theshrink1

My Z overheated for the first time. The day reached 101 degrees. I was almost home and the car started jumping like it was about to stall. I eventually realized this when the temp gauge was high. I pulled over and opened the hood. It smoked. I eventually made it home. The coolant was empty. I have refilled it and the car will drive. However I am worried that something is wrong that caused this to occur.
Any thoughts? I noticed quite a bit of fluids around the engine, maybe oil leak?

masterjr33

top it off when cold. and start it up. see if you see a leak. and take the cap off the bleed out the air.

icer5160

iTrader: (4)

How many miles? It's possible the OEM plastic radiator finally cracked and gave way while you were driving. The wind and radiator fans would've blown the coolant all over the engine bay. You don't need to run the engine to test this, just fill up the radiator with water and see if it starts leaking out immediately (obviously don't do this with a hot engine). I hope the head gaskets weren't damage.
-Icer

813_350Z

You don't need to, but there may be additional leaks that are not apparent when just filling it back up.

OP, unfortunately, there are too many reasons for why this could have happened, but here is how I would begin troubleshooting this problem. I would recommend doing this in the early early morning before it gets too hot or late night.

- As MasterJ and Icer both stated, fill and top off your coolant.

- Perform a PROPER and COMPLETE bleeding of your coolant system. When you think you have all the air out, bleed it again. This system is very tough to get all of the air out of if you are not doing it perfectly.

- Start her up (no AC) and inspect the engine bay for any leaks, specifically your radiator. As Icer mentioned, you may have cracked the OEM rad. I had this happen to me quite some time ago. I had the same symptoms you
described, minus the smoke. I live in Florida and the heat eventually caused it to give out. With 101* heat, it would surprise me if that's what happened to you.

- If you have no leaks, let the car warm up and monitor your engine coolant temperature. If you can afford it, pick up and OBDII scanner (Harbor Freight has them for less than $100) that has live data capabilities. Your ECT should
hover around 194*F, give or take. At roughly 208*F your fans should kick on. At roughly 212*F you should hear them become noticeably louder and pick up speed. If they don't turn on, or don't pick up speed, find out why.

- If you are doing this in the early morning or late at night, your temperatures should not reach the point where your fans need to power on at all (unless you were running the AC). If they do, I would test the thermostat. You can test it
by boiling a pot of water and dropping it in. You should notice it open up. If it does not, or it struggles, replace it. Based on mileage, I'd personally replace it anyway. I picked up one from Nissan for around $24.

If all of the above checks out, and you are still experiencing these problems, it may be time to take it in to have it inspected in greater detail.

What year is your Z, and how many miles?