Two nights ago, it was raining a decent amount by SoCal standards. I was sitting in a drive-thru waiting for my food, when TONS and TONS of steam started coming out from under the hood. It was coming out through the front grill as well as from the gap between the hood and windshield. I'm not talking a little steam, I'm talking people eating inside came to the window thinking my car was on fire in the drive-thru line kind of steam. It was raining so much that I didn't get out of the car to actually pop the hood and see, but now I regret it. Since it hasn't rained much out here lately, I've only seen this steaming happen once before, and it was far less that this time. And that time was also while idling in the rain. Has anyone had a similar experience, and if so, do you have any idea what is causing it?

 

What was the temperature gauge showing?

Lots and Lots of Steam means bad things are happening.

 

Sounds like engine overheat.

 

you know something funny? if it was as serious as your described it it was me I would be wasting my time here babbling, I would have brought it into a dealer.. like seriously this is emergency type stuff where I would get my car towed to a dealer instead of driving it. You must be leasing the car so u do not care.

 

busted hose ?

 

I have noticed the same exact thing in my car when it rains. I think its common on our cars when it rains to have a lot of steam/mist come from under the hood. As far as its being a problem, not sure and if there is then I would love to bring mine to get it fixed.

 

I have had the same issue only when it rains I see it.

 

-1. I've sat in my car after 2+ hours of constant driving in heavy rain and have yet to see steam billow from my hood, and this was cold rain in Maryland.

Call Infiniti roadside and get your car towed to the dealer, and get a loaner. This is the kind of thing that the warranty will replace.

 

I also experienced this issue too the other day. I was at a drive thru ATM withdrawing some money, when i noticed the steam coming out from the grill area. I remember it started coming out slow, then more and more steam was coming out. I also checked my gauges as soon as i saw the steam.... temp looked normal. I read about this in a previous thread on here a couple months back... so i figured it might be normal for our cars. The next day when i drove in the rain again... i parked the car in my garage with the engine on and waited to see if it would do it again... but this time only a little bit of steam was visible.

 

I've seen this randomly on all my cars when it rains. I have not idea what it is though I suspect it is just plain evaporation of the rain. Nothing serious ever became of it.

 

I forgot to mention that i had just gotten the 15,000 mile service done last week.... so there should be nothing wrong with the car.

 

You only saw steam after they did the 15,000 mile service?

I would be back at the dealer when they opened in the morning.

 

Got my G35x 08 is 3 weeks ago. Bought it with 12miles on the ODO. This happened when it was around 350 mile on ODO. About a week ago, I took it out for a short drive. Wasn't speeding or driving it hard. It was night time and there was light rain. Drove for 20min at about around 30mph. Came to a few stop lights on the way, car was fine. Few blocks away from home, the window got foggy, so, I turned used the auto window deforst. The car turned on A/C automatically (It just acold outside). So, once I pulled into the driveway and slowed down, I notice the smoke coming out. It was like you guys described, heavy steam coming out from the front grille. Looked at the temp guage and it was at normal temp. Do you guys think the quick startup of the AC compressor could've caused the steam?

 

Maybe a wild guess but maybe a flawed design when there is too much water it overflows from the channels and somehow falls onto a section of the exhaust causing steam to rise up?

 

Yes, the first thing I did was check the coolant temp, and everything was normal. I checked under the hood yesterday (not raining), and everything looked normal. So I took it into the dealer yesterday, and got exactly the answer I expected, and the reason why I sometimes regret buying an Infiniti. They basically told me that I'm crazy, and that what I saw was either:

A) a lie
or
B) a gross exaggeration

I expected this from my experience telling them that my brakes squeal unacceptably for a brand new car. I told them about having read in the forums that the '07 G35 Sports often have brake squeal, but they said that it is normal, and that it's a 50:50 chance when you get new brakes that they will squeal, because it depends on the metal content in that specific set of pads. I just thought (quality control??!!??) and gave up.