Nissan seems engine seems hot, but not register hot on gage

[sunovertone]

Hi just bought a 1999 pathfinder. The engine seemed to run a bit hot compared to my other cars. It never registered on gages that it was hot, just seemed compartment was a bit hot to touch. Wondered if that was normal, or maybe somehong wrong.

[Precise1]

The VG engine does seem to like to run hotter in general, but the thermostats are anywhere from 170 to 180 IIRC and they generally run 190-200 overall. If the gauge seems normal and it isn't losing any coolant or boiling over when you stop, there is no issue.

If you are really curious, download the FSM from the pinned thread in the Garage section and verify the functioning of the temperature sender unit with a multimeter; pretty easy to do for peace of mind.

 

That said, you are in Ca and it gets pretty hot in most places this time of year...

 

B

[sunovertone]

That is great info and good to know. It does get super hot in cali, but my jeep cherokee never got that hot to touch, we also have a 2010 nissan frontier, and it never seemed to get that hot. The tranny does after a long trip, but not the engine.

[Quaintbucket]

It is pretty normal as far as I can tell. We are having a hot spell of 35-37 Celsius here lately and the engine hood is pretty hot after driving for a while.

[PJSnow]

i just came back from a drive and i was thinking the exact same thing! the hood and both fenders were really really hot, probably partly because i was pushing just over 80 on an empty highway for a few miles but still it seemed extremely hot. and it was dark out at 75F but i guess they like to be hot haha