What did you do to your rig today?

[the x kid]

That is some bad luck alright. I’ve heard of them being bad right out of the box. Glad it’s fixed.


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[Adam]

Long story on our Xterra running hot, finally solved.

Roll tape back to winter 2022. The truck was putting out little to no heat. Some at idle, went away as one started driving on a cold day. Classic tstat stuck open. Being winter and terribly busy, we dropped it off at Nissan dealer in town for a new tstat. Fixed the issue just fine, lots of heat.

Roll tape forward to spring of 2022. Noticed a constant fan noise. First thought it was a failed clutch fan. Further investigation determined the mechanical fan was fine; however, the e-fan was on constantly after the truck warmed up. This fan should not come on unless coolant is 98°C+ but gauge was showing usual just below middle of the road. Flushing mud out of the rad/condenser and other checks did not yield any change. Changed the rad. No change to temps. Changed the temp sensor, no change. Head scratching. Considered that I got a bad tstat from the dealer and bought another from Partsource, a Motorad brand. Tore it all apart yet again. The tstat removed turned out to be also a Motorad that the dealer had installed! Whatever, how could two be bad, so I put the new one in and buttoned it back up. No change!!

Some time went by as the summer was wasting away and I had a lot of other things to get done, truck drove great as always, but ran hot, so we limited it largely to in town trips. Trusty old scan gauge II showed the temp was as high as 110 or 112 which is way too warm. So, what is it... water pumps either work or don't and everything else is new. ECM? Warm weather here again and before I go drastic, I thought I'd give a 3rd tstat a shot. Finally went and got a Nissan thermostat ($80!), tore it all apart, yet again, and put it in. Et voila! Fixed.     A week on now and no issues, running cool at 90°±2°.
 
A failed stat replaced by two bad ones. That's 3 tstats installed in short order, in total.  Who has luck like that?    Did I get two bad Motorad tstats or are all of them bad for this application?  Not sure, but I will never use another.

It would appear that the dash temp gauge, which does move around some, is more placebo than anything.  I watched the gauge vs. the Scangauge II readout and the gauge does not move in lock step with the temp the computer reports to the OBDII scanner.  It wouldn't go above the mid point of the gauge at 110° which to me is wrong - at this temp the A/C will cut-out on warm days to protect the system.  Something to keep in mind.  I have encountered this kind of gauge issue on other vehicles as well. 

Anyway on to other things finally.
 





 

That's pretty crazy. You would think the dealer would have used an OE part but they probably wanted to ship it out quick so just got whatever was fastest locally? I have used motorad t-stats in a few of my cars, only ever had 1 aftermarket fail and that was a Stant, in my 94 pathfinder on hydroline. It got stuck open apparently after the multiple deep water crossings made the temps change rapidly. But right now have an OE one in the Xterra, it weighs probably double that of the aftermarket ones!

I messed up my ankle/foot somehow last week, so spent most of the weekend on the couch, but went and fired up the old wd21 on Sunday as I was feeling better. Putting insurance back on it this week and if all goes well I'll swap the gas tank out next weekend, then take it for a cruise.

[Adam]

Worked on my brother's frontier this past weekend, narrowed down a PS leak to the high pressure hose, have that on order now.

Xterra wouldn't start yesterday in the rain, checked under the hood and the bolts holding the cap down were loose! Had to let it dry out till today before it would fire.

[Bow_Tied]

That's pretty crazy. You would think the dealer would have used an OE part 

 

Right?!?!???  WTH?  I did not let them troubleshoot, I asked for a stat replace only so maybe this was punishment for not getting to charge out a diagnosis, idk.  Regardless, a pita.

Still running great.

[Adam]

That's pretty crazy. You would think the dealer would have used an OE part 


 

Right?!?!???  WTH?  I did not let them troubleshoot, I asked for a stat replace only so maybe this was punishment for not getting to charge out a diagnosis, idk.  Regardless, a pita.

Still running great.

 

I feel like for not in warranty vehicles they never actually use oem parts. @morpheus care to comment? lol

Got my power steering line in for the frontier so excited to get that on this weekend. Missed out on a sweet 77 c20 camper special with the big block 454... Almost bought it sight unseen from Saskatchewan!
 

[Bow_Tied]

Right?!?!???  WTH?  I did not let them troubleshoot, I asked for a stat replace only so maybe this was punishment for not getting to charge out a diagnosis, idk.  Regardless, a pita.

Still running great.


 

I feel like for not in warranty vehicles they never actually use oem parts. @morpheus care to comment? lol

Got my power steering line in for the frontier so excited to get that on this weekend. Missed out on a sweet 77 c20 camper special with the big block 454... Almost bought it sight unseen from Saskatchewan!
 

 

That 454 would likely had north of 400lb.ft of torque.  A real stump puller.
 

[Adam]

I feel like for not in warranty vehicles they never actually use oem parts. @morpheus care to comment? lol

Got my power steering line in for the frontier so excited to get that on this weekend. Missed out on a sweet 77 c20 camper special with the big block 454... Almost bought it sight unseen from Saskatchewan!
 


 

That 454 would likely had north of 400lb.ft of torque.  A real stump puller.
 

 

Yeah, it looked real clean too. My grandfather had a 77-80 squarebody and I have been looking for one for a while.

Got the PS line in on the frontier, worked for a bit then found another leak on the pump where the hose barb bolts in... Frig! Just what I needed before going to NY this weekend. Got the xterra going into the shop for the exhaust tomorrow...