Another Coolant Leak thread

[Skrew]

On my plastic splash guard I have dried coolant on the bottom and I had some fresh coolant the other week on the garage floor. I bought some Nissan blue coolant to refill my reservoir as it was low.

I purchased the ZSpeed Aluminum splash guard to make oil changes easier and to replace the POS plastic one that was all marked up.

While killing two birds with one stone, I got under the car after removing the old splash guard to see if I could find a coolant leak. I didn't find any but I did find a small hose--possible run-off hose--that appeared to be the culprit. It was right above the area where I found all the residual. I will attach pictures for reference. It also splashed onto the oil pan and front sway bar.

Is this normal? I mean if the Z gets too hot or the reservoir was overfilled does run-off come out of this hose? I've never had my temps go out of control. With the amount of dried coolant I saw though it seems like an excessive amount.

My local dealership had a coolant flush special for $129 so I was thinking of giving in and visiting them to have them flush her and check for leaks.

Any thoughts?

[Rusty]

That hose is the overflow hose from the reservoir. If you follow it up. It should lead you to the reservoir. Think you might have over filled the reservoir. Just fill it to the cold (min) line. If you fill above that line. It will blow it out when the engine comes up to temp.

[Spooler]

It may also be time for a new radiator cap that goes on the reservoir since you have a pressurized coolant tank. Pop it off and look at the rubber seals. If they look like crap, get a new one.

[Skrew]

Originally Posted by Rusty

That hose is the overflow hose from the reservoir. If you follow it up. It should lead you to the reservoir. Think you might have over filled the reservoir. Just fill it to the cold (min) line. If you fill above that line. It will blow it out when the engine comes up to temp.

Thanks Rusty, good to know it was probably just overfilled and not a leak!

[Skrew]

Originally Posted by Spooler

It may also be time for a new radiator cap that goes on the reservoir since you have a pressurized coolant tank. Pop it off and look at the rubber seals. If they look like crap, get a new one.

The car is coming up on being 8 years old so I will probably just buy them as they aren't that expensive and it sounds like a good precautionary measure. I was looking at Z1 Motorsports who carries both and they are under $20 each.

I may be opening Pandora's box here and hijacking my own thread but I also noticed they carried a "High Pressure" radiator cap. I did some research on these caps and saw a lot of people liked the Nismo one, Z1, Mishimoto, et al.

Are these caps even worth it or should I avoid one at all costs? It seems like there is no yay or nay consensus on these things one way over another; maybe they're even gimmicky. They are only a few dollars more though so if they actually had a benefit I wouldn't mind shelling out the extra couple of dollars. On Z1's site they claim it actually helps the car run cooler (then again they make the cap and want to sell them).

From what I have read though it seems like they add a lot of additional stress to your coolant hoses and may even cause a leak. Additionally, it seems like a lot of ppl who had the caps also had upgraded radiators, lines, etc. Thoughts? Or just buy the OEM caps and call it a day?

[BettyZ]

Originally Posted by Skrew

The car is coming up on being 8 years old so I will probably just buy them as they aren't that expensive and it sounds like a good precautionary measure. I was looking at Z1 Motorsports who carries both and they are under $20 each.

I may be opening Pandora's box here and hijacking my own thread but I also noticed they carried a "High Pressure" radiator cap. I did some research on these caps and saw a lot of people liked the Nismo one, Z1, Mishimoto, et al.

Are these caps even worth it or should I avoid one at all costs? It seems like there is no yay or nay consensus on these things one way over another; maybe they're even gimmicky. They are only a few dollars more though so if they actually had a benefit I wouldn't mind shelling out the extra couple of dollars. On Z1's site they claim it actually helps the car run cooler (then again they make the cap and want to sell them).

From what I have read though it seems like they add a lot of additional stress to your coolant hoses and may even cause a leak. Additionally, it seems like a lot of ppl who had the caps also had upgraded radiators, lines, etc. Thoughts? Or just buy the OEM caps and call it a day?

Stick with OEM. And you might as well replace all the hoses at once. Be warned tho, if you're going to replace the heater hoses the upper plenum is gonna have to come off.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[halonut]

Originally Posted by BettyZ

Stick with OEM. And you might as well replace all the hoses at once. Be warned tho, if you're going to replace the heater hoses the upper plenum is gonna have to come off.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

Is that where the itty bitty 4" hose goes? I've only found one crappy diagram online & it was of no help.

That's what I came to this thread looking for...the location of the 4" heater hose. Thanks!