Mr Cool is what you can call the Altima now. A month ago on my way back from a barbecue my car started overheating. The car just sat because I didn’t have the time or money to deal with it. I decided to just take some time off of work and fix it myself. After noticing the puddle of coolant coming from the water pump weep hole, I decided to change the water pump (part no. 21010-00003). I had to go with an aftermarket pump because I couldn’t wait on delivery from Courtesy Nissan. Vic laughed at me for setting two days for the job, but I needed it. Changing the water pump was hard at first but when I finished I understood how to do the job quickly (in another 156k miles, yeah right).

After putting everything back together and taking it around the block, I realized that the car was still overheating. When I grabbed the lower hose to the radiator I realized the thermostat was bad. Luckily, one Nissan dealership was still open, so I drove right over and picked up a thermostat (part no. 21200-0C811). That job was much easier, but had to wait because I didn’t have enough sealant to for the gasket at the time.

I finally got everything working today (one week after starting). I gave myself a four-day weekend and I didn’t shave for most of it. I started to feel like that guy from 300.

After all that, the car is running like a champ. So who wants to buy a used Nissan?