Possible reasons for radiator failure

[asgard]

I was talking over the cooler bye pass today with the service manager of my dealership. He is very down to earth and not a party line sort. He said that the corrosion in the radiator tube was possibly being caused by the anti freeze turning caustic. He said that it should be clanged at 68000kms about 50000miles. If the fluid is turning caustic the corrosion rate is increased due to the heating and cooling cycle.

To clarify this - How many members have changed the anti freeze and if so at what mileage.

What is the feeling of the forum??

[valenburg]

I feel that something of this magnitude should be looked at by nissan as this shouldn't be one of those things that should be an issue 5-6 into a cars' service life maybe after 8-10. If something degrades that quick (Most of the issues I've seen have been under 60,000 miles) Then further insight should be Nissans responsibility and not the owners who have to pay the 3k+ to fix this. If I didn't know about the by-pass, had to pay to have a new transmission installed then have it happen again 60,000 miles later, I would be one angry panda.

[jerry6]

I changed rad fluid at 38 ,000 km , along with trans and transcase and diff fluids . At most i change rad fluid every 2 years if i don't hit the 40,000 km mark

[Budrbean]

I did the bypass 2 months ago. Not even a month later I looked at the rubber caps that I used to cap the radiator cooler and they were cracking. Im beginning to wonder if the trans fluid is caustic itself.

[DPF]

Regardless of the tranny fluid reservoir issue, it's a good idea and should be standard practice to change coolant every two years, three at most.

I'm as guilty of not doing this as most, but it's just one of those maintenance items that few people tend to do. It's not a fun job, but once every few years shouldn't be too much of an issue.

The newer "extended life" coolants may hold up a bit longer, but your certainly not helping matters if you don't change coolant.

Really, this is just in addition to the fact that there appears to be a flaw in this reservoir design that is not a good situation to begin with.

-DPF

[KEVSTER]

I was told that the orange colored anti-freeze is or was bad a few yrs back, it was linked to eat away at the head gaskets on some vehicles..alot of new vehicles were coming out with this installed by the auto manuf. I was told that the green stuff is the best to use.

[GbayPathfinder]

^^^^

I know that many GM products using dex-cool coolant (orange colour) where having problems with the water pumps and gaskets going bad and many people said the same thing that the coolant was harsh and causing the problem. But as far as I know the Nissan comes with green coolant[/quote]

[SHAWNATGERBROCK]

I change all my fluids every 10,000 miles ( oil every 3000 ) .... Use OE Nissan Coolant ..... 42K miles Have had no issues yet ... Cheep insurance .... and yea, could be , I have seen a few radiator and heater core failures due to old antifreeze ...... I have been looking into an aluminum radiator upgrade , have not seen anything yet ...

Nissan Antifreeze is Green , but it is not the old Green Antifreeze , which could be some of the issue, if you mix plain old Green antifreeze with the Nissan Antifreeze , you could have some issues .... OE Nissan or an aftermarket ( we use Zerex Asian formula at the shop) that is compatible with Nissan Coolant !!

[dandemedi]

I did the by-pass also. First I had removed the radiator, then changed my mind of putting in a new one and then have the same thing happen again.

ai talked to a rdiator specialist at 1800 radiator. He knew of the problem and told me the problem was that the torque converter was putting so much pressure that it was blowing the atf line inside the radiator.

I didn't buy that fully so I decided to put the old rad. back in and put an aftermarket cooler in line with the existing tranny cooler (tow package models).
Remember if you don't have tow package, Tranny cooler should still be mounter in front but not connected.