[jaxfrontier]

After running my truck for just a few minutes, the hood is too hot to touch. Lifting the hood while running I notice a super hot stream of air towards the front of the engine shooting upward. Its been almost 100 here in FL but I have never felt that type of heat from an engine. I have only had the truck a few weeks so not sure if it was always like this. The black plastic from the air filter and the engine cover are scalding hot. The temp gauge reflects normal, just looking for opinions before I take it to the dealership and the try to tell me it is normal. If it makes a difference its an 07 with 4.0 ltr and a K&N air filter. I plan to check the filter this weekend maybe it needs a cleaning? Any ideas/suggestions?

 

[BluJay]

Do you hear the thermostat pop when you run it and it heats up?? if not it could be time to replace it and your waterpump is not far behind..

How about rad fulid is it crisp green or brown?? etc?

 

[chaz]

how hot do you have any way to get a reading.then again its not over heating,check the fluid like already stated a 100+ deg is really hot out the engine fan is pushing all that heat away from the engine.

 

[jaxfrontier]

I do hear a small pop-assuming its the thermostat and the coolant is nice and green. I checked under the hood after it sat for over 3 hrs and the black plastics were still hot. Cranked it up and the air coming through wasn't quite as hot- air temp dropped about 10 degrees and the sun hadnt been directly overhead as it had been for 5 hr up until I got in it this afternoon. I checked other parts of the trucks body and they were pretty hot too even being white. Heat index has been 110+ for the last week or so, prolly just the heat. I'll still mention it when I bring it in for an alignment this weekend see what they sa, maybe they can test the thermostat just to be sure. I want to get anything I can find addressed before the dealer warrantee goes out in 1K. I have been trying to get a complete mods list from the previous owner, but they say they can't get ahold of him and they wont gimme his number. I made them sign my extended warantee guarenteeing it covers the truck as I bought it, but still alittle nervous. Already been told it doesnt have the camber locks they need to properly align it but they are going to put some on for me since I made it clear I was pissed that the aligment obviously wasnt done before I bought it. I am glad I got a great deal on it b/c they are pissing me off about the mods list!! I hate not knowing everyhting that was done to it!! I've done a lot of research and have identified what I have listed in signature, but not sure about spacers for the wheels or upgrades to certain parts of the steering systems because of the lift. I'm going to take it to an off-road shop and see if they will get up under there with me and go over some stuff. I worry about the driveshaft angle as it has changed b/c of the lift, looks like part of a support beam was cut for the driveshaft. Is that normal practice?

 

[chainsaw]

Remove the pesky engine, she'll be nice and cool after that.

 

[jaxfrontier]

I tried that and it definately got cooler, unfortunately that caused a whole slew of other issues that after talking to the dealership isn't covered under warranty. It is a slightly downhill 3.5 mile ride to work so it wasnt too bad this afternoon even in 70 year record 102 degree heat. I am not looking forward to having to cutting a hole in the floorboard in the parking lot after work. Glad I brought my sneaks, gonna be a fun Flinstones style ride home!!!:itsfriday:

 

[rod83]

I wouldnt worry about it man. If the thermo was stuck closed the gauge should reflect that the truck was over heating, if it was stuck open then the faster you drove the gauge would show the truck getting cooler. It probably cause its so hot where you are.

 

[dubie2003]

I am going to venture to say that it is semi-normal. The mech fan is just pulling air thru the radiator making it hot and pushing it around the engine bay. This on top of the FL heat, it just makes it insanely hot.

If the gauge inside doesn't rise at all, then it is normal.

If you are looking to test it yourself, you can get a meat thermometer and stick it into the radiator between the fins to test its temp as a quick and dirty thing.

To help cut down on this insane temp you can install a standard 07 350z Tstat which opens a few degrees cooler then the oem Frontier one.

Now for the mods, cutting the crossmember isn't correct for a little lift. They may have installed a carrier bearing drop bracket thou so that is normal and a smart move.

For the other mods, just poke around under there and take some pics and post them up. Most will chime in if they know what it is.

 

[colin123]

so far this summer in missouri (hitting temps over 90 and up to 100 pretty regularly) i've noticed the coolant temp tends to hover around 197-199 so the engine bay is getting pretty hot. the engine bay on my z, now that was hot, the twin 18g turbos put some heat into that engine bay, that is until i wrapped them then things cooled down alot. but back on track i think i've seen a few others post that their summer norm was around the 197-199 area too so if you can find a way to get a reading, like a friend with a good obd scanner or someone with a programmer that can show engine parameters, and get some readings you could see what she's running and compare