ADROX

ok so the girlfriend was driving the 98 home today and it overheated on her. of course I ask her a few simple questions like what the guage said n such. of course SHE doesn't have a clue and can't really answer a few mechanical related questions, like I said she's a girl.
anyway to make a long story short, she filled it back up and when she got home the radiator is till full. let it run in the driveway for awhile to look for leaks and can't find any. one thing I checked were the two radiator hoses. the temperature on the hose coming from the belt (front) side of the motor wasn't very hot and the one on the backside was almost too hot to touch. so I would think the thermostat is stuck closed therefore making the engine overheat and push most of the water out of the radiator. correct me if I'm wrong on this, I've also read about some 'water check valve' (possibly the thermostat but not sure) being a problem. is that the thermostat or is it a different part?

ShocknAwe

iTrader: (3)

Most likely the thermo. Don't replace it with a cheap one. Nissan OEM is only like $30 from the dealer. It wont overheat just running in your driveway. You have to put it under load IE drive it around.

ADROX

yeah gonna call the dealership in the morning but went ahead and bought one from oreillys tonight. it was $20 there so if it's not much more why not right. start on it in the morning.

ShocknAwe

iTrader: (3)

Good time to do a flush of your system to get ready for summer too. Be careful not to over tighten that drain plug or else it will strip next time you try to drain the rad it will strip. Tighten it up just enough and if it leaks tighten just a little more. Or better yet get a metal magnet one. THe auto parts stores thermo's are hit or miss. I had one last for a 6 months but Ive heard some reported them not even opening. Go ahead and boil it and ensure it opens to be safe. Your rad cap might need replacing as well, I have a good aftermarket one Im selling for cheap. Check my sig

ADROX

yeah I bought a bottle of flush too. yeah I've bought a few thermostats from oreilly and never remember having any trouble out of them but genuine nissan is definately the best bet especially for these cars I think.

ADROX

I am assuming the radiator plug is at the bottom like others but when I looked around on the car earlier I didn't see it.

ShocknAwe

iTrader: (3)

Yea in reality buying cheap and then replacing shortly thereafter is more expensive than buying OEM from the start. Some things you can cheap on, I don't consider a therm one of those. The rad cap is very important for raising the boiling temp. The rubber washer or whatever you want to call it was toast on mine

ADROX

yeah didn't think about the cap but will probably go ahead and change it out.

ShocknAwe

iTrader: (3)

You should def get mine. Good quality and I just want to get rid of it. Always good to have a nice clean lookin rad cap lol

ADROX

lol well send it to me haha

ShocknAwe

iTrader: (3)

If you want it we can figure something out. PM me

infinimax96

I have a Duralast performance thermostat and have not had any problems with it in over 8 months. The opening is bigger than the OEM to allow better cooling as well. I think it was $28.00 from Autozone.

edwardh1

I had a isuzu oem stat that had a small factory hole to allow water to pass, hole had a small wiggle pellet in it to keep hole from clogging up, the replacement stant brand had neither, so I drilled a 1/8 hole in the thermostat plate. oem more betta!!

ADROX

well evidently the thermo is not the issue. put in a factory one and the car still overheated. any ideas? I haven't put antifreeze in it yet cuz I don't wanna waste the money. is it possible that it's because it's straight water in there?

Phromethius

YES, straight water is only a temporary measure to get you to a place to buy coolant. Also, DISTILLED water is preferable to tap water. You need to buy some coolant, drain the water out and fill that sucker up with 50/50 premix. You could be seriously hurting your car and burning off oil with just water in your radiator.

ADROX

yeah I was just making sure there were no leaks before refilling with antifreeze. there was evidently an air pocket cuz when it cooled off the radiator was not full. filled topped it off then it was fine. drained refilled with antifreeze/water and it's been fine the last couple days. thanks

ShocknAwe

iTrader: (3)

Distilled water is more than preferable, if you fill up with regular tap your going to have corrosion problems. A ton of people who live in warmer climates use distilled and water wetter. It runs ALOT cooler than 50/50. coolant/antifreeze is only added in to raise the boiling point and lower the freezing point. In the summer nearly everybody who wants to have a cooler engine should run 70-30 which is what the FSM calls for down to northern canada winter type weather.