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Mr. Luddite

On 6/2/2017 4:58 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 2 Jun 2017 07:09:21 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

Car is still at the dealership (since Tuesday morning). They told me
that the heater core was airlocked and they had drained the coolant,
purged and replaced it and thought it was fixed but when they tested it,
no heat again. Repeated the purging process without success. Still no
heat.

The service manager told me they have a call in to Nissan for assistance
in finding the problem.

I am going to go there later this morning and let them know what the
problem is.

When I picked up the car last Saturday evening and drove it home I
noticed a slight electrical burning odor coming from the engine
compartment. I noticed it again on Sunday but then it went away.
Didn't smell it again.

I informed the service manager of the odor when I brought it in on
Tuesday but they sorta brushed it off saying the car was new and it was
probably just things getting hot for the first time.

Maybe, but I know the difference between a new "hot" odor and an
electrical burning odor.

Anyway, after doing some Google "research" I discovered that there is a
motor driven coolant control valve in the engine compartment, mounted on
the firewall. When the climate control calls for heat, the motor opens
the valve, allowing coolant to flow through the heater core. When no
heat is called for or air conditioning is being used, it closes.

I think the valve was stuck or jammed shut from the factory. When the
little motor tried to open it, it first overheated and eventually burnt
out which accounts for the electrical burning odor that then went away.
It also accounts for no heat, obviously.

Need to be diplomatic though. Sometimes you can **** people off by
trying to be helpful, especially when *they* are supposed to be the experts.

You sound right to me. That "air lock" thing is BS unless the plumbing
to the heater core is radically different than any car I have ever
seen.

We'll see. As I've mentioned in other posts the delay in fixing it is
because they have to get authorization from Nissan to do anything other
than what is in the standard, recommended repair instruction for a given
problem. The dealership won't be compensated for a warranty repair
otherwise.

After 15 days it will be subject to Massachusetts Lemon Law issues. I
don't expect that nor do I want it but it becomes an option at that
point. The other Lemon Law qualifier is an attempt to fix a problem 3
times on 3 different occasions.

Back in 1997 I bought a new Dodge Ram pickup from the same dealership.
I soon discovered that at exactly 42 mph it started to buck and hop as
if I was pulling a heavy trailer. I took it back and initially they did
the "cannot duplicate problem" response until I took the service manager
for a ride and demonstrated it. He agreed something was wrong and they
tore the engine apart looking for something in the troubleshooting
section of the Dodge service manual. Reassembled the engine and the
"hop" was still there. They finally contacted the regional Dodge rep
who came out and took a ride with me as I demonstrated the problem. He
acknowledged that there was definitely something wrong and said he'd
report back to Dodge about it. He said that in the meantime I could go
back to the dealer and pick out a new truck.

He then called me and asked if I'd be willing to allow them to try one
more thing. I said sure. They replaced the whole rear end of the
truck, complete with axle, differential, wheels, ... the whole thing.
Hop was now gone. A month later they sent me a letter. The original
rear end had been inspected by Dodge and the problem turned out to be a
faulty limited slip differential.