Nissan Frontier

[RedSN]

OEM Nissan (Aisin) on the left, aftermarket MotoRad on the right.

Small differences, but the most obvious is the baffle on the side of the OEM. I’m not sure what it does, but it’s clearly more complicated than any t-stat I’ve ever seen. The thermostat housing is fed by the lower rad hose and flows into the “water inlet” where there seems to be a complicated system of channels and pipes that feed the water pump among many other things. So that baffle is directing coolant to somewhere it needs to go that the aftermarket t-stat does not.

Baffling (no pun intended) was that with the MotoRad the truck behaved like it had a bad clutch fan. It would stay normal on the highway, but oddly the A/C electric fan would kick in. In the city with prolonged stops at lights idling, the temp would start creeping up.

So far, after a test drive to the beer store, the temp is sitting rock steady, and the A/C fan isn’t kicking in. Will see how the trip to London tomorrow goes on the highway.

Lesson learned: OEM Nissan parts for anything engine related.

[Scrape]

Quite different. Looks like the springs are different as well.

[ZR]

We make a point of using OE thermostats the last few years, cuts down on comebacks just like yours would have been.

[LX89]

I've had a MotoRad 195* high flow thermostat in my Mustang for a long time,probably close to 20 years,not exactly sure.

Back then they were well made with thicker metal,large opening.
At some point they cheaped out and used thinner metal and a smaller opening.

[LX89]

When the original thermostat crapped out in my fathers 97 Accord 2.2,I went to the parts store and the guy looked it up and gave me a 195* Stant t-stat which I assumed was correct.

It wasn't.
With the 195* Stant the engine ran hotter and when you shut the engine off one of the fans would run for over a minute then turn off.
I looked it up and a 180* was the correct t-stat for that car.
Put in a 180* Stant and that solved the problem and the car still throws off a ton of heat from the heater.

[RedSN]

Between coats of drywall mud on some patching in the basement, decided to change my sparkplugs. With almost 200k on the odo, figured it was time.



Only got 3 done today, as accessing the right side plugs requires removing the upper intake.
Plugs came out surprisingly easy, with only a little resistance from minor corrosion. And the plugs still looked like new. Think I could have gone another 200k on them.
Will see how the other 3 look tomorrow.

edit: I know Zippy is yelling at the screen for me to shampoo the engine bay…

Update: intake back on, right side plugs done, fired right up and purrs. Drywall is not done.

[RedSN]

Getting to know the parts guy at Nismo better. At some point, he’s going to start trusting me when I ask for a certain part number. I have the shop manual for my truck, and come ready with the parts list I need.

This time up was a rear oil seal for the transfer case.

Removed the driveshaft, popped the old seal out, and reinstall new seal. So far so good. Test drive is to London (again) tonight.
Because nobody ever has the one-off specialty tools for jobs like this, always fun trying to find objects around the house that will work. In this case, the old oil cap (a plastic collar that goes over the shaft and sits between the oil seal and the dust cap) and a piece of 2” ABS pipe to protect the shaft was used to hammer the seal in. Then a 4” piece of PVC pipe was the perfect size to hammer the new dust cap on.

[RedSN]

While changing over to winter tires last weekend, found the front wheels were very wobbly. Both tie rod ends had play in them, but the right side also had play in the vertical axis, and it wasn’t the upper or lower ball joints (although they probably will need replacement soon). Ordered a pair of tie rod ends and wheel bearing hubs, and installed them this weekend.



All the play is gone and drives smooth. I think I got the toe set pretty close, but the steering wheel is off. Going in for an alignment tomorrow morning anyway.
Sure glad I had an air chisel to work the hub loose. Hardest part of the job was unplugging the ABS connector without breaking it.