Hot Temp

I have a 2000 Nissan Xterra, after driving the car for a short distance the tempature gauge begins to rise to high and when you stop to check the fluids the res. is empty. My husband thought water pump or thermostat. So he began to to change out the water pump and determined that wasn't an at home project, so he replaced the thermostat and add some stop leak. That solved the problem until now. It has started back up however this time the res. is full and the radiator is to. When I took off the radiator cap off after about an hour it looked to be foamy under it. I ran some errands and stop with the engine hot I raised the hood and opened the res. fluid full liquid not hot. I had my mom press the gas to see if maybe it bubbled, nope nothing. As long as I run the heat when this happens the temp level stays normal. There is currently water in it because the last time this happened we were out and in the middle of no where and only had bottled water on hand. There has never been any steam or smoke come from under the hood. Any ideas. my husband is deployed and Im really not up to being toyed with by a mechanic. I tried everything that I can think of! :banghead:

Couple of ?'s



Is there slug on the underside of the oil cap? Or slug under the underside of the radiator cap?

Whens the last time you had your radiator completely cleaned.. And no not just running water through it then adding coolant again.. If anything take it to a place to get the radiator serviced... Should only cost 80-100 bucks... But if you were losing water you might have a leak in the radiator... But worse case the leak could be in the head or intake gasket......

Not bad advice from a pot head.

Not bad advice from a pot head.




Pot head, no... Wonderful plant, yes





Emporer Wears No Clothes

The slug is under the radiator cap. I have had the car right at a year and I have only had oil changes done and a tune up when I bought it. So more than likely the radiator has never been serviced. So far there are no signs of any fluids leaking my fluid levels stay accurate.

Sounds like a head gasket. Let us know what happens.

I apologize for the delay in the update, but here's what was discovered. Aftermy husband spoke with a young man that is cuurrently enrolled in ATI they determined is was my water pump. Not the problem! So one time when he was away I decide to take it to the local mechanic and have the problem diagnosed. Lucky for me the problem was only the radiator. There were multiple cold spots, and the inside was so gumed up that noting could circulate. So we replaced that and took it back in to finish the diagnosis, no other problems. We did a flush and fill to make sure that even with the new radiator and hoses and everything else was good. So far zero problems. Thank you so much for your advise!