Small overheating problem

General information about the first-generation Nissan Maxima in the US. What was the Datsun 810 became the luxury leader Maxima in the US in 1981.

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kassim503
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#16

Post by kassim503 »

Today I drained the cooling system, backflushed the engine, heater core, and radiator- alot of stuff came out, it was enough to make its own sandbar on a crack in my driveway. I pulled the radiator and flipped it upside down to flush it better, even more crap came out, so at least I got alot of the junk in the system out. I think I know the valve that Ben was talking about, its a T fitting with a little door on a spring in it. I dont think mine is leaking, but then again it was filled with dirt and there was a bit missing from the ends from corrosion. The drain plug on the engine requires a 7/8" 6 point socket if anybody has to know, its the same size as the oil pan plug, also it is a NPT style plug so you dont have to worry about snapping the bolt, nissan used some kind of glue to seal it, so you are going to need about 150-200 ft-lbs of force to open it if you feel like it.

I guess this is what happens when 23 years roll around and nobody did any maintainence until its 20 years old, like the car literally only had oil changes every 5k or so miles and one air filter change somewhere down the road. Also I put in new heater hoses and ill put in a new lower radiator hose once my check clears at the bank, the hose is disntergrating. But after that its safe to say all the preventive mantainence is up to date, unless you count the timing chain.(very soon too)

Hopefully if the rain stops ill do some checks for leaks, it has to be leaking from somewhere, coolant dosent just disappear.
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
83_maxima
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#17

Post by 83_maxima »

This is the valve on my car:

Image

It is right above the oil filter.

As was mentioned in the case of the WP weep hole, this valve will leak ever so slightly, won't leave a puddle and you will notice a drop in your coolant level after a while of it leaking. Mine was always wet when it was bad.
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kassim503
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#18

Post by kassim503 »

Mabye my heater "valve" wants to get changed, its pretty beat up looking and might be giving me my small leak. Mabye ill replace with a T fitting for now, just to see if its leaking, or mabye wrap it in saran wrap and see if condensation forms. Also im noticing a small amount of steam coming from the exhaust, how much steam is needed to condemn a head gasket? The humidity was pretty high following the rain so im 50/50 if this is steam from the engine or the exhaust.

Also is that a k&n oil filter? If so how are they
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
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asavage
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#19

Post by asavage »

kassim503 wrote:I pulled the radiator and flipped it upside down to flush it better, even more crap came out . . .
Did you put the garden hose on the heater hoses? First one way, then the other? You have to have the heater control set for Heat and the temp lever up to open the valve that's behind the heater core but still inside the passenger compartment, to get water flow through the heater core.

The heater core tends to be a sediment trap. Run water under pressure through it both directions.
The drain plug on the engine requires a 7/8" 6 point socket if anybody has to know, its the same size as the oil pan plug, also it is a NPT style plug so you dont have to worry about snapping the bolt, nissan used some kind of glue to seal it, so you are going to need about 150-200 ft-lbs of force to open it if you feel like it.
Good info. I remembered it as 7/8" (24mm) but not clearly enough to state it. Yeah, it's in tight. Did you pull it? Mine had quite a bit of crap behind it.
its safe to say all the preventive mantainence is up to date, unless you count the timing chain.(very soon too)
The IP belt is a 60k thing, I don't know about the cam chain. It's a problem on old MB diesels after about 250-300k if the oil is kept very clean, but I don't know about the LD28.

Oil filters: stay away from Fram (cardboard end caps, nitrile ADB valve) and use a filter with a silicone (high temp) anti-drainback valve; other than that, the difference between a really good oil filter and a mediocre one isn't very great. Just change the oil early (3k) and don't sweat it.

I use Wix (NAPA "Gold") oil filters, with the silicone (orange) ADB valve. The can casing is a bit heavier too. Your 1983 L24e uses a Wix 51521 (same as called out for the 81-2 LD28): see the FAQ, oil filter section for detailed interchange info. The more commonly available (and usually cheaper) 51085 filter is an option. Hell, you might be able to shoehorn a Ford 51515 in there, which you can buy "anywhere".
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
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kassim503
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#20

Post by kassim503 »

Yup, garden hose both ways on the heater core. Also when flushing the engine out shot water in every hole there was, drain plug's hole too. I did the same with the radiator.


The cam chain is usually 100k in my book, really just once the car hits 100k I would get around to changing the cam chain, I dont really follow the book for this because some new cars say its supposed to last forever.

I use the napa gold filter (wix), they work great, they are modestly priced, also they are at the same place I get my oil.

Yeah, stay away from fram, fram is the cheapie filter that should only be used if there was no other filter in the state.

Im curious about the K&N filters having the 3/8th square fitting on the end of it so you can snap your ratchet to it, talk about easy removal!

By the time monday rolls around I should get around to putting in a new lower hose, and ill check for leaks. Im not going to do any work today, laziness is getting the better of me, and I gotta focus on fixing my roof, something blew the shingles off my roof last night

It wasnt even windy :shock: :shock:
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
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kassim503
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#21

Post by kassim503 »

Changed the lower rad. hose, and the Rad Cap. I noticed there where bubbles seeping out of the coolant after the engine was turned off. This may have fixed it but i have to wait a bit so the engine can cool down before I pour new coolant back in.

I checked the weep hole and all the fittings for the small teardrop leak, all of them are dry as a bone. Only possiblity is the Water pump is leaking at the front shaft and the water is evaporating inside the pulley, but I doubt it.

I think I might be having a tiny hole in the head gasket or something liek that, because the coolant has bubbles in it, and I only lose coolant when its pressurized. Ill see soon enough, just gotta let her cool down first.

Also this is kinda off topic but in a way its related- How easy is it to change a E88 head to run on fuel injection? Would I still be able to run pump gas (regular or worse) with the E88? Also how is the E88 head performance-wise, I dont want to lose too much power if I swapped it over. The stock head gasket is starting to leak a little oil off the side, nothing major, takes it 4-6 months to put a streak down the side of the engine
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
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kassim503
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#22

Post by kassim503 »

I had the car's coolant "professionally" checked for hydrocarbons, showed up negative :) :) :) :) :) :)

The mystery still remains, why is there a air pocket forming in the top tank of the radiator?

Am I using the wrong cap? According to the guy at the gas station garage this cap is for the cars that use a road vent cooling system. Its the safe-t-vent kinds where you pull the lever to release the pressure into the recovery tank so you dont get burned- see pic below

Image]click for larger[/url]

Im not too sure if I actually have a problem- according to the guy there should be a air pocket, is that true? isnt that the reason why theres expansion tanks?

I got a pic of the filler neck, i guess if you want to visualize this.
Image
Its usually about a half inch or a inch of air there, it grows after a little while and it forms while its pressurized or pressurizing.
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
83_maxima
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Location: Denver

#23

Post by 83_maxima »

I was always told that you wanted to fill the rad. up until it was "about 1" below the top of the radiator."

That philiosophy has never failed me.
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kassim503
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#24

Post by kassim503 »

I was just thinking, what if there was a crack in the in tank trans cooler inside the radiator, and the car leaked coolant into the transmission. Would the water be able to boil off through somewhere? I want to check for any difference in the transmission fluid level and if the coolant boils off, I wouldnt be able to find that out.
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
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kassim503
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Location: Stony Brook, NY

#25

Post by kassim503 »

Guess thats not the problem, trans fluid a bit dark but its at the right level.

I guess I need sombodys insight on this, when you pull the rad cap off a car, isnt the water level inside the radiator supposed to right at the filler neck?


I think this is the case, but I never really noticed or cared about the level inside the radiator before, until a few days ago when I saw the core exposed, without water.

I guess I probably want to pull the shroud and look for any little leaks, and check my freeze plugs as well. Anybody know how many freeze plugs are on this engine? I dont want to miss any of the ones under the manifolds.
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
83_maxima
Posts: 423
Joined: 18 years ago
Location: Denver

#26

Post by 83_maxima »

kassim503 wrote:I was just thinking, what if there was a crack in the in tank trans cooler inside the radiator, and the car leaked coolant into the transmission. Would the water be able to boil off through somewhere? I want to check for any difference in the transmission fluid level and if the coolant boils off, I wouldnt be able to find that out.
If you had coolant in the ATF, I'm pretty sure you would have noticed a problem. I wouldn't think that an AT would last too long with coolant circulating through it.
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asavage
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#27

Post by asavage »

A few thoughts:

* Air is bad in a cooling system. Believe it or not, air is many times more corrosive (oxidatively) than the coolant. That's because coolant contains corrosion inhibitors. In your case, silicates. These coat the exposed metal surfaces and inhibit corrosion. With air in there, the coating is much lessened. Back in the day, I was required to watch a film strip (remember those?) on this issue.

* When you get anything water-based in the automatic transmission, it tends to delaminate the clutches and things go south fast.

* On a cold engine, when you remove the rad cap, the fluid level should be to the bottom of the filler neck.

* The radiator cap on a reservoir-equipped system should have both an inner and outer black "rubber" gasket. If the outer gasket is missing or contains cracks, or it can't seal on the outer rolled lip of the filler neck, there is no vacuum available to the hose leading to the coolant reservoir, and the radiator will not replenish itself. Coolant will flow one-way: out to the reservoir.

If you have the wrong cap, it will have a metal disc for the sealing surface. This would be the correct cap for an old vehicle (pre-70) that didn't use a coolant reservoir.

A lever pressure release on the cap is a good thing, but isn't required and doesn't indicate whether the cap is for a pressure-only or pressure-vacuum cooling system.
Regards,
Al S.

1982 Maxima diesel wagon, 2nd & 4th owner, 165k miles, rusty & burgundy/grey. Purchased 1996, SOLD 16Feb10
1983 Maxima diesel wagon, 199k miles, rusty, light yellow/light brown. SOLD 14Jul07
1981 720 SD22 (scrapped 04Sep07)
1983 Sentra CD17, 255k, bought 06Jul08, gave it away 22Jun10.
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kassim503
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#28

Post by kassim503 »

The reason why I partially thought about the transmission having water in it was that I felt a strong shift from 1-2 instead of the usual mushy one that these transmissions usually do, well then again the fluid temp was around 200 today so I guess it was the heat.

The rad cap is right- it has the 2 rubber rings, and it is a pressure-vaccuum kind where itll let the fluid back in.

I guess the last thing I could possibly do is replace the filler neck to overflow tank hose. But I dont think that is the source of my problem, air enters the cooling system when the engine is running (pressure building, no vaccuum). But nevertheless its a good practice to replace the hose, and it shouldnt be all that much money.

Flushing my cooling system got the car not to overheat when idiling, and I idled in traffic for about an hour today, a/c blasting and it was around 87 degrees outside, thats not so bad!
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
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kassim503
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#29

Post by kassim503 »

Well, I checked the rad for small leaks, the fins where gouged up in some areas but it wasnt leaking. I guess I gotta buy one of those system pressurizer tools and pump it up to pressure and see what it does.

What gets me is why would air build up in the top of the radiator instead of being flushed out by the reserve tank? And how come air only builds up when the engine runs instead of the engine cooling down?
'83 maxima sedan, l24e, a/t, black

227K SOLD 6/7/2012
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philip
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#30

Post by philip »

kassim503 wrote:Well, I checked the rad for small leaks, the fins where gouged up in some areas but it wasnt leaking. I guess I gotta buy one of those system pressurizer tools and pump it up to pressure and see what it does.

What gets me is why would air build up in the top of the radiator instead of being flushed out by the reserve tank? And how come air only builds up when the engine runs instead of the engine cooling down?
Outcome based public education not withstanding, physics holds that pressure always moves from higher to lower. So new air/gasses introduced to a pressurized cooling system must come from a higher pressure source. Now WHERE would that be?
-Philip
Passed 08May2008
My friend, you are missed . . .

1982 Datsun 720KC SD-22

"Im slow and I'm ahead of you"
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