How to Check Coolant Level 2006-12 Nissan Altima

Hey, everyone. It's Len from 1A Auto. Today I want to show you something very basic. It's going to be checking your cooling system. You can come over here to where the cooling system reservoir is. I'm just going to use a screwdriver to move it out of the way so you can see down in there. You can see where the max level is. It says, M-A-X, very simple to see. What you'd want to do is you'd want to remove this cap, turning it to the left counterclockwise, and then you want to top it up to the specified level by manufacturer's specification coolant. If you happen to notice that this reservoir is completely empty, more than likely you have a problem, but the next thing that you would want to check is your radiator.

Making sure that your engine's cool, your radiator cap isn't hot, if it feels hot in any way, never open it. This is very cool, so I'm not worried too much about it, but I am wearing my safety glasses and I'm wearing hand protection. I'm going to turn it to the left while pushing down. I'm going to slowly lift this up. You can look inside there. You can see there's coolant. The radiator system is full. That's good news.

Common thing to look at while you have the radiator cap off is just the condition of these O-rings right along here or the gaskets. You can call them what you want. These don't look like they're cracked. They don't look like they're dry, swollen. This cap looks like it's in good condition. Can also look around the edges for crusties. If you do happen to see crusties, then it's more than likely an issue with this. What happens is that the spring can wear out and it'll vent. It's going to be doing it's job. Spring wears out, it'll vent, it'll blow by here and so at that point you'd want to replace this radiator cap.

This looks okay, I'm just going to ahead and put it on back where it's apparently. Turn it back around for you. Looks prettier. There we are. Once again, we check the radiator while it's cool. Never hot. Never open this while it's hot. You can wait. Always wear safety glasses. You're going to want to double check down here to make sure your coolant level's full, if it's not you top it off with manufacturer's specified fluids. Looks good enough for now.

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