DaveT

The bubbles can be intermittent. Yes, the upper hose should be full of water always, hot or cold. The pressure inside the combustion chamber is many times higher than the 13lbs or so that the cooling system operates at. Gasses are a lot smaller than water molecules. The headgasket leaks I am talking about are tiny tiny gaps or channels. I've been through a number of these failures. I've seen tiny leaks - a slightly loose hose clamp, let's a drop or 2 of coolant out and it lands on the block and evaporates, leaving no trace. If the loss is not caught by checking often enough becomes big enough to over normal the temperature, it starts the process. If they system is intact, and sealed, and not going over temperature, eventually the air will work it's way out. I've had some where a tiny amount of air seems to hang around forever. Keep watching it closely. Make sure you find and check all of the several hoses in the cooling system. Check the weep hole on the water pump. Check the radiator where the tubes solder to the endplates, and everywhere else. I had one where coolant would seep out of the headgasket onto the block and evaporate. Sometimes the only way I ever found these slow leaks was the eventual build up of stuff drying out of the coolant water solution. I have driven engines with the slow leak for weeks or months before the failure progressed to the point of making it impossible to run without overheating.

Not sure which car you have. Technically, this question should be a new thread. All of the old gen spedometers o know of are 100% mechanical devices. Nothing electronic to solder. It sounds like yours is mechanically sticky. Yes, the cable is just barely long enough to get to the back.

If you use the stock wire and fusible link, the main risk is having nuisance fails of the link if some unexpected combinations of circumstances causes higher than stock draw from the alternator. Note - the fusing for the heavy alternator output wire has nothing to do with what loads you have in the car. It has everything to do with preventing the output wire from starting a fire if it should be shorted to ground [or other higher current draw over what is safe for the wire] while the alternator is running. Fuses are sized to protect the wiring. Conversely, if the alternator rectifier/s failed shorted, the link prevents the battery from starting a fire by melting the main feed wire/insulation. I almost burned my first car down due to an electrical fire because of less than ideal fuse placement, so I take this stuff seriously. Not the most likely sort of failure, but for those who don't have tons of experience to decide what risks to take, better to err on the side of caution when dealing with electricity.

The link isn't working for me. Sometimes those screws are so tight I had to use sharp vice grips to grab the head to make the first fraction of a turn to break them loose. Then they unscrew easily. Don't strip the heads with an old screwdriver.

there is a hole in the latch mech that you can poke a thin tool into to release it. It's way easier to figure out if you have another car right there to work it out on with the hood up. I think I got to it through the grill openings.

Get a working alternator now. Or regulator - not as familiar with that age. If the regulator is separate, it's probably the problem. That over voltage can kill stuff. Maybe old EA81 won't be as sensitive, not sure how much electronics are in those. But if nothing else, the light bulbs life will be shortened. Not good for the battery either, and the rectifiers are probably being pushed hard enough to not last long .. The altima mod is not a drop in. Modify pulley position. Add wiring and fuse big enough to carry the higher output current.

Slow leak caused low coolant. At some point, this will cause overheating, which usually causes headgasket failure. If it's mild, it can be a very small fail, leaking combustion gasses into the coolant system. Usually gets worse over time.

This 2 will get you check engine codes. I have to check my FSM, there are a few ohm readings for different temperatures in there.

It's very hard to tell they are bad by lookng at them. The tiny leaks that cause mild cross contamination are tiny. Don't show up with compression tests, coolant system pressure test, etc. Oh, sure when they are outright blown, you can usually see a damaged area. Theoretically, a tiny crack in a head or a block could cause similar cross contamination. From my experience, and what I've read, that would be rare.

Sounds more like CTS problem. Coolant Temperature Sensor. 2 wire sensor on the lower thermostat housing.

Best to check cold. No pressure from the expansion.

When it comes to engine questions, make sure you mention it's an EJ22. They are quite different in details than EA82.

I don't open the cap since it allows air in the system. Even if it's only the air that gets it the line to the recovery tank. Sharply pinch the upper hose, listen for gurgles and the jiggle pin. After a number of times you get to know what normal sounds like. Should be mostly water. And watch the level on the tank, should not be consistently raising or lowering every day. Search for small leaks.

Yeah I put anti seize on them also.

Get a jam nut I'd no bigger than the broken bolt. Weld it to the broken bolt. Tig torch in the the hole works good. Be quick. Once it stops glowing, unscrew it. The stress from the heat will weaken the grip of the corrosion.

Keep checking it. Before each drive. If it begins to behave normally, maybe Ok.

Oops! Glad you found the problem.

I had a CTS go bad, and make the idle speed nutty. Intermittent. No code, since the bogus readings were all inside the limits, just wrong. The CTS is the 2 wire sensor on the lower part of the thermostat housing.

If you have them weld on stainless flanges, and use stainless nuts & bolts, they come right apart.

initial high idle when very cold I've seen over 2000.

I did some more tracing to locate the always on part of the power supply. Starting to get the idea that there are 2 different versions / wiring pinouts for ECUs, between older GLs and Loyales possibly.

That is very different from what this thread is about. Loyale is the older generation. It is not a drop in bolt on at all. It has been done, it's a big project. Loyale stock engine is ea82. You need an adapter plate, and wiring harness from the newer legacy donor car. Most who have done this swap used a 2.2. Better reliability than 2.5. The EJ22 is already something like a 40% HP increase over an EA82.

Compressor cycling is normal. BUT It should only run in defrost and AC modes. It should not run in any other mode. Having a FSM schematic should help you. I think the switch that actuates the electric part of controlling the compressor is a micro switch that is mounted on the heater box. It gets activated by linkage moved by the vacuum motors when AC OR defrost is selected.

I'm not the GL 10 turbo expert, but I am not aware of anything in the gauge / cluster that could kill the engine. Lots of other sensor / electrical things could. They all just need to be gone through to rule out.

If the idle air valve is stuck / dead it will just seem like the engine shuts off if you let the gas pedal go, as in try to let it idle. If you hold the pedal down a bit, it will keep running if it's only the idle air valve. I had one fail on the way home once. I just had to keep a little pressure on the gas pedal so it wouldn't die off. If it's that, it could also be a bad connection or wire to the valve.