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01 Altima: Weird Rad Drain Plug Situation

789 views 7 replies 4 participants last post by  zaphod 
#1 ·
Hi All,
New here, looks like a great place for altima owners. Hoping you can all help me with my situation. I am taking it upon myself to do maintenance on my 01 altima and went to drain the radiator and the drain plug is NOT a phillips plug as described in the hayes book. I asked the dealer today and he said you need a special extraction tool !!!! I refuse ot pay $90.00 to have then drian the rad and fill it.

What gives here? Do you guys have any ideas what this is all about?

Many Thanks.
 
#2 ·
the plug on my 93 is removed by hand. if the plug is the same on 93-01's then you dont need any special extraction tool and nissan is trying to rape you. maybe someone else knows for sure. did u look for the plug on the driver side of the radiator?
 
#3 ·
Thanks for your reply. Yes i did look under the rad on the drivers side.I was already to remove the plug when i realized it looks nothing like what the hayes book shows, thats when i asked the dealer about it and he said you need this special tool to remove it. Whan you look at it there is theis hole in the center of the plug that looks like you insert something and there are also 4 tiny slots around the permiter of the plug that almost look like you would insert a special 4 pronged slot tool to gain leverage to remove the plug.
I am at a loss. I know when i do remove it eventually i will replace it with a standard phillips head one.

Any other ideas?
 
#4 ·
I quote from the Haynes Manual
"On most models you will have to remove a cover for access to the radiator drain fitting located at the bottom of the radiator."

I thought you read the manual?
 
#5 ·
Yes you are correct it does say that. But on the 2001 model you do not have to do this as a pre-engineered hole is there to do access the drain plug. But anyway i removed the covers for the heck of it and no additional drian plugs were there.

The Hayes book covers up to 2001 ffrom gen1 and gen 2 and there are some inaccuracies with the book. Example, if you look at the fuse box arrangement inside the car it differs from that of the gen 1 shown in the book.

Any other ideas?
 
#6 ·
Maybe you stripped the drain plug. I have heard of these happening on the altimas. Or maybe you have a anti-tamper one like the ones on GM vehicles.
 
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