nisan Altima, and none shows one with the thermostat near the lower radiator hose.
Thanks again for the correction about the motor on your truck.
Altima, you have an electric radiator-fan.......it's coming on when the engine-temp starts rising?
Yes and again the LOWER radiator hose (one with thermostat) is cold, but I did not put thermostat in backwards. I just checked online images and they match how I did it, the coil spring went inside facing away from me. One comment said the "dimple" should go at 12 oclock, I don't know what that is so it's possible I did something wrong there maybe?
Thing is though even before I changed the thermostat it had occasion a few times for the needle to climb above 3-8 and fluctuate from around 3/4 or even 7/8ths to about halfway again. It's just that it wasn't this bad, the last time it did that once in a 15 mile period but was steady the entire time otherwise. I figured changing the thermostat would completely stabilize it.
Last edited by shyguylh; 01-20-2017 at 09:42 PM..
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