I am going to do my own coolant flush following the YouTube video here. I notice it doesn't have a skid plate at the start of the video. Do I have to remove the skid plate before accessing the coolant drain?

 

What I would like to know and short of having to make a repair, such as a hose or water pump failure, why do people insist on performing coolant flushes? Keeping the coolant topped off properly (my preference is distilled water but there are some arguments) and using NAPA's Kool system treatment once a year is all a cooling system requires. I stopped changing coolant in all of my vehicles 25+ years ago and in that time, I have not had the first cooling issue with any of the vehicles we have owned in that time. I have a truck in the driveway right now that was purchased new and is 19 years old - same coolant the factory put in it. We just sold a 2007 Murano- never touched it, my 2003 G35 has the factory fill from 15 years ago. I have a 2008 Nismo ini the driveway, nothing. I mean honestly it's just a waste of money and everytime I see somebody doing this they almost always end up with a cooling issue in the near future.

 

I'd like to see the insides of your cooling system. They are probably rusted to hell. The corrosion inhibitors wear out over time. I used to think because I lived in florida I could just run distilled water. There's more to anti freeze than just not freezing

 

So two things here. One is you didn't read my comment about Napa Kool - that restores all of the things that anti-freeze contains. In fact, Prestone used to sell a similar product that did the same exact thing. But I guess they pulled it - probably cost them antifreeze sales. Sorry but glycol and water simply do not wear out. Number Two is if my systems were rusted to hell, don't you think I would have seen failures of some type or rusted water? No, in fact when I run a ph test, I find that the coolant is in extremely good condition almost looks brand new. Now why is that - because I don't screw with it!!

This is another Madison Avenue marketing pitch that is reinforced by car manufacturers, dealerships and shops. Let's tell the dummies of the world that if they don't change it they'll end up with serious problems. Kind of like the anti-freeze mix that is 50/50 already - who the hell pays for that stuff?

One last thing. Most over the road trucks with a two-person tag team average about 260,000 - 270,000 miles a year. A single driver will average about 135,000 each year. Most if not all of these trucks have coolant filters. On average, a diesel trucker might change the coolant every 800,000- 1,000,000 miles. Coolant filters and a top off will occur more often. So were do we get the idea that our stuff with 15,000 miles a year is going to rust all to hell?

 

I'm with you. I strongly believe in never try to fix anything that isn't broke.
I never change coolant or any other fluids except for the engine oil and filter.
I did 53 oil change on my previous 06 G35 6 speed manual that was traded in at 171796 miles with the original clutch and the first set of replacement brake pads. My previous 2012 G37S 6 speed manual had 26 oil & filter changes that was recently traded in at 94444 miles. No other fluid changes. Still on the original clutch and brake pads.
I never change coolant,transmission or differential fluids. I leave those fluids for the next owner. I never use premium gasoline or expensive oil either.
This savings of thousands of maintenance dollars has worked out well for me over the past fifty years.

Telcoman

 

Coolant is one of the few times I do extend the factory maintenance specs. Factory recommends 30k interval but most coolant lifespans are rated 100k or 10 years (industrial it's common to flush every 10 years), it used to be a MUCH bigger issue before aluminum and poly radiator components were common but there is still minor erosion from hydraulic thrust in areas of the coolant flow as well as the water pump impeller erosion. Those particulates stay in the system until they are flushed or gradually deposit in either the radiator or heater core tubes but this is one of those arguments that's practically identical to the transmission flush argument.

The system will PROBABLY last the life of the vehicle if unmaintained.

 

Nice. Water wetter and distilled water if I lived in the south.

 

If you live down south you just fill it with 100% well water and call it good.

 

Lol ^.

 

How about the nismo thermostat from z1? They recommend it for track use or states with high temperatures. It opens at 68°c compared to the oem 76°. Would my car benefit from this for florida city driving?

 

The AT equipped G's have a thermostat that opens at 180F, the 6MT's had one that opens at 170F, the Nismo one is rated at 155F.

The big issue is the insane price tag attached to that 155F Nismo thermostat, if you had forced induction or tracked the car I'd say yeah go for it because you definitely want the coolant flowing quicker in those situations, the thermostat STARTS to open at those listed temps.

For just regular city / highway driving just run the 6MT 170F thermostat because it's about $125 cheaper...

 

I diid the drain and fill today.
There's an access for the drain plug and there's no need to remove the skit plate.

However, I have an engine light on after I changed it. I did start the engine after I removed this plug.

Could that be a problem? I don't have a working OBD2 to check the code at the moment.

 

Gonna have to just wait until you get it OBD2 scanned, no sense jumping to assumptions about what the code could be.

 

The Engine Light is off now after a day of driving.