Eric
07-03-2009, 07:44 AM
I posted earlier about my "new" truck - a used/2002 Nissan Frontier I bought at a Ford dealership located in a small town called Gassaway, West Virginia. I rode out there on my bike (about 180 miles away) figuring if the truck was what I wanted and the price was right I could load up my bike in the bed and drive it back home.
The truck turned out to be very nice and the price was fair, so a deal was struck and, after all the paperwork was completed I loaded up the bike, tied it down and pointed my new Frontier south and began what I thought would be my trip back home.
Very shortly thereafter, I glanced down at the instrument cluster and noticed the temp gauge was reading high; in fact it was "pegged." I did the natural thing and immediately coasted over to the shoulder and hit the hazards - with the thought, SHIT! reverberating through my head. The truck was not acting hot, though. No signs of a boil over, no smells; the "check engine" light had not come on. Still, you pay attention to the gauge.
Since I was literally no more than minutes away from the dealership where I bought the truck, I limped back and pulled into the lot. By this time (of course) it was past 4 p.m. and the service department was closing up and any chance of doing something was pretty much out the window.
The dealership was, however, extremely nice about it. Above and Beyond, actually. They offered to put me up at their expense at the local hotel and first thing in the morning, they'd have a tech look at it. A faulty thermostat was suspected. (The truck only has 58k, so water pump/radiator issues seemed not likely.)
So, morning comes and in goes the new thermostat - but the sudden High gauge reading persists. Again, no other signs of mechanical distress - a point that will be revisited shortly.
Step Two, they install a new fan clutch - again, at their cost. No change.
Step Three, the radiator is pulled and inspected/everything is flushed out. A-ok. A new water pump is installed - again, their cost.
The High reading is unchanged. We (I am hanging out with the technicians now) check for signs of a blown head gasket. None. All plugs read normal; no oily residue or bubbles in the radiator. No milky oil or white smoke coming out of the tailpipe. And, again - the truck is running fine.
Now, an analyzer is plugged into the OBD port. It says the temp is normal even though the gauge does not. We decide to take a test drive with the unit plugged in. Normal. But gauge shoots to High - again. The whole time, the truck is running perfectly. It's just the gauge that's not.
We are now homing in on the true problem. Like Mr. Spock we have used logic to consider the facts. The OBD port says the temperature is normal. The truck manifests no signs of overheating. Literally every major component of the cooling system has been replaced or checked out. For one more piece of confirmatory evidence,a hand-held infra-red temperature reader is brought out. We take the truck out, and when the gauge runs to High again, we stop, pull over and use the infra-red reader to check the temperature at the radiator, thermostat housing and elsewhere. The readings are normal, not even close to overheating.
It is the temperature sending unit for the gauge that's bad! A $20 part. Problem solved!
The tech was kicking himself for not having checked that first. Meanwhile, the dealer paid for all these parts (and labor), probably worth at least $150 (new water pump, clutch fan and thermostat, plus coolant and labor).
I got home that evening. The truck gave me no problems and is now sitting next to the Trans Am in the garage. :D
The truck turned out to be very nice and the price was fair, so a deal was struck and, after all the paperwork was completed I loaded up the bike, tied it down and pointed my new Frontier south and began what I thought would be my trip back home.
Very shortly thereafter, I glanced down at the instrument cluster and noticed the temp gauge was reading high; in fact it was "pegged." I did the natural thing and immediately coasted over to the shoulder and hit the hazards - with the thought, SHIT! reverberating through my head. The truck was not acting hot, though. No signs of a boil over, no smells; the "check engine" light had not come on. Still, you pay attention to the gauge.
Since I was literally no more than minutes away from the dealership where I bought the truck, I limped back and pulled into the lot. By this time (of course) it was past 4 p.m. and the service department was closing up and any chance of doing something was pretty much out the window.
The dealership was, however, extremely nice about it. Above and Beyond, actually. They offered to put me up at their expense at the local hotel and first thing in the morning, they'd have a tech look at it. A faulty thermostat was suspected. (The truck only has 58k, so water pump/radiator issues seemed not likely.)
So, morning comes and in goes the new thermostat - but the sudden High gauge reading persists. Again, no other signs of mechanical distress - a point that will be revisited shortly.
Step Two, they install a new fan clutch - again, at their cost. No change.
Step Three, the radiator is pulled and inspected/everything is flushed out. A-ok. A new water pump is installed - again, their cost.
The High reading is unchanged. We (I am hanging out with the technicians now) check for signs of a blown head gasket. None. All plugs read normal; no oily residue or bubbles in the radiator. No milky oil or white smoke coming out of the tailpipe. And, again - the truck is running fine.
Now, an analyzer is plugged into the OBD port. It says the temp is normal even though the gauge does not. We decide to take a test drive with the unit plugged in. Normal. But gauge shoots to High - again. The whole time, the truck is running perfectly. It's just the gauge that's not.
We are now homing in on the true problem. Like Mr. Spock we have used logic to consider the facts. The OBD port says the temperature is normal. The truck manifests no signs of overheating. Literally every major component of the cooling system has been replaced or checked out. For one more piece of confirmatory evidence,a hand-held infra-red temperature reader is brought out. We take the truck out, and when the gauge runs to High again, we stop, pull over and use the infra-red reader to check the temperature at the radiator, thermostat housing and elsewhere. The readings are normal, not even close to overheating.
It is the temperature sending unit for the gauge that's bad! A $20 part. Problem solved!
The tech was kicking himself for not having checked that first. Meanwhile, the dealer paid for all these parts (and labor), probably worth at least $150 (new water pump, clutch fan and thermostat, plus coolant and labor).
I got home that evening. The truck gave me no problems and is now sitting next to the Trans Am in the garage. :D