That prompts a thought - bear with me....

The cooling system is designed for the water to expand and flow into the overflow tank. If it does that and picks up water from the tank when it cools, that seems OK. Perhaps leaving the radiator cap off and evaluating overflow that way isn't accurate?

Just thinking "out loud."

Having said that, if you got an absolute rush of water from the radiator rather than a gentle overflow, something isn't right.

 

It makes sense what you're saying. Aside from the flushes i've recently done when I did this 3 or so months ago i was able to flush fine with the old radiator and then the new radiator so i may have done like 6-7 flushes the last 3 flushes I did the water / coolant started to gush out prior to that it was fine which is why it seemed like it may be some blockage which is what prompted me to change the thermostat w housing as well. The gushing out never stopped but from what I recall it only started happening after the first 4-5 flushes. Since there was a lot of gunk/build-up and I was using the cooling system flush stuff you get from prestone. I don't mind if gushing out is by design but it didn't do that prior to me doing all those flushes.

 

Alright. Created a vacuum I couldn't get it to hold the pressure after a few seconds it started to drop. Anyway, was able to get it to pull in the coolant probably a gallons worth and then I topped off the reservoir. I ran it with a on heat high and fan on 1. Had it on for close to 30 minutes it wouldn't blow out hot or warm air until I rev the engine for a bit and even then it went back to cool air. I had to turn it off because the engine temp was getting hot through the cvt app got to 234F while the cvt stayed warm. Tried it twice and engine temps got to hot I turned the AC off and also made sure the fans were on when it was getting hot. They were on but it didn't seem to cool the engine down. So not sure what's going on. The coolant didn't rise from the reservoir but like I said before maybe I need a funnel to see that. But at a loss right now maybe I should just get it over to the mechanic.

 

Dropped the murano off tuesday and mechanic got back to me today. So from what they can see there's no issue with the cooling system, fan works fine, no obstructions, they claim they get heat. They say the reason stuff shoots out of the funnel is because one or two of the cylinders combustion compression is leaking into the cooling system and pushing it out through the funnel. so yea they say head gasket going, cylinder head gasket or cylinder head could be warped it would need to be torn down and looked at possibly get it resurfaced pressure tested etc.

so, that seems to be what's causing it to shoot out oil or engine stuff is getting into the coolant system and that's why the color is off like that. Anyway not sure what i want to do it's not chap and it's not a new car. but at least that helps figure out the issue.

 

Dropped the murano off tuesday and mechanic got back to me today. So from what they can see there's no issue with the cooling system, fan works fine, no obstructions, they claim they get heat. They say the reason stuff shoots out of the funnel is because one or two of the cylinders combustion compression is leaking into the cooling system and pushing it out through the funnel. so yea they say head gasket going, cylinder head gasket or cylinder head could be warped it would need to be torn down and looked at possibly get it resurfaced pressure tested etc.

so, that seems to be what's causing it to shoot out oil or engine stuff is getting into the coolant system and that's why the color is off like that. Anyway not sure what i want to do it's not chap and it's not a new car. but at least that helps figure out the issue.

First, thank you for coming back and confirming what the problem was and a blown head gasket makes perfect sense of the symptoms, including the overheating with exhaust gases blowing into the cooling system and gushing out the funnel--there was a clue in your previous post pointing to this with the vacuum dropping when you were bleeding the system which suggested the system wasn't airtight somewhere. We now know it was the head gasket. BTW, your early posts didn't suggest any engine problems (e.g. running rough, misfires, etc.) although you did report a jerking phenomenon which sounded like a transmission problem. Did you notice anything suggesting the head gasket such as white exhaust smoke, random misfires etc.?

Anyway, your car has such high mileage that it's probably not worth it to pay to get it fixed, but I don't think you have anything to loose by trying a head gasket leak coolant additive, which is apparently what the previous owner tried. It may or may not help, but if it can at least get the car driveable again without overheating then it may be worth trying. From what I've read, the cooling system must be purged of all antifreeze before using those additives (i.e. 100% water) or they won't have the best chance of fixing the leak. Perhaps the previous owner just dumped the bottle in the radiator and hoped for the best.

My 2 cents. If you do try it, let us know how it works out.

 

I've been following this thread.

Because the gas is going into the antifreeze, stop leak will be a waste of time. Stop leak will only work when antifreeze is being pushed into the cylinder and is coming out the exhaust as white smoke.

Sound like a compression leak on one of the cylinders. Not much you can do except pull the heads to grind down and new head gaskets. A lot of work with a dual overhead cam setup.

Good luck.

Have a good day.