P0217-Engine Overheat Condition

[Nate5452]

So I recently had the help of the forum to fix my other service engine light (P1145). Thank you very much seemed to work well.

Then about a week later another light came on...Drove on it for a week or two (I thought it might of been the solinoid issue) about 2 weeks later my temp gauge started rising. I was scared that it was going to go too high and I turned the heat on which brought the temperature down to normal.

I notice the overtemp condition usually happens approximetly 15-20 minutes into my 35 minute drive to work (doing approx 65)

Monday I took it into auto zone and they pulled the P0217 Code and I was going to take it to the shop on wednesday to get it looked at. On Tuesday the light goes out (bulb/light is still good).

Today they could not recreate the overtemp condition said everything was fine with my coolant, no issues there. Possible water pump issue but they couldn't be sure so they didn't want to replace it, especially if they could not recreate the overtemp.

Driving home I decided to just let it go. See how high I could get the temp without turning the heat on. It actually stopped just below the 2/3rds hard line (the line just below the HOT Line) With just some minor variations wether I was stopped in traffic or moving.

Can anyone help me out. According to the autozone ticket here are the possible causes.

1.Low Coolant Level (auto shop said it was fine)2.Defective Thermostat3.Defective ECT (Engine Coolant Temperature) Sensor4. Mechanical engine damage-head gasket, water pump, etc (no smoke or steam comming from the car)

Sorry for the long post, but this issue is perplexing me.

ThanksNate

[02pathy]

what color was your coolant?i doubt the thermostat unless its not a fail safecould be air in the system, when last was coolant changed?look for deposits (calcium or lime buildup) in the coolant with engine coollook at the weep hole for the water pump, listen for n e weird noisescould of been a blockage in thee system

[Chuck Tribolet]

What year?

Are the variations that it goes up at a stop light and down when moving or theother way round? If the former, be thinking fan problem (fan clutch? slipping belt?). If the latter, be thinking coolant problem (radiator, low coolant, blockage).

Also, I think it has to get pretty hot to throw the Engine Overheat code. Above2/3s

The FSM has a bunch of things to check for P0217. It reminded me of one thathit me once: retrarded spark. I'd just dropped the rebuilt engine into my latewife's '68 Firebird 400 ragtop, and it overheated after about five minutes atidle.

[Nate5452]

its a 2001. I trust the place i take the car to. I took it again this morning when it was running hot, and personally talk to the guy and he said he check the coolant quality and levels yesturday, no air either. he said it could be a sensor, but because there not a nissan dealer it would be better to take it to them

Anyway I would like to do it myself but there isnt much info on these sensors as there was for my P1145 issue.

thanksNate

[Nate5452]

Well I guess I start by replacing the sensor or thermostat. Can anyone help me out with part number and location of where they are.

ThanksNate

[Chuck Tribolet]

Thermostat is on the front of the left side of the engine. You replace boththe stat itself and the housing (good idea, most cars I've ever worked on thehousing was all corroded, though there's less of dissimilar metals problemwith the Aluminium block. You gotta pull the radiator I remember. Get the FSMand follow the directions. The bolts are fiddly to get in I remember.

From the FSM, it looks like the sensor is on the right side of engine, towards the back.

Can't help with the part numbers. Be sure to get a gasket for the thermostat.

[W O T]

Cant really help you but I thought Id say one thing.

When you know youre car is overheating, dont TRY and get it to overheat by not turning the heat on just for the sake of seeing how high it will go. Do you have any idea how much $$$ you would be looking at if you popped the headgasket and warped the head?

20+ hour ticket at a shop. Please dont try that test again lol, overheating is SERIOUS and causes SERIOUS problems

[ominouspride]

Got the same code yesterday. I was going up a steep hill and took the transmission of overdrive, once i got to the top, i put the O/D back on and I got the code. I also noticed that my temp gauge was high. About 3/4 of the way to the top. So I quickly turned on the heater on high and drove that way all the way home in the 100 degree weather.

Nate5452 please let me know if changing the termostat and sensor helped.

[W O T]

Turning on the heater isnt the end all fail safe if yout temperature gauge goes up people

If it gets that freakin high

Turn the freaking car OFF!!!! let it cool, THEN drive home on witht he heat on if you have to. Heatsoak doesnt just disappear magically when you turn your heater on, s*** can still get severly damaged

[Chuck Tribolet]

Under normal circumstances, the temp gauge shouldn't go above half way.If it starts going above that, it's an indication of a a problem that will likelyonly get worse, esp. as the weather gets warmer. Note: climbing a hill witha trailer on a hot day is a NORMAL circumstance. It's within the operatingparameters in the owner's manual. I've gone up some big hot hills with a2000 pound trailer, 400 pounds of dive gear, and a passenger, and theneedle never wiggled.

If you catch the temp starting to go up, turning the heater on makes sense.That happened to me. A mile and a half from home, at the end of a 12 hourdrive in temps ranging from 103 to 109. It got home without hitting fullhot. Now, if it's already full hot, yep, pull over, pop the hood, and wait.

Ominouspride: what was your speed going up the hill? What was your load?AC on? Automatic or stick shift?

That's useful info in debugging the problem (high speed overheat is unlikelyto be the fan or fan clutch.)

[Nate5452]

Ok.. So I took it to the dealer cause I didn't want to deal with it anymore. They Fixed the issues. My Radiator was clogged and I also needed a new thermostat. They gave me an aftermarket radiator though, but since I have over 120,000 miles on it. I said aftermarket was ok. Total cost was 1000.00. I did not shop around and the place i went to seemed a little high even for a 120,000 mile tune up. Was going to charge me another 1000.00 for that and I said no thank you.

hope this helpsNate

[ominouspride]

I was running up the hill at about 75-80 MPH. The Path is Auto and I wasn't towing anything. The AC wasn't on but I had the fan on econ.