tr8er Posted February 12, 2014 Report Share Posted February 12, 2014 My Frontier just overheated going up a mountain. AC was on. I'm used to finding an empty coolant reservoir when this happens, but the coolant is bubbling over like mad. Any thoughts as to what to check? I'm on the side of the road, but loaded with tools. Quote Link to comment
ggzilla Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 Hopefully it was just low coolant that caused it. Once it cools off add water and see if its OK. If the radiator has a leak, copper seal or silver seal works wonders. Quote Link to comment
tr8er Posted February 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 Plenty of coolant. Fan shroud shot, could that really cause this? Quote Link to comment
ggzilla Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 Not in my experience. Fan shroud makes a little difference. Sounds like stuck thermostat. Might be OK for a while once it cools down. Quote Link to comment
motavated Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 I SWEARRRRRRRRRRRRR. I logged in just to say this. Look under your radiator cap. If the rubber is ripped or missing. The engine will create pressure that it will just throw all the water away from the resavour. Quote Link to comment
Laecaon Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 Seal missing, also means lack of pressure, which means lower boiling temp. Maybe your water pump went out? Quote Link to comment
tr8er Posted February 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 I'll check the cap. I just sat through 15 min. Stop and go traffic that should have shown a little heat, and nothing. Drove fine. AC off this time, no hill. Boiled off around 2.5 pints during that last fiasco. So I'm considering thermostat, AC compressor bearing, exhaust restriction, timing ( done 5K ago). I still need more Ratsun if you're feelin it. Quote Link to comment
ggzilla Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 Dodged a bullet ...! Quote Link to comment
tr8er Posted February 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 AC compressor bearing wouldn't make sense. Could be the fan clutch. Quote Link to comment
ggzilla Posted February 13, 2014 Report Share Posted February 13, 2014 Fan clutch would be a problem idling or low speed. Don't need a fan at highway speeds. Temp gague didny show running hotter than normal? Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted February 14, 2014 Report Share Posted February 14, 2014 Fan shrouds increase the air flow efficiency at very low speeds or stopped. Clutch fans limit the fan speeds at higher RPMs to around 1,500. If climbing a mountain and going slower but revved up and working hard there will be less air flow from forward movement and also lots of fan slip. However Nissan would have covered this possibility. You should be able to idle all day in the desert with the air on high. Check for a soft bottom return hose that will collapse from water pump suction at higher RPMs. Belt tight? glazed or damaged? Are you running anti freeze coolant? If suspecting the thermostat... skip to the chase and replace. Spend over $6 for a good one, no $1.99 WallMart auto part. Quote Link to comment
tr8er Posted February 16, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Right now it's water because I added on the road. Overflow tank looked brown nasty. Im quite certain the po used water and Ive got plenty rusty water. I'd like to hear suggestions on what to do to get it to a good place now that the damage has been done. I'm interested in having the truck run a while. Quote Link to comment
ggzilla Posted February 16, 2014 Report Share Posted February 16, 2014 Drain the coolant Flush system with garden.hose Put new coolant 50/50 mix Place Ratsun sticker on side window and call it good 1 Quote Link to comment
tr8er Posted February 26, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2014 So I neglected the truck cause 510. Gave me more trouble today. Traffic caused heat, and AC made it worse. Sounds like it's not effectively cooling normal operation. No surprise here. I'll need to flush the radiator this week. Oh and fuck traffic! Quote Link to comment
tr8er Posted August 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2014 Now, I will attempt to close out this thread and make it helpful to the next overheater. This is the state of the coolant passages in this used truck I now own. Awesome! So I flushed it three times with industrial strength car draino stuff. Tried to get all that crud out. Found a leaking hose (tiny) and replaced it. Didn't fix the problem. Then I checked the radiator cap and noticed that the rubber seal was old and could be leaking. So I replaced it, but this was not "the solution" either. Then I replaced the thermostat (got a good one.) The problem persisted. Next I found another leaking hose and replaced it. This was likely due to the increase in pressure from replacing the rad cap. Not the problem though. Lastly, after all of this I was moments from taking my mechanics advise to replace the radiator due to the crud I found reducing it's ability to cool water. Though I decided to take the fathers old resonating advise (fix the easy/cheap possibility first). I replaced the fan clutch. Problem solved! My clutch had resistance. If I spun it by hand it would only make around half of a rotation before stopping. When I started the engine it ran fast for several seconds before calming down. People told me that that was how to test the fan clutch, and though it passed those tests, it is very clear that replacing the clutch solved the problem completely. So do not rule out the fan clutch because it still has resistance! That little bugger almost blew my gasket! eight screws later, truck runs great without any excessive heat even idling with the AC on full. (no desert to test in, but I'm satisfied) Quote Link to comment
datzenmike Posted August 19, 2014 Report Share Posted August 19, 2014 The clutch fan should not spin free once your hand leaves it Maybe travel an inch, certainly not half way round. Out on the highway the fan should not matter but in town slipping that much can be a problem. Quote Link to comment
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