95 Pathfinder overheated on the freeway

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

brave sir robin

Joined
May 20, 2006
Messages
300
Location
California
yesterday the alternator belt which drives the water pump sheared all its teeth and stopped spinning. The charging idiot light and the brake warning light (wth?) came on. While exiting the freeway the temperature guage shot up all the way to red and stayed there for about 1.5 miles and maybe five minutes. I turned on the heater but the air was cold because of the lack of flow through the cooling system .I was able to pull into a gas station and popped the hood. There was no steaming or leaking of any kind though I could tell the overflow tank had a lil extra coolant in it but nothing crazy. I was working at the time so I ran into kmart to buy some clothes to change into (holy cow! that place is turrible now) and I changed the belt right there. I got it all buttoned up and it seems to be working perfectly normal.

is there anything specific I should be looking for? any kind of warning signs of impending doom or should I just Charlie Mike and stop worrying about it?

for reference this truck is a 5spd with 196k miles. I use mobil 1 5-30 hm.
 
For sure keep a close eye on it for the next few months. I'd mark the coolant level in the overflow bottle with a sharpie when the engine is stone cold. That will allow you to accurately monitor whether the engine is using coolant as a result of any warpage in the heads/head gaskets. That's the most essential thing you should do to monitor things. If it starts consuming massive amounts of antifreeze, the heads likely warped or the gaskets got fried from the overheat.

My guess is you'll be OK since you didn't drive it very long and the overheat wasn't from a leak/loss of coolant, but just the belt failure.
 
Last edited:
Sounds like you need to check the pullys, tentioner.could be a harmonic balancer, sounds like what my old Saab 900 did, it turned out to be the harmonic balancer, butthe damage had been done, warped the head, junked it due to cost.of engine rebuild.
frown.gif
 
Battery light & brake warning light usually means failing alternator. A/T OIL TEMP may light up as well in such case, if equipped (of course since you have a 5spd you have no bulb in this spot).

Inspect your radiator cap according to this TSB.

Does this Pathfinder have the FS5R30A transmission? If so, you need to overfill your transmission - please see this thread.
 
the transmission whines in 3rd and 5th gear. I only drive it on days I dont ride my motorcycle so it usually only sees about 3k miles a year. It's basically a mobile garage for my bike since I live in an apartment. I really like this truck but at the end of the day its just not very valuable and the cost to replace the timing belt and transmission is approaching the total value of the darn thing.
 
Probably fine if it was still full of coolant. The boiling process absorbs a lot of heat. Just keep on eye on coolant level and visual condition.
 
Carefully examine how your pulleys turn, now that the new belt is on. On some older vehicles, worn parts cause the pulleys to turn out of alignment and that quickly destroys replacement belts.

Also, when I deal with trucks of that mileage, I often find that the fan clutch is getting weak, and that is causing the cooling system to be less effective.
 
VG30E's have 13 bolts per head holding them on, they wont warp/blow gaskets as easy as say gm or ford engines that use 8 bolts.

I highly dought you will have a problem.
 
I would try overfilling the transmission if you haven't yet following the TSB/thread I linked above - it may reduce or eliminate your whine in those gears.
 
Originally Posted By: Towncivilian
I would try overfilling the transmission if you haven't yet following the TSB/thread I linked above - it may reduce or eliminate your whine in those gears.


Thinking about doing it this weekend. I'm pretty sure I have to park it up on a curb or lift the front end up and fill it from the shifter right? now I have to get a hold of some of that gl4 gear oil...grrr this stuff is like unicorn tears around here.
 
Originally Posted By: artificialist
Carefully examine how your pulleys turn, now that the new belt is on. On some older vehicles, worn parts cause the pulleys to turn out of alignment and that quickly destroys replacement belts.

Also, when I deal with trucks of that mileage, I often find that the fan clutch is getting weak, and that is causing the cooling system to be less effective.


It was 90 degrees the other day and I ran the ac on max The entire time. The gauge never went above about 2/5ths of the way to red. At it's hottest (aside from the overheat) the gauge has only been a touch above the midway point so say about 3/5ths and that was with max ac and about 110 degrees outside in Redding. When it gets that hot the fan on this thing is so freaking loud it sounds like a Peterbuilt.
 
Originally Posted By: Sal69
VG30E's have 13 bolts per head holding them on, they wont warp/blow gaskets as easy as say gm or ford engines that use 8 bolts.

I highly dought you will have a problem.


I am starting to think the coolant never went too much above about 250 degrees because any higher than that and it would have boiled away. I run about 1:2 coolant to water ratio in it and the radiator cap is the original one so you know its a little on the weak side after 17 years and nearly 200k miles. Its only the second time I have ever had to wrench on this thing and the first time was just a leaky radiator hose.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

slo town
My experience 30 floors up during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
2
Replies
29
Views
5K
SammyChevelleTypeS3
M
Lessons Learned... or, how I discovered Bar's Stop Leak and what I used to fix the brand new heater core it clogged up.
2
Replies
35
Views
47K
andyd
Back
Top Bottom