I removed my engine cover today and dropped one of the rubber grommets into where the oil goes. I would have taken that filler neck off to try and get it, but the Nissan dealer is now looking at my car because my radiator decided to start spraying my engine down. They looked at it and said that something went through my radiator? I don't see how that is possible becuase the front of the radiator has no holes. I hope this is covered under warranty..........they said that they would try to retrieve the grommet for me....but no mention of charging me for it. Now I have no car and need to be at work in 3 hours!!!!

 

 

Did you drive the car or crank it after the grommet fell into "where the oil goes" If so, you could have some major engine damage.

 

DUDE! If you didnt find the grommet, why would you turn your car on!? You can't just drop things into your engine and close it up and not think there wont be any prolems! wow... hopefully you wont have to pay for it, but I am not sure "grommet falling into where the oil goes" is covered under warranty. Eeeeesh.

 

Hahahaha.......I didn't start the car afterwards.....had to push it around to be flatbedded to Nissan. I'm crazy sometimes....but geezz! Give me some credit here!! Anyway, I am not expecting them to find the grommet for free......but the radiator? They think it was punctured from the outside while driving, but there is no hole in the front. It is only on the inside behind one of the fans. I wonder what would have caused the puncture? Hopefully, the radiator will be covered by Nissan under warranty. I'll find out in a few hours!!

 

Doh!
Good luck man, let us know how did it turn out.

 

wow, sounds like one helluva day.

 

I bett the damage was done to the radiator when they winched it up on the flatbed

 

I would hae substituted the adjectives BIG and HUGE with a single, more subtle offering: Enormous

Hope things turn out well for you...

 

OK......been busy this morning........both good and bad news. First the bad.......radiator hole is so big you can put you finger in it!!! I called my insurance and they covered it under comprehensive (minus 200 deductable). Good news......as mentioned, insurance is helping......and about the rubber grommet: They put some sort of camera thing down there with prongs and pulled it out. Luckily, it didn't fall down very far and they easily retrieved it. I need to invent some sort of cover for that thing other than my NISMO cover......a small cap or something.....or I could jsut be more careful. Anyways, good news for me. The radiator is on order and goingin tomorrow morning. For you Northern CA guys, Folsom Nissan has been very helpful, despite my mods. They like to see my car.......just not when it's broken.

I'm off to work now. Talk to ya'll later and thanks for the advice.

 

one nice thing that fits in the filler neck would be the stock, factory oil cap.

There is no reason why it has to be removed in order to remove the engine cover.

 

Folsom Nissan were friiggin biatches to me. They lied and lied and lied, i almost went back and water ballooned the place. Roseville is worse though. BTW, i live in Folsom.

 

how long ago did you put in your ur pulleys?

just wondering that when you did if by accident you hit the radiator with the torque wrench and if that happened you might have "slightly stressed it" so that a short time later it blew that hole open!

good luck on the cost!

 

Funny you should ask that beause that is the first thing that came out of the dealers comments, "you did have pulleys put in and whoever put them in could have dammaged something." I installed them myself and didn't even come close to hitting the radiator. The pulley install was actually easy. I'm wondering if Gamboa's body shop damaged the radiator removing/ installing my bumper when bodywork was being done? It's a tremendous coincidence that the very day I drive my car home after 44 days of bodywork the radiator springs a leak???? Anyway, the problem is bein fixed and it's only costing me $200 out of pocket. Not too bad in my book. It's pissing me off that this occured now as opposed to about a month from now when I have more money......I would have just installed the NISMO radiator!! Oh well, I'll just put that on the bottom of my list for now.

 

I would of gave you a ride Steve, sorry I read this late, email me next time. Sorry to hear about the radiator, I agree the tow truck probably did it those guys can be brutal with those hooks if you don't watch em careful and they are not the sharpest knives in the drawer (no offense to any members here who drive tow trucks I am sure there are exceptions!)

 

Thanks for the offer.....the radiator was damamged prior to the tow truck arrival. I know about their "abilities". I watch them very carefully, especially with the S-Tune installed and my shiny NISMO exhaust just waiting to get scraped up.

Anyway, I'll hopefully get my car back tomorrow. Going to Monterey and Hearst Castle for a few days and wanted the NAV for the trip. Funny how you spend so much $$ for something and every time you need it, it just isn't available!! I use the NAV a lot when travelling to the bay area, but would like it for this trip also. Could be worse, however, could be spending lots of $$ on some damn radiator. I'm going to install one of those mesh screens to protect my radiator from now on. I should get my CF NISMO kit next week and will install the mesh onto that also.

Just got home from work and I'm tired.......boring uneventful night.

 

ouch.. that must've sucked


call a friend to get u to work

 

Holy crap. Me and a friend managed to drop one of the metal washer type things on the bottom of the engine cover into the exact same place. Didnt want to say anything because i felt like a complete idiot haha. Spent the better part of a day taking apart the engine to get the damn thing out. I feel for you though

 

What was the body work for? I hope it wasn't an accident, your car may be jinxed!

 

I would honestly not be overly concerned - if its just the rubbr grommet and not the brass inner fittin,g it is long since melted by now, and I would veture to say you will have no ill effects whatsoever.

To be on teh safe side, I would let the car sit for a day or two, drain the oil, and who knows - some pieces of it might come out.

It's just rubber, not metal, so I would not really get **** about it

As for the car and its coolant spew, its usually due to pressure, so might want to check for cripped hoses, a blockage, or head gasket damage, or the fans not kicking on when they should (stuck thermo, bad switch, etc)