I had the same thing happen, only it was after taking my G35x to a self serve car wash. (Note: we have had a water restriction since July; I take my own bucket of water, car wash solution,etc. and only use the self serve to rinse) When I got to my driveway about 3 miles away, there was so much steam pouring out of the grille that the grille, hood and bumper were dripping wet. Air temp. was about 40-45 dgrees. I've never seen anything quite like it on any car I've owned. Temperature gauge was normal and radiator level is normal. Go figure...

 

This has been happening to me over the last few days. You stop the car with the motor running and steam starts to rise out of the front grill opening. I have popped the hood and it's not coming from anywhere in the engine compartment but from in the front area where the radiator and AC condensor are. It's very odd. Coolant levels and engine temps are fine.
We have been getting a lot of snow. It may be draining from the hood onto a hot portion of the radiator creating the steam.

 

I picked up my '08 blue slate g35xS last week. (Very choice ride. If you have the means, I highly recommend it.) Today I noticed the same exact symptoms as described above. Steam, lots of it, coming out from the grill while stopped at a light. It was raining, mixed with snow, and very cold outside. Approximately 3 miles later I stopped to check it out and did not notice anything abnormal. I have no idea were the steam was coming from.

 

Had the same thing happen to me after leaving the car was. As soon as I hit a stop light, I noticed minor steam coming out of the grille area. It was around 50º out and the temp gauge was normal.

 

did anybody get it checked at the dealer or is it still happening? i am getting mine checked on monday for the same.

 

That is normal. If your coolat temperature is normal. Noticed all this happenes when people driving it in snow, rain or after carwash. Water evaporates.

tg

 

I've had this happen to me when 800 miles on the car (It was raining). I took it to the dealer and they checked it out and everything was fine. Now, every once in a while when it rains I notice it. I'm pretty sure that this is a flaw in design where the water is getting onto something hot and just evaporating.

 

This happened to me a few minutes ago. I got home and noticed a bunch of steam coming out from under my hood. I popped the hood and it definitely wasn't coming from the engine but from behind the grill. Listening closely I heard a drip and sizzle so it must be water leaking down and hitting something very hot. It's snowing and wet here in Chicago right now. I wasn't driving my car particularly hard and I have 800 miles on it (break-in period).

 

ceramic pads. instead of semi metallic stopped that squeak/squeal for me

 

I have had my '08 G35x for about 3 weeks, and noticed the exact same thing while taking it for a car wash few days ago. Granted here in Rochester (MN), the outside temperature was pretty low (I guess < 10F), but the engine/coolant temps were normal. I did not pop my hood open or anything to check immediately, but did so when I reached home -- everything "looked" normal.

Not sure what is happening..but it sure is uncool

Assuming this is a design flaw, is Infiniti/Nissan going to address this??

 

I have not had this happen but where I live is 70 degrees at worst so maybe it has something to do with the ambient temp. The only things that I can guess to check are 1) the radiator cap, maybe it's blowing too early? 2) water on very hot brakes (unlikely, but just thinking out loud) or 3) Maybe water builds up on the plastic shield or part of the frame and touches the something hot at the bottom? (That could explain why it only happens intermittently and is hard to trace). Hope you find the cause. Maybe you can recreate the steam by driving your car until it reaches normal temp then simulate rain with the hose with the engine running.

 

I live in an area where we get tons of rain like 60% of the time and I can maybe recall once where this happened for a few short seconds and then it stopped but that is the only problem I have ever encountered of this type. I have an '08 also. I'll certainly be on the lookout now for this while its raining.

 

I've experience this 2 x now. First time this happened I was in bumper to bumper traffic in a cold snowy day, for a while there I thought maybe my car was overheating. I actually thought about pulling over. The second time I noticed the steam after I got home and turned the car off. It has been raining very heavily during my commute.

 

Totally normal if the front end takes in water.
Being winter, it's much more noticable than in the summer months.

 

People chill out! Its just water that is retained behind the front grill (after a carwash or rain, snow, etc.) that gets blown onto your motor while driving and as a result steam develops. Ever tried getting out of your car and running your hand over that steam and then smell ur hand hand? If it was radiator fluid your temp. gauge and the odor of the fluid would tell u right away.