I saw a maxima today.

[Jesda]

My friend's step daughter is in need of a cheap used car. She really likes the older Maxima's like the 1989-1994.

She is going to college and can't afford much more than around 2 grand.

She found a 1990 Maxima with 150k miles on it. It is a 5spd with all the options (except for leather). It runs great and felt great except for 2 things.

THe radiator sprung a leak about 2 weeks ago (according to the current owner) right at the mounting point for the radiator. They removed the mounting bracket and then put some sort of clay/jb weld stuff all around the hole and patched it. SO it needs a radiator as soon as she gets the car. Now the other issue is something that could be related, the car doesn't blow HOT air when its fully warmed up. It only appears to blow warm air even though the car is fully warmed up. The top radiator hose is very hot to the touch. Just lukewarm air coming from the vents.

Could this be all related? The air not purged out of the system when the patch was put on? If this could be a problem with the thermostat, is this an easy thermostat to replace?

Thanks..

[groundhogday1976]

http://www.radiators.com has an oe replacement for $120. As far as the heater issue, it could be related to the radiator, or a thermostat issue, or a number of things. Replacing the thermostat is pretty cheap, and might as well replace the water pump while that's being done. The radiator, thermostat, and water pump could probably all be bought for under $200, plus the cost of labor.

[Altiman94]

or a bad heatercore.

[Mr1der]

yeah, I was about to say a bad heater core too, that can also cause problems with the cooling system too if my dumb *** can remember right...

[Jeff Williams]

I would say check for water leaks inside the car, to be sure the core is not leaking.

It could be plugged.

I agree, do a system flush, and replace the radiator, thermostat, and water pump.

My 1990 Maxima blew the heater core, the day I was taking it in to trade for a 1992 SE 5- Speed. The used car manager said "Oh Well", and still gave me the same trade-in price (which was $400 less than aI bought it for 2 years earlier, and 60,000 miles less!)

[krazy skwerel]

JB weld is A-OK. I have used it twice now on 2 different 240's. It holds and will continue to hold if it was put on right. SO I wouldn't think the JB weld has anything to do with it.

Note: The JB weld was put on the plastic top tank of the radiator. Can't comment on any other placement of it.