Flush with PEAK complete but engine block pretty hot!!!

[MaximaGuy]

I flushed out all old coolant with PEAK (the one with propriety additives and free of silicates and phosphates)LongLife Coolant.

Though the process took 4 hrs (fill radiator, run for few minutes, cool for an hr and drain radiator) to remove most of the old coolant, Iam glad I did it, becoz the air trapped in the heater core has been removed.

One thing though, the coolant doesn't seem to boiling in the radiator (don't ask me how I checked that...) after a long drive, and the engine block is relatively hotter after the flush. Should I be concerned of any blockage etc?

First exercise from my end was to disconnected the batteries for the car to relearn that there is better stuff in the radiator.... How hot should the engine block be?

 

[tmorris1]

The computer doesn't know what coolant you have in the radiator, and it doesn't really care.

 

[Drew99GT]

Is it easy to take the thermostat out of your Maxima? If you do that and open the radiator drain cock, you can flush the entire cooling system fast and easy by running the engine without the thermostat while keeping the radiator full of water (preferrably distilled). Takes under an hour that way

 

[thrace]

How old a Maxima is it? As to bleeding only, I did a '96 Quest lately which is similar to a 94 Maxima. The instructions on bleeding say to remove the air bleed bolt on the top rear of the engine and open a plastic valve at the top passenger side of the radiator. Fill the radiator until the plastic valve drains some coolant, then close it. Fill more until some starts to come out the air bleed bolt. Then put the bolt back. Fill radiator as much as possible slowly so air comes out. Then unmount the overflow reservoir and leave its hose connected and raise it above the heater and run until hot. Squeeze the upper rad hose to get more air out. This bleed worked. Only about 2 inches coolant had to be added after doing all this bleeding and waiting several days. Did not take 4hrs. I had replaced the thermostat but did not unmount it to bleed. Also, there was an air bleed hole in the thermostat which had to be installed pointing up.

 

[nthach]

quote:

---

Originally posted by thrace:
How old a Maxima is it? As to bleeding only, I did a '96 Quest lately which is similar to a 94 Maxima. The instructions on bleeding say to remove the air bleed bolt on the top rear of the engine and open a plastic valve at the top passenger side of the radiator. Fill the radiator until the plastic valve drains some coolant, then close it. Fill more until some starts to come out the air bleed bolt. Then put the bolt back. Fill radiator as much as possible slowly so air comes out. Then unmount the overflow reservoir and leave its hose connected and raise it above the heater and run until hot. Squeeze the upper rad hose to get more air out. This bleed worked. Only about 2 inches coolant had to be added after doing all this bleeding and waiting several days. Did not take 4hrs. I had replaced the thermostat but did not unmount it to bleed. Also, there was an air bleed hole in the thermostat which had to be installed pointing up.

---

I did my mom's Quest with G-05 last night when i installed a new radiator, it took me 30 minutes to fill and bleed the system. I opened the engine air bleed, radiator air bleed, and attached a hose to the heater pipe bleed. Ran the engine for 10 minutes with the cap off, and the engine bleed open, then i closed the engine bleed, topped off the coolant, installed the cap and I ran the motor at 2-3K RPM until both the front and rear heaters blew hot. Worked fine for me.

 

[MaximaGuy]

It is a 2000 Maxima -- well I had to drain out the old coolant and then put in the new. Old way of fill, run, cool and drain, worked fine except that the firewall side is hot.

But concidently, the car runs great and I feel the temp gauge at the same temp as before the flush. Does the temp gauge point to the temperature of the coolant or the temp of engine block .. i guess the former..

 

[Ray H]

I can't help but think you still have some air trapped in the system - and, if so, that is NOT good - corrosion city waiting to happen. (The car may run great, but if corrosion get a foothold, you'll learn firsthand why Nissan put a bleed bolt on that motor - they didn't spend an extra 15 cents/car because they wanted to . . .) I'm not familiar with Nissans, but I suspect most FWD cars have the engines tilted "forward" to maintain a low hood profile. If so, this tilt would put the firewall bank somewhat elevated for V6 equipped cars - perfect for trapping air in the cooling system.

 

[MaximaGuy]

I removed the radiator cap and ran the engine while depressing real hard the low front radiator hose (cold side) and radiator burped and air bubbles was observed. I did this a dozen times till there were no bubbles/burps... I hope that is fine.

Now, if there exits an airlock relief valve in the car, I don't know where it is to relieve any other trapped air.

 

[Ray H]

As I pointed out, I have no experience with Nissan V6 engines, but "thrace" did point out that his Quest has a bleed bolt on the top rear of his, along with a plastic valve on the passanger side top of the radiator. Check your owner's manual in the maintenance section, too. Good huntin'!