Hi guys I just got a coolant leak, it�s not too bad but there is coolant all over the front of my engine, can�t seem to find the source and my radiator/reservoir is still full. It feels as if there is little to no pressure in the lines and when I removed the radiator cap it came off with no pressure immediately after the drive, any thoughts?

 

Rent a coolant pressure tester and find the leak.

 

All we can do is guess.

Let the car dry. Park on some dry pavement. Top off the coolant. Start the car up and let it get up to operating temp. See where its dripping from and follow it up til u find the source.

 

I am confused.
You are not seeing any drop in coolant in the reservoir, yet say you have a coolant leak?

I have to second the suggestion on using a pressure tester.
It is a bitch finding a coolant leak otherwise....just make sure you don't over pressurize the system.

I just bought a kit on Amazon myself.

 

Good rule of thumb is to pressure test the cap first to see where it blows offf, then use that same pressure that the cap holds to pressurize the primary coolant loop.

 

I've asked around auto parts store for coolant pressure tester, but no one seems to rent one. Do you know where I can find one?

 

I'm absolutely shocked that none of the parts stores near you rent a coolant pressure tester, it's one of the absolutely most basic tools that EVERY parts house should have for rent.

Personally I use a Stant, can't remember which part number for the adapter for Nissan cars but I'll be moving my tools to my new shop tomorrow if you need me to look it up. You should be able to google it though, there's a catalog/chart that shows all the adapters for that tester.

 

Right? I was quite surprised myself. They all only had the dye type and none had the one with pump and gauge.

Btw, after some research I believed that my overheating was due to bad thermostat. So, I replaced it, but my car still over heats. Then, I wasn't sure the cooling system was fully bled, so I ordered a funnel kit. Will try it soon.

 

One big telltale way to see if you have bubbles is to see if the heater blows hot air. If it does and you still suspect bubbles get the car up to about 30mph and slam on the brakes hard, trigger the ABS. This throws all the coolant forward in the engine up against the back of the thermostat and definitely helps dislodge stubborn bubbles.

Other primary culprits for a SLOW overheat is the cooling fans not spinning fast enough, as they age the OEM fans start slowing down and you can visibly look at them and see them spinning. On high speed it should be a blur and you shouldn't be able to make out individual blades.

Sometimes one of the cooling fan relays will fail as well and it will go into low speed fan but not high speed fan, you can force the system to high speed fan by turning on the AC compressor. You should hear the fans click on to high speed.

 

Just providing update:

I tried to bleed air by using a funnel kit. In the process, filled coolant to the top of radiator cap. Then, I saw coolant leaking towards the front... removed the bumper grill, and clearly saw the coolant leaking from the radiator. Just awaiting a new radiator that I ordered!

 

Great! Now you'll have the funnel kit handy when you install the new radiator! Funny how that works out sometimes....

 

UPDATE: I paid a repair shop to replace the leaky radiator with the new one that I ordered. The car seemed to run fine without overheating and I've got warm air from heater in the cabin.

One thing I noticed that is different is the fans running. If I recall correctly, my fans would kick in and turn off once the engine was cooled. However, I've been out driving twice and in both times, the fans did not stop and kept going and going (and I had to force them to stop by turning off the engine). Normally, my fans never ran that long unless it was a really hot day and I was blasting AC on high. What could cause this?

 

If the AC is on AT ALL it will force the fans to high speed. Not the fans, but the actual AC compressor, if it's making cold air at all the fans default to high speed.