Hey all, this is my first post since I became the (proud?) owner of a '05 G35 coupe 6MT with about 125k miles on it. It's my first car I'm responsible for, and I'm currently experiencing a pretty painful issue with it at the moment. Hopefully you guys would have some helpful information and/or experience for me.

My G came with some issues attached -- mainly right now, according to my mechanic, that there seems to be some oil leaking from around the valve covers. Other than that it needs an O2 sensor on the right side, and a couple control arms. (And sadly I lack the money to take care of all of these at the moment.) However, none of those are the issue that plagues me most recently.

In the last couple days, my heat gauge has been filling up steadily when in stop and go traffic. I know that stop and go traffic is more likely to make my engine overheat, but even in just 15 minutes of it today I had to roll down the windows and turn the heater all the way up to keep my heat gauge from maxing out. (Luckily I was 5 minutes from home and got it in the garage with the heat gauge back down to 3/4 full after using the heater trick.) With things starting to heat up where I live, (Central TX,) I'm worried that when summer comes my car may well be undrivable if the overheating continues.

My questions are:
1.) Could the oil leak be the cause? Could a lack of oil cause the engine to run hotter?
2.) Could it be that the heat and stop and go traffic are just a pain on my car?
3.) Could it be something else entirely?
4.) Could I simply be overreacting?

Any help is appreciated.

 

Check if your fans turn on when you turn on your AC...is they don't you may need new fans...

 

Yeah, sounds like your fans aren't turning on. Also, please stop driving it as soon as it starts to climb. NEVER let your guage max out, you risk seriously damaging your engine. If you see it starting to heat up, pull over and turn the car off as soon as it's safe to do so.