Strange cooling issue

[Stormhammer]

Alright, well its on my daily, the 1997 Nissan Maxima - I want to say its my thermostat, but its just weird

Alright, so your driving, the car is up to temp and the gauge is halfway - well you're at a light or stopped in traffic and the temp will rise about another 1/8 to slightly under the 3/4 mark, it varies - awhile back me and jahjah initially thought that one of the fans wasn't doing its job, but I checked, they're both running and are as loud as vacuum cleaners Laughing

So you get to moving once again and the temperature drops to 1/2 way again, and when I looked it had raised up, I looked again and it had dropped - so I decided to watch the gauge while driving ( do not attempt: professional driver ) - I noticed that as I was driving the temp would increase and then would drop down the 1/2 way, increase up and then drop back down to half way - and the top temp point seemed to typically be whatever the temp point you got to in traffic would be - so whats going on? Thermostat? I'm also going to change out the coolant ( heading to the autoparts store shortly regardless ) to see if that may help any

[koukis14]

If you are at the light and you rev it up in neutral does the temp drop back down??

[Dietcoke]

Air bubble?

[Stormhammer]

If you are at the light and you rev it up in neutral does the temp drop back down??

tried it - no change - oh, I should mention that the AC wasn't on when I noticed this

[koukis14]

It could be anything. I would start with a thermostat, or possibly an electrical issue. I hope it is not the water pump but like I said, it could be anything. The only thing the A/C would have to do with it is that the fans come on with the A/C but you said they were working on thier own. Also there is a small chance of your cooling passages building up scales and rust and shit on the inside of them restricting the flow, I doubt that would be it but I have seen it before. I would replace the thermostat, do a cooling system flush, and see if it still does it. Just for shits and giggles, make sure there is no debris (leaves, paper ect..) on your radiator restricting air flow. Good luck, I hope it is something simple. And good choice on a DD, I love old Maximas. My first car was an 87 Max, and I had a 97 GLE at one time. Pre 03 Nissans are BULLITPROOF.

[Stormhammer]

^^ yeah I have alot of fixing to do - the check engine light came on recently - took it in - needs o2 sensor, the starter is dying, fuel filter needs to be replaced, needs new coilpacks, oil pan is leaking and I'm trying to figure out where the tranny is leaking from - previous owner did a shitty job at maintanence and drove it hard ( the shocks are blown on it lol )

[koukis14]

^^ yeah I have alot of fixing to do - the check engine light came on recently - took it in - needs o2 sensor, the starter is dying, fuel filter needs to be replaced, needs new coilpacks, oil pan is leaking and I'm trying to figure out where the tranny is leaking from - previous owner did a shitty job at maintanence and drove it hard ( the shocks are blown on it lol )

There is a small chance that the coil packs and 02 sensors are a recall. I am not exactly sure but call a dealership and ask them to run the vin number, they should be able to tell you. The 97 I had my sister has now. GLE, every option, 60k when I gave it to her and in showroom condition. She has not washed it in two years and it needs about 5k in work done to it. I almost killed her.

[Annihilation]

jus ihad same problem with my ecplise figured out a coil pack was going out cuzzing the car to heat up a lil

[koukis14]

jus ihad same problem with my ecplise figured out a coil pack was going out cuzzing the car to heat up a lil

CORRECT, this can also cause your problem.