I drove the car into work today which is about 25 miles from house with 90% on the highway. I had parked the car and been at work for about two hours when my dad calls me to let me know that there is a puddle of green fluid (coolant) on the garage floor. This completely caught me off guard because I drove the car at least 50 miles from the time I picked it up on Wednesday night to when I drove into work this morning, and I didn't notice the temperature gauge spiking or any warning lights.
Anyhow, I run outside to my car in the parking lot to find another puddle of green fluid under the front right corner of the car. I open the hood and check the reservoir which is dry. I called the dealership and I am unable to get a hold my service advisor but instead I get his boss's boss (the director of the service department). I tell her what happened and we talk about how we can resolve the issue. I can either pour coolant into the car and attempt to drive it back nearly 40 miles to the dealership or they can pick it up on a flatbed truck with a rental on the truck for me to drive while they repair my car. She says that they can't just put a rental car on a truck and deliver it to me. However, she says that I can rent a car on my own and they'll reimburse me. In the meantime, she tells me that the two techs that worked on my car will be coming in a few hours to resolve the problem.
They show up around 3pm in one of their personal vehicles with a bunch of tools in the trunk and get to work on my car. They quickly diagnose the problem to be a coolant hose with a bad hose clamp. This coolant hose sits under the right intake filter box (as you face the car from the front). They don't have a hose clamp on them so they go to nearest car parts store and come back. Meanwhile, my car is sitting in the parking lot of my workplace with the hood open. Lol. A couple people who saw the car out of their office windows thought that either someone was attempting to hotwire my car or that I had called one of those mechanics that comes to your workplace and does service on your vehicle.
Finally, after speaking with the director of service at the dealership, we agreed that one of the techs should probably drive the car back to the dealership and keep it there overnight to make sure all of the issues have been resolved. One of the techs said that he would completely flush and refill the coolant at the dealership tomorrow and put a "Nissan clamp" on the hose.
Now, I am driving a Chrysler 200 as a rental car. 370z > Altima 2.5 > Chrysler 200. I miss the car even more now.
