600 Mile Road Trip. Ran into some problems!

[jgrote]

I took my son up to Casper, WY to see the eclipse this weekend, and it was AMAZING. We rented a pop-up camper and pulled it up there, and camped in a pasture just outside of town. The first problem started on the way up there. The A/T Temp light would come on any time we had to climb any kind of hill. We were cruising at about 65, pulling a 1400 lb camper. It ran, drove, and shifted just fine, but the light concerned me. Then, we pulled into camp, parked the camper, unhooked, and I got into the truck to move it. It would not start! Not even a click. The farmer gave me a jump and we went into town, where I replaced both terminals with limited tools in an auto parts store parking lot.

 

Then for the real problem. On the way home, we basically sat in traffic for HOURS! The A/T temp light came on almost immediately after we left, and stayed on the whole time we were pulling the trailer. And I could not use the A/C when sitting in traffic or the coolant temp would climb way up. When sitting, I had to turn off the A/C and rev the engine to 2k RPM to get it to cool down. The temp would reliably come down every time I did it, but it still isn't a good thing.Also, when not moving, the A/C would get heat-soaked and stop blowing cold. As for the A/T light, it turned off about 10 miles after we dropped off the trailer, and stayed off for the rest of the ride home. (About 50 miles.)

 

Now onto the questions. Do you think this is a clogged radiator, water pump, or something else? It has fresh coolant in it. Should I ad an external cooler for the trans? Should I ad an electric fan in front of the condenser? Is there a best brand a radiator for these trucks? Any I should stay away from? I need to get this cooling thing under control before any more trips.

[Citron]

You should have an external tranny cooler on an auto if you are hauling loads. Also, check your fan clutch.

[colinnwn]

Are you sure your radiator fan clutch hasn't bit the farm? That's what I'd suspect first. When my radiator fan clutch died (and discovered the fan hub had cracks), I removed it, and replaced it with an electric radiator fan. I love it. Here is my post about it.

 

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/39670-electric-radiator-fan-conversion-on-vq/

[jgrote]

Would you recommend abandoning the cooler in the rad, or hooking up in series? If so, which one first?

[Citron]

I would abandon the one in the radiator, I don't see a good reason to put them in series.

[TowndawgR50]

x2 on the external cooler. I run one and tow regularly. only time my temps climbed was in 110 degree weather going up the siskiyou pass hauling 3500lbs of my trailer

[XPLORx4]

Your truck's symptoms sound like the fan clutch is dead. Your AT temp issues may be related to the lack of an ATF cooler combined with the failing fan clutch. BTW, you should still run the ATF lines through the ATF cooler in the bottom tank of the radiator so that the ATF warms up to operating temperature when it's cold outside. Plumb the separate AFT cooler on the return line AFTER the radiator ATF cooler.

 

Also, since you drove a lot with the AT Temp light on, you may want to check the ATF condition and replace it if it is not bright red.

Edited August 23, 2017 by XPLORx4

[jgrote]

I'm most definitely am going to change the fluid. Do you know which is the input and which is the output on the rad? And does it take Dex3, or something more expensive?

[onespiritbrain]

Castrol Import will be just fine. (Or Nissan Matic-J??)

 

Take them both off the radiator and crank the vehicle. And while your there doing all that id go ahead and use the same method to swap all the ATF. Run the vehicle and fill a container that you can see how much comes out(liters/quarts) and when it starts spitting and sputtering turn the vehicle off and add back exactly as much came out. Then repeat that little process until the fluid coming out looks new. Best way to change ATF.

 

Don't bother with changing the filter. That's a waste of time and money. I wouldn't worry about the magnet in there either. If your worried about that then get a 1" wide by 1/4" thick neodymium disk magnet from McMasterCarr.com and stick it to the bottom of the pan(you could total the vehicle and it'd still be there).

 

There are some great inline filter option that would be easy to throw in while your doing all this stuff also.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Edited August 24, 2017 by onespiritbrain

[jgrote]

Well, the truck decided not to start this morning, so I got to replace the battery terminals again. It's a much better repair this time, and should last a good, long time. Then I decided to check out the radiator to see if anything looks like a problem. I'm not sure how to check the clutch, but it doesn't feel overly loose. I'll take it for a drive later and see if it tightens up when warmer. However, I scooted the rad. back a little, and found what was left of a bird! Half of the rad. was completely impacted. I cleaned it out lightly with a wire brush, and then with a garden hose. This is what my driveway looked like afterward!

[Slartibartfast]

Revenge from beyond the grave! Bet it cools better with that out of there.

[jgrote]

I sat in a parking lot in 90 degree heat at 7-11 today, and the temp never climbed above the 5th hashmark. Just below half. Now all I need to do is install a trans cooler and figure out why I'm losing so much oil.

 

Now for a quick question. I was looking into installing a cooler, and found that there is plenty of room. But... I could not find a good way to run the lines to without running them under the core support. I really don't want to do that! How does everyone else route their hoses?

[Exorpmtech]

I just briefly read the post, but did you check the coolant level in the radiator? Good catch on the dead bird. Any blockage will obviously cause an overheat issue.