2004 xterra
I never drive up to full pressure heat.
I did so yesterday. Antifreeze steaming out from somewhere, car bucking like it was going to die. Barely made it home. Boiling noise for 30 min, anti all over battery and engine. Thought it was a goner. Started it now, sounds perfect.
Gauge went to top and i shut it off. I did not want to warp anything. Fluid is ok but res is empty. Pulled oil dipstick and it it is just dirty oil, no water.
The new top short hose looks sucked in. Bottom hose looks wet but i did not find a leak. Thermostat? I was smelling anti for months. Outside, never inside.
Suggestions appreciated. 60,000 miles.

On 04/26/2021 04:09 PM, Thomas wrote:
2004 xterra
I never drive up to full pressure heat.
I did so yesterday. Antifreeze steaming out from somewhere, car bucking like it was going to die. Barely made it home. Boiling noise for 30 min, anti all over battery and engine. Thought it was a goner. Started it now, sounds perfect.
Gauge went to top and i shut it off. I did not want to warp anything. Fluid is ok but res is empty. Pulled oil dipstick and it it is just dirty oil, no water.
The new top short hose looks sucked in. Bottom hose looks wet but i did not find a leak. Thermostat? I was smelling anti for months. Outside, never inside.
Suggestions appreciated. 60,000 miles.


Water pump?/

On Monday, April 26, 2021 at 8:36:08 PM UTC-5, rbowman wrote:
On 04/26/2021 04:09 PM, Thomas wrote:
2004 xterra
I never drive up to full pressure heat.
I did so yesterday. Antifreeze steaming out from somewhere, car bucking like it was going to die. Barely made it home. Boiling noise for 30 min, anti all over battery and engine. Thought it was a goner. Started it now, sounds perfect.
Gauge went to top and i shut it off. I did not want to warp anything. Fluid is ok but res is empty. Pulled oil dipstick and it it is just dirty oil, no water.
The new top short hose looks sucked in. Bottom hose looks wet but i did not find a leak. Thermostat? I was smelling anti for months. Outside, never inside.
Suggestions appreciated. 60,000 miles.

Water pump?/

And the dipstick didn't indicate oil being overfull?
First guess would be thermostat. Those were easier and cheaper to replace, at least in the old days.
Shade tree mechanics would change them first then see what happens.

On Monday, April 26, 2021 at 6:09:47 PM UTC-4, Thomas wrote:
2004 xterra
I never drive up to full pressure heat.

That's never good for a car. The system doesn't get hot enough for water to be
driven out of the crankcase oil, the exhaust system, etc. Oil should probably be
changed more frequently too.

I did so yesterday. Antifreeze steaming out from somewhere, car bucking like it was going to die. Barely made it home.

If you didn't stop to see if there was any coolant left, top it off, wait for it to cool
down some, you're lucky you didn't destroy it. I hope the bucking was from the
coolant being all over the ignition system.


Boiling noise for 30 min, anti all over battery and engine. Thought it was a goner. Started it now, sounds perfect.
Gauge went to top and i shut it off. I did not want to warp anything. Fluid is ok but res is empty. Pulled oil dipstick and it it is just dirty oil, no water.

So you started it again and ran it without filling it?


The new top short hose looks sucked in. Bottom hose looks wet but i did not find a leak. Thermostat? I was smelling anti for months. Outside, never inside.
Suggestions appreciated. 60,000 miles.

Fill it with water, leave the hood open, let everything dry off. Then start it and
see where the water is coming from. A leak that severe can't be hard to narrow
down. Like others have said, water pump is a possibility. Or a hose. Could be
the radiator too, but I think that's less common. Also could be a control valve of
some kind, eg for heater, etc. Don't run it for long or leave it filled with just water
for too long. Without antifreeze metal in the system will rust and the water pump
needs some AF to keep it lubricated.

Also could be a head gasket. There doesn't need to be a leak to let coolant out, if there's a path for exhaust gas to get into the coolant system. Coolant is scared of exhaust and it will quickly flee out of the reservoir or anywhere else it can find.

Yep, this has happened to me.

On Tuesday, April 27, 2021 at 2:18:36 PM UTC-4, TimR wrote:
Also could be a head gasket. There doesn't need to be a leak to let coolant out, if there's a path for exhaust gas to get into the coolant system. Coolant is scared of exhaust and it will quickly flee out of the reservoir or anywhere else it can find.

Yep, this has happened to me.
Had combustion test all is good. Did thermostat and fan clutch. Back to good. 60,155 miles now for sale. Looking for 7. Will accept 8.