Only owned my 2012 Silver 2WD PF for a month and noticed a engine heat difference between the PF and the last two cars owned. Seems to me the PF runs a lot cooler (not just looks), park the PF in the garage and within two hours the engine (touching the hood) seems to have cooled down completely. Where as the last two cars (2004 Explorer, 2011 Pilot) would take over four hours to cool off completely. This seems like a good thing to me, that the engine runs cooler, except for the last two days. Parked the PF outside (Christmas decorations taking up space on the floor) and notice it takes about eight miles of driving before the heater starts putting out hot air. The outside temperature is about 32f degs and the last two cars would heat up within a mile or two of driving. Does this sound normal?

Thanks,
Craig

Calicajun wrote:Only owned my 2012 Silver 2WD PF for a month and noticed a engine heat difference between the PF and the last two cars owned. Seems to me the PF runs a lot cooler (not just looks), park the PF in the garage and within two hours the engine (touching the hood) seems to have cooled down completely. Where as the last two cars (2004 Explorer, 2011 Pilot) would take over four hours to cool off completely. This seems like a good thing to me, that the engine runs cooler, except for the last two days. Parked the PF outside (Christmas decorations taking up space on the floor) and notice it takes about eight miles of driving before the heater starts putting out hot air. The outside temperature is about 32f degs and the last two cars would heat up within a mile or two of driving. Does this sound normal?

Thanks,
Craig

coolant level OK?

Calicajun wrote:Only owned my 2012 Silver 2WD PF for a month and noticed a engine heat difference between the PF and the last two cars owned. Seems to me the PF runs a lot cooler (not just looks), park the PF in the garage and within two hours the engine (touching the hood) seems to have cooled down completely.

I think it depends on a lot of things. I don't park the Pathfinder inside, but we do park the Xterra in the garage. I can tell you right now that the Xterra heats the garage & keeps it hot for a few hours. In the warmer months, it seems like it takes all day to cool down.

As to the Pathfinder, well let's just say that I've let loose many choice words as I scalded my hand on the hood. I don't remember the hoods of past vehicles ever getting that hot.

Parked the PF outside (Christmas decorations taking up space on the floor) and notice it takes about eight miles of driving before the heater starts putting out hot air. The outside temperature is about 32f degs and the last two cars would heat up within a mile or two of driving. Does this sound normal?

Yes. As I said, my Pathfinder sits outside year round. In the winter, I usually start it up, go outside and scrape off the windows/body quickly, then head down the road to work. It usually takes about a block or so before the windshield is completely defogged. Another block puts me on the freeway. Real heat doesn't start kicking out until after a couple miles at 70-80mph.

As long as it's not overheating, I wouldn't worry about it.

Almost all engines run at pretty much the same temp. How hot the hood feels isn't a good indication of anything in particular except perhaps how well the hood is insulated. The fact it's taking 7-8 miles to blow heat though does not sound correct. It certainly depends on the type of driving, but I start to get heat witin a mile or so when leaving the office with freezing temps. That's all town driving for the first couple miles. I keep my garage about 55°F and I have heat coming out before pulling out of the subdivision.

Instead of feeling for heat, watch your temp guage. As soon as it moves off the cold line you should be able to feel some heat coming out of the vents. Where is the temp guage during normal driving? Mine sits slightly below halfway regardless of dead-of-winter highway or summer off-roading.

Had a thermostat issue on my 08 civic when we bought it brand new. Took a few times to get the dealer to believe me, but eventually they replaced it and all was fixed.

The car would never really heat up, and when I slowed down, the temp gauge would go down and it would actually blow cold air.

Not a big deal in most places, but in Winterpeg, where temps get down to -30C or lower, no heat is not an option!

Anyways, I recommend a change in your thermostat to see if you can get it warm up faster. A thermostat that is worn and not closing properly will allow coolant to flow and take longer to heat up the system.

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The PF is due for its first check up In January, though I don't know why the dealer needs to see a car that will only be three months old. Anyway will have them check the thermostat and adjust the idle a bit higher to stop engine shake. The temp needle holds steady at just a bit below half on the Gage, so I really don't think there is any wrong. Our Winter weather does get down to freezing, so if I can get the PF to heat up a little faster it would be nice. Then again the heated seats (the wife wanted, not me) are really nice.
Little off subject, just put 13.5 gallons of 81 octane gas after driving 257 miles all city, that works out to 19.0 miles per gallon. That as good as the Honda Pilot (2011) was getting with a smaller engine (3.6lt).

Calicajun wrote:The temp needle holds steady at just a bit below half on the Gage, so I really don't think there is any wrong.

In 2006 Nissan changed the temp gauge to a 'dummy' gauge that holds at the middle of the gauge as long as the engine is at a minimum temperature. Not sure what that temperature is, but I'd venture to say its around 160F. Anything above that will show as 'normal' on your gauge.

The gauge in my 05 SE is not a 'dummy' gauge, and shows the actual temperature. When the truck is warmed up (usually about 2-3 miles of 60MPH, in the city usually about 5-10 minutes of normal driving, longer if its bloody cold out like now) the gauge doesn't move at all, which shows my thermostat is doing its job.

In your truck, you don't have the ability to diagnose the thermostat by observing engine temp on your gauge. I would suggest a Bullydog or Superchips tuner which can monitor the exact temp via J1939.

I assume Nissan made this change to reduce the number of complaints or concerns they got from owners if the gauge didn't do exactly as expected, with a majority of the reports being non-issues.

Read about dummy gages somewhere here in this forum. So you are saying that the gages work more like the old idiot lights. The gage only moves after it too late to do any good. That would explain why the gage never moves no matter how hot or cold it is outside.

As for add on systems like the Bully Dog, do you have to change out the sending units (sensor that screw into the engine block) when installing the Bully Dog?

Please excuse me if I sound a little on the slow side about car repairs but the last two cars I worked (restore) on was a 1967 Camaro Convertible and a 1959 Ford Fairlane. Those cars I understood and could find room under the hood big enough to get my hands wherever they needed to go.

Calicajun wrote:As for add on systems like the Bully Dog, do you have to change out the sending units (sensor screw into the engine block) when installing the Bully Dog?

Bullydog and Superchips both plug in to the OBD Port and read data from the ECM.

Also, Cipher by UpRev reads ECT and a number of other parameters. But you need a laptop.

Most modern vehicles(Nissans anyway) are all about the same.

165ºF is operating temperature, 185ºF to open the t-stat, and 215-220 is hot (ECU takes action, retarding timing, adding fuel, etc), 215-220º+ is overheating, and then the needle will actually rise. My 1995 and 2003 Maxima are the same way. Basically, the gauge wont do anything from 160ºF to 220º.

Will have to look into a Bully Dog type add on unit. Maybe I can find one that can help the gas mileage too.

Update to the engine heating up question.
Seem to have been either a stuck thermostat or driver error. I thinking it was probably driver error. The PF is heating up with in a couple of miles and that is after sitting outside all night in 40 deg f weather. Took the heat control off of auto and set the temp manually and everything seems to be working just find now. Never had a car with auto climate control before, guess they work just a little different than I'm use too.

Thanks all for the help,
Craig

Calicajun wrote:Update to the engine heating up question.
Seem to have been either a stuck thermostat or driver error. I thinking it was probably driver error. The PF is heating up with in a couple of miles and that is after sitting outside all night in 40 deg f weather. Took the heat control off of auto and set the temp manually and everything seems to be working just find now. Never had a car with auto climate control before, guess they work just a little different than I'm use too.

Thanks all for the help,
Craig

glad to hear it!

Calicajun wrote:Update to the engine heating up question.
Seem to have been either a stuck thermostat or driver error. I thinking it was probably driver error. The PF is heating up with in a couple of miles and that is after sitting outside all night in 40 deg f weather. Took the heat control off of auto and set the temp manually and everything seems to be working just find now. Never had a car with auto climate control before, guess they work just a little different than I'm use too.

Thanks all for the help,
Craig

Fwiw, it sounds like you were just being overly sensitive to things now that its cold out. Like what was mentioned, modern engines all run at about the same internal temperature, and the biggest thing I notice with a cold engine is the "rougher" noise it makes until its warmed up and the ECU isn't trying to stoke the fires, so to say.