Thread: Need some advice, G20 related

So this is a weird scenario but bare with me. My ex-wife has a 96 p10 that is her only car to transport our kids in when they are with her. The car keeps breaking on her, little things that I take care of myself on my car that she is unable to do for herself. The result of said situation is that I am giving her my b14 that runs perfect and has AC so she can cart the kids around and I am getting her G. I am not too familiar with the chassis so I was hoping some of the brilliant minds here could point me in the right direction.

The car is apparently over heating so I intend on replacing the thermostat and radiator. For the thermostat I intend on using the nismo unit. As far as the radiator goes I really don't know who is making a quality unit that will hold up in the arizona heat.

The other problem that the car is having is electrical. The car keeps killing batteries and the alternator was replaced less than 4 months ago. Obviously it has a parasitic drain, most likely from a grounding issue I imagine, but does anyone know of common spots on the p10 where this is likely to happen? Are they the same as my b14?

Any advice for this headache will be greatly appreciated.

Not sure on your other issues, but you can use a b13/14 koyo or mishimoto radiator and use the 200sx upper radiator mounts. All you gottta do is bend the mounts.

I've been working on cars for 7 years and I've never found a parasitic drain. Always someone leaving something on or a bad connection or bad alternator.

I'm sure there is some chinese all aluminum radiator for your car. I have one in my b13 it's ok.

Replacing parts without finding the cause of the problem first is a bad decision. It's more likely there is a leak or the electric fans aren't working than the thermostat AND radiator are bad.

Start with the negative battery cable, every nissan i have owned has developed a grounding issue there.

Whether or not the thermostat or radiator are the problem they would be replaced anyway. Too hot here for me to feel comfortable and really don't want to have to worry about it.

I had a chance to look at the car and the the red connector that is attached to the positive terminal is melting and deformed. The only thing that I can think that would cause this much heat would be a grounding issue. Thoughts?

I also have an AZ p10 that had overheating issues. I replaced thermostat, rad cap, heater hoses, checked fans, bled the system properly, and still got hot after driving for about 15-20 mins. It ended up that the radiator was clogged, so I replaced it with an oem replacement from "Performance Radiator" in Mesa. It was like $100, and havent had any cooling problems since then. No need for an aftermarket radiator, and the nismo thermostat will make your car harder to reach operating temps.

Recommend this if you havent got these parts yet, Infiniti Parts USA - Your #1 Source for Factory Infiniti Parts & Accessories


As for the battery drain i would replace that fuseable link (i think thats what its called). Then wire wheel and polish your ground points.

Agree with black. My original blew up at work. Replaced with one from pep boys and std tstat. It stays nice and cool, ac stays cold even when its 115 out. As for the electrical problem, where is the alternator from? Chances are if its from autozone its crap already. I know from experience and putting the lifetime warranty to use.

overheating? first thing i'd do is replace the water pump. They all go eventually.

Radiator clogged? it happens if the fluid is REEEEEEEAAALLLLYY old and has needed to be changed for decades, lol. Is the coolant brown/murky?

First off like said above, check the chassis ground on the neg cable. To SKC, it is rare to find a drain but I have been in the business a good 8 years now and have seen it many times although it is not too common. It is usually in the older german cars or caused by aftermarket alarms. As for the over heating, do you have any more info, ie. how long it takes, how hot it gets and are there any leaks etc. Stock radiators are cheap, so are 1.1 bar rad caps and water wetter. You should be able to use a stock tstat if you want and it will not over heat with regular driving, especially with the rad cap and water wetter. Use Nissan/Infinity parts for rad cap and thermostat. Don't use the one that comes with the radiator, usually cheap crap. Call a parts store that deals mostly with radiators, condensors and heater cores, they can get you the the best deal and will have more than one brand in stock, just ask when you call. Come back and let us know what brand and I can tell you my experiences with them and which one to get. Can you pressure check the system? Do you see any leaks? Check to make sure you have correct flow from one side of the radiator to the other. What is the car being used as and is it going to be modified at all and if so how much? Get back to us with more info soon. You should diagnose the problem first and if you want to upgrades to the system, that is up to you. Also I would get some silicone hoses if you get a new radiator. If you do tstat and radiator with hoses first, you could introduce new problems if the car isn't bled right or the tstat is bad out of the box(haven't seen it on a nissan part) but have with aftermarket. There are certain brands of aftermarket caps that are the same as oe just without the logo on it but you can't order them from most parts stores. Carquest can get them if you have one in your area because they come from world pac which is owned by carquest or vise versa I forget. Sankei and Gates are decent, there are other brands that I don't remember this early. You just have to tell them you want one from World Pac and they can give you your choices. I believe you will have to tell to look it up for a 300zxtt to get the 1.1 bar. Sorry for the rambling, lol.
Drew

Thanks for all the input guys. I should be having the p10 towed to my house on Wednesday or Thursday. Will update with pics and findings after I diagnose the issues.