On friday i went to pay a the loan on the car during lunch and when i left the bank i noticed a bunch of coolant was leaking out of my car. I went jumped in it and hurried back to work. Took the cover off and ALL of my coolant leaked :/ I added water and it all leaked out in about an hour.

Called the infiniti dealership and scheduled an appointment right after work and because i have warrenty
after work took them a hour and they came back saying it was a busted radiator.

I called them today and they said ill also need to replace the thermostat. Said it is qouted at 440 for the 5.6 but because everything is already torn apart they will do it for 190.

Anybody has stories about they radiator just randomly cracking? I had no issues up to friday at all it never leaked or nothing always been kept up on maintenance.

Also, Do i need the thermostat? or if so is 190 too much or a good price considering plus labor

That's usually what happens to em. They get sediment in there and crack. You might have stressed it due to going out at lunch when the day has peak temps, etc.

I don't get why you have to pay if you have warranty. Is it not covered? 190 for parts & labor on thermostat? Seems like a good price to me.

the radiator and coolant is covered under warranty but i still have $100 deductible , they said thermostat not covered because it is a maintenance item apparently

but oh okay great! wasn't sure because i couldn't find original oem pricing for the 5.6 one, i know the 3.7 one is relatively cheap

When replacing a radiator, I usually replace the thermostat, the fluid and the radiator cap. I also inspect the hoses and replace any of those as needed. I think it is worth the cost.

Oleg92 wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 20, 2020 7:27 pm

... i couldn't find original oem pricing for the 5.6 one, i know the 3.7 one is relatively cheap

RE: thermostat
The part costs between 20-30 bucks. The current part number is 21200-1LA1A and is the same thermostat that is used in all Nissan/Infiniti V8s since 2002 - M, Q, FX, QX etc

And I didn't catch what your mileage is, but generally it is an accepted fact that Nissan radiators will fail. Rarely have I seen the plastic-metal crimp come loose, but often I see a crack in the plastic.
I've had vehicles go way over 200k miles on the original radiator (313k on one), but I've also had a few others fail on me at 160k.

Since the system is empty anyway, I usually view such misfortunes as good opportunities to address the thermostat among other drain-your-coolant type of maintenance.
I'd flush the heater core while at it.

EdBwoy wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 20, 2020 10:00 pm

Oleg92 wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 20, 2020 7:27 pm

... i couldn't find original oem pricing for the 5.6 one, i know the 3.7 one is relatively cheap

RE: thermostat
The part costs between 20-30 bucks. The current part number is 21200-1LA1A and is the same thermostat that is used in all Nissan/Infiniti V8s since 2002 - M, Q, FX, QX etc

And I didn't catch what your mileage is, but generally it is an accepted fact that Nissan radiators will fail. Rarely have I seen the plastic-metal crimp come loose, but often I see a crack in the plastic.
I've had vehicles go way over 200k miles on the original radiator (313k on one), but I've also had a few others fail on me at 160k.

Since the system is empty anyway, I usually view such misfortunes as good opportunities to address the thermostat among other drain-your-coolant type of maintenance.
I'd flush the heater core while at it.

Did you ever figure out why the water outlet/thermostat housing gets all that blue corrosion crap all over it?
P/N: 11060-1MC0A

Hmmm, didn't realize thermostat is a 'maintenance item'. I guess if the car had 70k on it I would warranty it but if the car had 170 on it then yet (but by then you don't have a warranty anyway). I'm on my original and my car is approaching 130kmi.

I had the exact same thing happen. I took the kids to GameStop and noticed the fluid under the car. Since it's been a trouble free car, I figured that it was there when I parked and is from the previous parking spot occupant. Heading home the car went into limp mode and I pulled over to let it cool off. My wife brought a couple gallons of water and I got it to my mechanic. Since I'm out of warranty, it was a $2k deal. I also replaced the rad, hoses, cap, thermostat, and went ahead and replaced the belt as well. Not bad for all that work but I would have liked the warranty for sure!

I have owned several cars in the past and I never had this happen to me. so I have no insight on the issue. 2k sounds about right including labor based on what my bill is. thank god for warrenty

and Ilya I do have 70k. 72k to be exact. I purchased the car with 68k so it hasn't been a while. maybe the radiator and thermostat was already bad in the bad but I haven't seen any leaks at all until I went to the bank. if it helps it was about 100 degrees lol so I'm sure that messed things up further

So update :


Got my car back today and ive got several issues.

One, i looked into my warrenty leaflet and i do indeed have the coverage for a thermostat so im not sure what that was about. I shouldnt of paid a dime for it.
They said warrenty refused but it make zero sense why they will refuse a part thats covered under them....

Also i looked at the repair notes and found out they cracked my engine cover... Said on the paper they order another part for me for no charge, however the service guy completely forgot to tell me that. Plus they scratched my wheel paint a tad too while removing the tires.

also the car feels even laggier now on acceleration.

The positive notes was the 2020 QX50 they loaned me for 5 days and the nice detailing they did on the outside.

anybody else ever dealt with a denied coverage for a part that states clearly in the warrenty agreement that should be replaced ?

Yoda's Master wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 21, 2020 1:16 am

...
Did you ever figure out why the water outlet/thermostat housing gets all that blue corrosion crap all over it?
P/N: 11060-1MC0A

I could not identify that as a common issue to other owners. Even in my case, I had only seen it in only 1 engine out of the number that I have had close contact with.
If chalk it up to improper re-installation perhaps during the timing chain repair. I cleaned it, and reseated it and I have not had any further issues.
Coolant leaks are like that, they always grow due to the precipitation (chemistry definition) of salts at the leak location. Get to them before they deform the rubber hoses or chew into the aluminum.

EdBwoy wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 24, 2020 1:24 pm

Yoda's Master wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 21, 2020 1:16 am

...
Did you ever figure out why the water outlet/thermostat housing gets all that blue corrosion crap all over it?
P/N: 11060-1MC0A

I could not identify that as a common issue to other owners. Even in my case, I had only seen it in only 1 engine out of the number that I have had close contact with.
If chalk it up to improper re-installation perhaps during the timing chain repair. I cleaned it, and reseated it and I have not had any further issues.
Coolant leaks are like that, they always grow due to the precipitation (chemistry definition) of salts at the leak location. Get to them before they deform the rubber hoses or chew into the aluminum.

Maybe that's why mine is also crusty.

Oleg92 wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 23, 2020 5:03 pm

So update :


Got my car back today and ive got several issues.

One, i looked into my warrenty leaflet and i do indeed have the coverage for a thermostat so im not sure what that was about. I shouldnt of paid a dime for it.
They said warrenty refused but it make zero sense why they will refuse a part thats covered under them....

Also i looked at the repair notes and found out they cracked my engine cover... Said on the paper they order another part for me for no charge, however the service guy completely forgot to tell me that. Plus they scratched my wheel paint a tad too while removing the tires.

also the car feels even laggier now on acceleration.

The positive notes was the 2020 QX50 they loaned me for 5 days and the nice detailing they did on the outside.

anybody else ever dealt with a denied coverage for a part that states clearly in the warrenty agreement that should be replaced ?

I would be showing them the leaflet, IMO. Engine cover as in the plastic one? Wheel will be hard to prove...

I dont really care about the wheels, its only on two of them and they are very minor so i will just touch it up with a oil based black pen.

But yeah they advised me to talk to the service manager so i will have to take a half day off work to make that possible.

I am also thinking about just calling the warrenty company myself and asking them whats up.


As far as the thermostat they replied and said it was not approved because there was not engine codes. whats a load of bs

Good thing to replace the thermostat now rather than waiting for it to go bad. If it goes bad, then the engine overheats and a lot more damage would occur.

Wondering why they didn't recommend a water pump too? They are right there and easy to get to with the radiator out.

Oh well, good thing they covered the radiator and labor to replace it.

I will get a copy of the repair bill next time im there and update here

So Oleg, what was the ultimate outcome?

Final outcome was that i went there again with my leaflet and they s*** me around and told me they didnt say it was bad but rather a recommendation.

I remember clearly them staying it needs to be replaced as well, not recommended to do so.

Anyways, based on what their said if said part does not bring up any codes, they will not cover jack s***.

Cant argue with them, its not entirely their fault but the warrenty company. The sad part is they didnt even give me any compensation like a free oil change.

Its fine, overall i cant be too mad. it cost me $290 to replace the radiator, thermostat and everything that involves in it ( fluid, screws ) [100 deductible + 190 thermostat ]

I sold my used cracked engine cover for about 80 bucks so i recouped some there. Final thoughts, not the end of the world lol

Hey Oleg, glad to hear you're back up and running! Just curious, what warranty do you have? My '16 Q70L 5.6 has 65k miles on it and my local Infiniti dealer quoted me about $4800 for the Infiniti Elite extended warranty. Not sure what I'm going to do. Thanks