SMELLING ANTIFREEZE??

[govols0511]

Hello...

I'm wondering if anyone has been having the issue of smelling antifreeze in their Murano? It's not real strong and isn't constant, but it is there. There have been some posts about it, but no real conclusions. I don't want to wind up with engine failure down the road. Thanks for any info.

Doug2009 LE AWD

[Timmbo]

Hello...

I'm wondering if anyone has been having the issue of smelling antifreeze in their Murano? It's not real strong and isn't constant, but it is there. There have been some posts about it, but no real conclusions. I don't want to wind up with engine failure down the road. Thanks for any info.

Doug2009 LE AWD

That is strange, I really have not heard of this happening very often. Since it is under warranty I would call the dealer and have them check things out.

[govols0511]

Thanks for the reply--I had seen here someone else had posted something related to antifreeze, they took it to the dealer after after many visits, it came down to a head gasket issue? I think I'm remembering that right. Anyway, my dealer is of course clueless as they all seem to be unless the issue is obvious. I was just hoping that if it's a common problem, that maybe the solution will be spread throughout the Nissan community.

Doug

[Desert Rat]

Mine is developing this. I looked around and found a hairline crack and a minute leak in the coolant overflow tank that was allowing a small bit of coolant to dribble down onto hot surfaces.

[KJSmitty]

Hello...

I'm wondering if anyone has been having the issue of smelling antifreeze in their Murano? It's not real strong and isn't constant, but it is there. There have been some posts about it, but no real conclusions. I don't want to wind up with engine failure down the road. Thanks for any info.

Doug2009 LE AWD

Hi Doug,

I was one of the initial posters of this topic. My wifes 09 LE, purchased in 08, has had the smell since the first week. I have never found nor seen a leak yet the coolant level does drop very slowly over time.

Is your smell more prevalent on the drivers side? This seems to be the case with those that have the leak. A few stated it was the rear head-gasket seeping down onto the transmission.

I too notified my dealership early on yet they could not find anything via sight and a pressure check resulted in no leak down... They said they couldn't smell it of course. JUST make sure you get your complaint documented on a work order! I was a Nissan Tech for many years and I know an antifreeze leak when I smell it. This one is obviously out of sight and the liquid is evaporating prior to ever coming visible or hitting the ground.

Troubling, yet my wife is approaching 20K miles on her 09 and the smell and/or illusive leak doesn't seem to have changed or effected performance. I do believe this will be a larger issue down the road both for customers and Nissan.....

Keep us posted on yours

[govols0511]

I'll take a look--thanks for the info!

[govols0511]

Thanks very much for the info--I think your original post was the one that caught my attention. I'll try to get it to the dealer for documentation--it's a pain in the a$% though as it's kind of far away. I too think that it will be an issue down the road. Good luck to you!

Doug

[smilygo]

My Muano, 2009 S, purchased in September this year has the same issue. Not every time, but after heavy stop and go drving, I smell anti-freeze. I asked Sarvice manager to check during the initial service at 3750miles. He says his mechanic didn't find any issues. The problem is that it is not all the time. No loss of anti-freeze. Very strange.

[riderman]

My 09 Murano has this issue as well. My Wife works for Nissan and has taken it in twice. The Technicians could smell it, but they could not find a leak. Sometimes when she puls it into the garage, you can smell it pretty strong, but no leaks are obvious. Untill I read this post, I thought our Murano was the only one with this problem.

Rich

[govols0511]

Thanks for the info...seems like it's somewhat of a prevalent issue. Please let me know if you have any updates and I'll do the same!!

Doug

[monoptn]

I've got the same issue on my 09 with 27,000 miles - coolant smell with no obvious leaks. I'm taking it to the dealer in the morning.

[govols0511]

Let me know what they say please! Thanks

[monoptn]

My wife picked it up, and said they had to order a part. She didn't remember what part it was! It should be in Wednesday/Thursday, so I'll find out when I take it back in.

[monoptn]

The dealer pressure tested my Murano, and found the culprit to be a seeping head gasket. It will be covered under warranty, of course.

[shrice]

The dealer pressure tested my Murano, and found the culprit to be a seeping head gasket. It will be covered under warranty, of course.

[govols0511]

That's great news! This has been bugging me for months now, again, let me know if your fix works. I'm going to take mine to the dealer but it's a bit of a drive and I'd love to have a solution to present to them!

Thanks again

Doug

[shrice]

.................ours too. Slight antifreeze odor after stopping the warmed up engine. No leaks visible, but the odor is there for a short while.

[govols0511]

Just a thought...since this seems to be such a prevalent problem, maybe you could mention to your dealer (after a successful fix) to contact Nissan...and Nissan might be nice enough to put out some kind of memo to all their dealers nation wide??

[KJSmitty]

Just a thought...since this seems to be such a prevalent problem, maybe you could mention to your dealer (after a successful fix) to contact Nissan...and Nissan might be nice enough to put out some kind of memo to all their dealers nation wide??

My educated guess: Thats exactly what Nissan will be trying to avoid. A "prevalent" leaking head gasket could easily turn into a safety recall for their superb V6...

The only good thing would be if it's contained to a specific group of serial numbers and/or lot of bad head-gaskets. It could even be a lot of poorly assembled engines..

Time will tell.

I'd like to know what the process is for getting the aft head removed etc. I wonder if they pull from the top or come in from the bottom after removing the transmission...

Let us know how your dealer does.

Good luck.

[72nismo]

I have a 2006 Murano and I also had the antifreeze smell took to dealer and same thing they couldn't find the problem. This was a year ago or so. 'i just recently smelled it again.I will wait and see what "monoptn" comes back with after the repair work is done.

[govols0511]

Any new news on this?? Were they able to fix it?

[monoptn]

The car is in the shop for a couple of days. Apparently they have to drop the motor out to change out the head gaskets. I'll probably get the car back Thursday or Friday. I'll give you a full report then.

If you have a Murano under warranty with an antifreeze smell, I'd suggest that you ask the dealer to pressure test the system and look for seepage around the head gaskets.

If you have a Murano out of warranty with an antifreeze smell, I'd say try to get used to the smell of antifreeze : )

[monoptn]

Warped cylinder head. Had to order a new one. No Murano for a few more days.

[govols0511]

Wow--seems rather serious. Keep us informed...are you confident that they will have your car back to it's original state? I wonder what the ramifications are of not having this issue addressed?

Doug

[roadrunner70]

I have a 2003 Murano which had the coolant smell. They never did find it. Tht car now has 80,000 miles on it and it runs great. eventually, the coolant smell went away.

I also purchased new, a 2008 3.5 altima coupe and it has the smell and there is a small but noticeable loss of coolant in the overflow tank.

My neighbor's 2007 3.5 altima sedan also has the coolant smell, which I noticed when he stopped in the street to talk with me. I know he hasn't brought it in for service.

I decided to do a search today on the web and found this message board thread. My concern with letting them try and fix it, presuming that the dealer acknowledges that there is something to fix, is that perhaps the old saying leave well enough alone applies here. Especially since this seems to be a wide spread problem and it has not hurt the reliability of my 2003 murano.

What are others saying about this?

Thanks,RR70

[govols0511]

Thanks for the info! I'm wondering the same thing about just leaving it alone...if you read the other posts on the subject, one poster has had the issue diagnosed and Nissan is doing major engine work to fix...that scares me a bit. I'm mainly pissed because I have a $40K vehicle that has a defect--this is the 8th Nissan I've owned and the 2nd Murano, and the others have been perfect for the most part so this I believe is an aberration. I'm anxiously awaiting the outcome of the major engine work and hope that the dealer will notify Nissan--that may prompt a wide ranging solution...we'll see.

Doug2009 LE AWD

[riderman]

Well, had the 09 Murano checked for the third time today. The dealer found the leak this time. It is the head gasket in the back of the engine. 7-9 day's for parts and repair. The mechanic called tech support and I guess they formally aknowledged the issue with our car. It has 11,000 miles.

[roadrunner70]

thanks for following up. when you say the back of the engine, since the engine is mounted transversly, are you speaking of the rear part near the firewall, or the "rear" where it is mounted to the transmission? also, when you get the care repaired, can you please tell us what parts were used.

thanks, rr70
Modified by roadrunner70 at 3:08 PM 2/2/2010

[KJSmitty]

I have a 2003 Murano which had the coolant smell. They never did find it. Tht car now has 80,000 miles on it and it runs great. eventually, the coolant smell went away.

I also purchased new, a 2008 3.5 altima coupe and it has the smell and there is a small but noticeable loss of coolant in the overflow tank.

My neighbor's 2007 3.5 altima sedan also has the coolant smell, which I noticed when he stopped in the street to talk with me. I know he hasn't brought it in for service.

Well, if other Nissan (cars/years) 3.5's are having this issue it sounds to me like Nissan has a potentially large issue here. They will however keep it low key for as long as possible.

I too am hesitant however to have them tear into it....

[govols0511]

I called Nissan and reported this issue...would be awesome if as many of you as possible would report the same. Maybe we can get some action from Nissan corp??

Doug