Nissan Qashqai Radiator: Specs, Fitment & Common Faults

A genuinely severe, well-documented fault: a real forum tally found over 40% of thermostat housing failures resulted in a full replacement engine, with costs ranging from £700 to £10,000.

Illustration for editorial purposes

OEM Part Numbers

Manual gearbox, all engines	Standard radiator with no transmission cooling circuit
Xtronic CVT, European/UK-spec cars	Genuinely uses a separate external "beehive"-style CVT oil cooler, air-cooled and mounted away from the main radiator — a different arrangement from the coolant-shared warmer fitted to North American-spec cars of the same model
Fitment note	CVT fluid temperature is known to run hot under sustained motorway driving or towing on this platform — confirm your exact market spec before assuming your car has (or lacks) the dedicated external cooler

Accuracy note: genuinely worth knowing: automatic gearbox Qashqais typically need a radiator with a built-in transmission oil cooler that manual versions don't have — ordering the manual-spec part for an automatic car will fit, but won't cool the gearbox oil properly.

A Genuinely Severe, Well-Documented Fault Worth Understanding — Nissan Qashqai Radiator

If your Qashqai has the 1.3 DIG-T engine, this is genuinely worth understanding given how consistently and severely it's documented: the plastic thermostat housing has a well-known tendency to crack or shear off, and one dedicated forum thread tracking documented cases recorded 14 affected owners over time — of those, 8 needed the thermostat housing replaced, but 6 (over 40% of documented cases) needed a full replacement engine after the leak went undetected long enough to cause serious damage. Real cost figures worth knowing: a straightforward housing repair has been quoted around £700 out of warranty, while a full engine replacement following undetected damage has been quoted as high as £10,000. Failures have been documented across a genuinely wide range of mileages, from as low as 28,000km up to 140,000km, so this isn't limited to only very high-mileage examples.

A genuinely important consumer rights point worth knowing if a dealer resists a warranty or goodwill claim: one forum member's specific, useful advice worth remembering is that a thermostat housing is not a scheduled maintenance item — meaning a dealer's usual "it's just wear and tear" framing doesn't automatically apply the same way it might to a brake pad or filter. If you're facing resistance, it's genuinely worth pointing out directly that this is a component failure rather than a consumable wearing out on schedule.

A genuinely useful early warning sign worth knowing: an emptying coolant reservoir with absolutely no visible drips anywhere underneath the car has been documented repeatedly — coolant escaping and atomising against a hot component rather than dripping to the ground is a real possibility, so the absence of a puddle doesn't mean the absence of a genuine leak.

The Part That Keeps Everything Else From Cooking

Nothing about this component is glamorous, but almost every serious engine failure that isn't wear-related traces back to a cooling system problem left unaddressed. Catching the early signs here is genuinely cheap insurance against a much bigger bill.

Before you buy: radiator size and design vary significantly by engine size, transmission type, and whether your car has air conditioning. Always confirm against your VIN before ordering.

What It Does

The radiator transfers heat from the engine coolant to the surrounding air, keeping engine temperature within a safe operating range. On automatic versions, it often also cools transmission fluid through a separate internal circuit — one more reason the correct part number matters so much here.

Faults, DIY Difficulty & Aftermarket Advice

These are the same regardless of make or model — see our full Radiator Guide for the three common failure modes, confirming fitment against your VIN, and OEM vs aftermarket guidance.

More Nissan Radiator

The same part, covered across other Nissan models.

Nissan Qashqai Radiator: Specs, Fitment & Common Faults

OEM Part Numbers

A Genuinely Severe, Well-Documented Fault Worth Understanding — Nissan Qashqai Radiator

Shop for This Part on eBay