High Mileage Road Trip Reliability

[x2002Qx4x]

So I am planning on taking my car (2002 Qx4) on a summer road trip in a couple weeks, it has 220xxx on it. Tried this last summer and somehow ended up blowing out a grommet down in the engine bay where coolant leaked out, spent the whole time fixing that. Has anyone else taken their high mileage pathy or Qx4 on longer road trips? Wondering if it was a freak thing that happened, don't want a repeat of that. It's always been reliable in shorter distances but not sure about 400+ miles. Any help or other success stories much appreciated!

[QCtech]

No story here will be able to give you assurance if your car will hold a long trip, other than just mentally calm you down. We dont know what maintenance you have done to your car, or the previous owner. Mine have 270K and is going strong, but I recently dropped the oil pan and saw how everything looked inside. If you want to make sure , make a cylinder compression check, and also check your oil system that is working properly and your IAV to make sure it is clean. Check how your spark plugs are firing and make sure you have no leaks of any kind. Was there a specific reason your car blow up a grommet in the coolant system? Did you check if you had corrosion into the coolant system or if it was stuck? Did you flush it? Are all your temperatures running smoothly at the present? All this will give you a better idea. Anyone here could tell you go on and do your trip, but others experience and maintenance will always be different than yours. You need hard data and that can only come from you checking your systems properly before the trip. Hope this helps.

[x2002Qx4x]

Actually, just before this a ton of work was done. I replaced the radiator, all coolant hoses except for two (including the water control valve in the back and hoses there that seem to be common issues). Water pump and thermostat was replaced along with all of those things. Oil system is all good and has been checked, spark plugs have been checked and are good, IAV is clean. Air filter is good, the only leak is a minor oil leak, transmission is strong, coolant levels are good now too.

Really only explanation I had was that I was running too much water and it was too hot outside. 100+ degrees and humid after 5 hours of highway driving, noticed the temp gauge a little high and pulled over. Waited a couple minutes and uncapped the radiator, no water came out only steam and there was nothing in the radiator Tried to put more water in after another couple minutes and it immediately turned to steam. After that I began checking the system again and found the burst grommet. Not sure if the water and re-capping the radiator caused that to happen or what, assuming it just got too hot and because it was mostly water it boiled over and the steam burst it, but not 100% positive. This car has been extremely well taken care of its whole life, we are original owners bought it brand new in 2001.

[nickelghandi]

Well I have only about 145k on mine, but I have been through a transmission already. It has the towing package and had badly worn rear suspension components when I bought it so I figured the PO did some towing that may have been outside the range of this vehicle. I replaced the trans, and added an auxiliary cooler to bypass the radiator. These are bulletproof vehicles if you aren't too mean to them. The biggest things are as QCtech said, compression, oil, transmission and cooling. If you mixed the coolant yourself, it is possible that you had too much water and it boiled over and blew past the grommet. Otherwise you could have a blockage somewhere, but that seems unlikely because you have replaced pretty much the entire cooling system.

When I first got my '04 it had a stuck open thermostat causing it to run too cold. I replaced it with a cheap autozone generic reman due to being a teenager in college and it has always run about 210-215 Fahrenheit no matter the time of year or whether AC is on or off. I figure the cheap thermostat is not opening as it should or perhaps my pump is weakening. If you went cheap on the thermostat that could be your problem too.

These are what I would ask myself before a long road trip:

Absolutely Essential:

How did the coolant look when you drained it initially? Was it clean or dirty?

How does the oil look/smell?

How does the trans fluid look/smell?

If you run a magnet through drained oil and transmission fluid, do you pick up much metal?

Not Essential, but Still Important:

Does the AC function as it should?

Has the cabin air filter (if applicable) been changed?

Do all lights work properly?

Is the battery more than 5 years old?

Has the alternator been tested?


I realize I have only a little over half your mileage, but I still check these things before heading out for more than a day or over 300 miles. I frequently go to areas with little or no cell signal and a very long walk to any sort of service station so I am a little cautious with certain things.

These engines usually last a long time. Nissans are famous for the car rusting around the engine, but the engine still going strong. If you have taken care of it as you say and do the proper checks, you should have no worries about taking it on a long trip.

[x2002Qx4x]

Yes all of these things have been fine and are checked frequently. Thermostat may be part of the problem because it was just from autozone...it has been a mystery to me how that happened last summer, but was definitely running mostly water in the heat of the summer so that was probably some of it.

These cars are beasts and are so much fun, lucky yours has so little miles on it. Thanks for the help!

[RR425]

About 6000 miles to the arctic ocean and back on my 01 with 155,000 miles. If it is maintained well should not have any problems.

[nickelghandi]

x2002Qx4x I am lucky to be lower mileage, but the previous owner treated this thing like trash. I had a bunch of issues to deal with shortly after buying and as I tore things apart to get access I found some pretty disgusting messes that I'll not share here, but you can imagine.

You are lucky to have owned it since new. It will reward you for taking good care of it.

RR425 I just rediscovered your Arctic Trip thread. I never saw how that panned out until today, but was excited to hear about it originally. I am glad you got to do it and that it worked out so well for you!