So this is going to be a long story but, basically I was on my way to work today and about 2 minutes from arriving i started smelling this nasty smell almost like being behind a garbage truck. When I got to work with the car off the outside of the car still smelled like it, especially near the front drivers side of the car. I asked a few other people what they thought it was, I originally thought it was a dead animal i hit such as a skunk, some people thought it smelled like a dead animal others said it smelled like something mechanical. Well I open the hood and dont notice anything suspicious but I did see that my coolant reservoir was extremely close to empty. I eventually opened up the radiator cap and noticed that there was water almost to the top of the radiator so I wasnt super worried but decided I should take the car to Nissan at lunch. I asked them to see if they could figure out the smell as well as do a coolant flush (I never got it done and have 73k miles on the car). They couldnt find the source of the smell and did the coolant flush and so when I left the dealer the coolant was at about a cm above the MAX line. I just went outside and noticed that the level is only about 1/4 inch above the MAX line. SHould I be worried that there may be a leak somewhere? I dont see any leaks and my friend told me that right after a flush there are air bubbles which would be filled in and make the coolant level go down for a couple of days.....I am just kinda worried thats all......When they did the flush they pressurize the system and they said they didnt see or notice anything leaking so I prolly am worried too much. What do you guys think??

 

Just watch your coolant levels. You would know if you were buring coolant by the smoke that would come out of the exhaust and the smell of burning coolant. Just check your levels and keep on the look out for leaks.

 

Isn't 1 cm rough about the same as 1/4 inch... are you trying to say that when you arrived home, the coolant level was 1/4inch about MIN line?

 

Yes.

The motor does not use coolant, nor does it evaporate: it is a closed system. When cold, mark a line on the reservoir with a black grease pencil. Drive the car. Allow to cool. Does the coolant level match the mark? If no than the car is leaking coolant (either internally or externally). Both are serious problems.

 

actually it is more than 1/4 inch LOL.

 

u worrying to much

 

So I noticed today (35 degrees outside which is colder than its been in the last few days since this episode happened) that the coolant level is at around a 1/4 inch to a CM below the MAX line. Lets say it is 35 degrees one morning and 60 degrees another morning, would the level of coolant in the reservoir be different due to the outside temperatures??? Im starting to really worry now ebcause when the car was cool wednesday night the level was at the MAX line and now its below it.....

 

you said that you had the dealer do a flush, correct? Some times with the VQ35 there ends up being air pockets.