About A Torelli Expertise I have over 22 years in this buisness and will try and help you the best that I can. I will apologize now for any of you that I cant help. Remember that vehicles are very complex and not actually being able to examine the vehicle can make a diagnosis difficult if not impossible. I am not a miracle worker. I do this for free on my own time and hope that you appreciate it. PLease make sure that you provide me with all of the vehicle information in your questions: Year, Make, Model, Trim Level, Engine size, Trans = Manual or Automatic, production date and mileage. This will make my response to you as efficient as possible. I do not answer questions on the weekends.
Experience 22 years as an automotive technician and shop owner
Education/Credentials ASE Master Automobile Technician, Nissan Master Tech, Toyota and Honda factory training, L1 certified and a whole lot more.
You are here: Experts > Shopping > Cars > Nissan > 2002 Altima, Temp gauge fluctuating,heater runs hot and cold
Nissan - 2002 Altima, Temp gauge fluctuating,heater runs hot and cold
Expert: A Torelli - 4/5/2007
Question I have an 02 Altima 2.5 S. A few weeks ago I noticed that the heater runs hot and cold. Sometimes it blows hot air and then it turns cool. Today I noticed the temp gauge fluctuating between middle of gauge all the way to H, then back down and up. Could this be a thermostat, heater core or head gasket problem. It was a cold rainy day today so I could not tell if there was excessive smoke coming from tailpipe or not.
Answer HMMM, not sure. Fill up the radiator to the top, stick a funnel in the filler hole, one that seals the hole. Fill the funnel with water and warm up the engine. WIth water in the funnel there should be no bubbles. You may see some at first but they should go away. Make sure both radiator hoses get hot. If they do not then I woud replace the tstat. Loss of heat and overheating is usually loss of coolant.
