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3.3L overheats when idling but not moving - HELP!

FUELER

By FUELER,
in 96-2004 R50 Pathfinders

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FUELER NPORA Old-Timer

FUELER

Posted
Posted

VG33 in a 99 QX4

 

 

Long story short: I had a maintenance service done, parts related to cooling included water pump, thermostat, fresh coolant, and new hoses.

 

 

A few months after, I started noticing that my temp needle would go up with engine idling, and not moving. Needle moves up past 50% after 5-10 minutes and can easily reach 90% if idling on a hot day for over 10 mins.

 

Temp needle goes back down when I get moving.

 

 

I have replaced the fan clutch once I realized this, and I can tell that it's definitely grabbing hard and the fan is pushing air hard whenever it's running hot. I replaced with a TORQFLO autozone fan clutch.

 

 

Could this be the result of a bad thermostat? Bad fan clutch from autozone?

 

 

All ideas are appreciated...

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Simon NPORA Old-Timer

Simon

Posted
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Could be a bad WP, bad T-stat, or clogged rad. Take the rad cap off, and see if you have good coolant flow once the temp moves up a bit. I should be flowing well for sure once your temperature gauge hits half.

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Casey.T NPORA Old-Timer

Casey.T

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have see the fan put on backwards.... It should be sucking not pushing...

 

As Simon pointed out the good stuff....

 

Could also be that the T-Stat was not put in with the bleeder in the 12 Oclock position(Dave) :hide:

Edited by Casey.T
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FUELER
NPORA Old-Timer

FUELER

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Found the problem.... hidden dirt within the exterior fins of the radiator....

 

Radiator looked clean, but when I took a garden hose to the back of it, dark brown water was coming out the other side

 

Everybody remember to keep your radiators clean!!

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DSmitty182 NPORA Newbie

DSmitty182

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Found the problem.... hidden dirt within the exterior fins of the radiator....

 

Radiator looked clean, but when I took a garden hose to the back of it, dark brown water was coming out the other side

 

Everybody remember to keep your radiators clean!!

 

That dark brown water could also be stop aleak which also can lead to other problems stopping up your heater core..

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FUELER
NPORA Old-Timer

FUELER

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i'm talking about the outside of the radiator... not the inside.... i took a garden hose from the engine side and pushed it through the radiator towards the front and WOW there was a lot of dirt that has accumulated on my radiator from all the times ive been offroading....

 

just a little bit of dirt made a huge difference in cooling

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