bennybutler

Ok, To start with, I'm cheap and I don't care care of my '94 altima like I should...

A few months back (january) my radiator developed a crack in the top to the passenger side of the cap... the crack was where the radiator top was molded together. Instead of having it repaired right then, I just put water in it when it was needed. The crack didn't seem to get any bigger. One fillup would last me about a week before it was noticeably low...

3 weeks ago, I forgot my routine and the car over heated. I noticed smoke coming out (I had just replaced the front brakes, thought it was brakefluid burning off because the master cyl overflowed when I compressed the pistons.) I looked at the temp gauge and I was pegged at "H."

I pulled over and let her cool. Ever since I have been FILLING up the radiator for even a 2 mile trip.

Here's my simptoms.
1. JB Welded old crack. New crack appeared on other side. This leads me to believe there's a pressure problem.
2. WHen I turn the heater on high, I expect to get hot air. I get none...
3. Temp gauge never gets past half way no matter how hot I think the engine is getting.
4. If I start the car with the cap off the radiator it SPEWS water out. Not pretty.
5. Runs rough a idle while still cold, almost cuts off. This may be due to the overheating, not my current problem.
6. I took the return hose off after running the car, looked at the water on the sides of the mount (engine side, not radiator) and it appears the water wasn't even reaching half way. I'm not sure what the normal flow through this should be but I always assumed it would pump a full hose worth. This may not mean anything though.



So... my thinking right now is that the overheating may have screwed the thermostat and it's not allowing water to flow. I don't know much about the plumbing here, but this doesn't completely make since to me. I thought the water was pulled through the thermostat, not pulled through it... What do you guys think?