Sorry, I missed that part about the belt being brand new. It may have been a manufacturing defect, OR it was installed with too much tension - which will tear any belt to pieces.

You probably won't hear slippage on the belt - it's not like it squeals or anything.

 

Ok. And I don't think it was too tight because I made sure the deflection was right but who knows. When I take the rad cap off while my car is a little warm there is hardly any coolant in it. When before it would be almost to the top. So could that be a pressure loss?

 

You have some sort of issue going on there. Top it up and keep and eye on it. Also
make sure the overflow bottle is at the right level and make sure the hose is tight
to the overflow and that the radiator siphons coolant to/from the overflow bottle.

Now you can watch the level in the bottle hot or cold and see if its going down. If it
is, you have a leak somewhere. Could be heater core, could be intake manifold,
could be a pinhole in a hose somewhere.

 

I'm going to do a complete flush of the cooling system. Has anyone used this Prestone cleaner stuff? I'm worried about the seals and should I add anything in with the final coolant, I've heard people use water wetter. I'll research it a bit more.

Edit after topping off rad:

Went out and topped of the rad till I can flush the system this weekend. I filled it up and burped some air out before starting. When it was running the coolant would overflow out the cap constantly, but after the thermo opened and I turned the heat on it went down some then started overflowing but also burbed out air on its own. It was a lot of air too. Found out the overflow doesn't work either It has an open end in the cap where the sensor used to be I think, so maybe that doesn't seal the system and let's in air instead or transferring coolant. Most important part is that my car ran at normal temp Still have to figure out the overflow though.

 

It all sounds pretty normal at this point. The important part of the overflow is to
have the tube thats attached to the cap and hanging down into the canister
always under the surface of the coolant in the canister. That way the syphoning
into and out of the radiator will work correctly. The canister should have an
opening to the atmosphere of some type to it can fill up with coolant when the
engine is hot. A bad radiator cap can also cause a failure in this system by letting
too much pressure out and causing the coolant to overflow the overflow.

So it sounds like you filled and burped the coolant successfully now. With the
engine cold make sure the coolant is up to the cold line on the overflow. Then
start the engine with the radiator cap fully closed and the overflow hose all
fastened down good. Watch the coolant level, as the engine warms up it should
go up a little bit, maybe 1/2" to 1". Once the engine is at temp, turn it off and
check the coolant level in the overflow over the course of a couple of hours.
You should see it suck coolant back into the system and get back to the original
level. If over a few days you check it cold and the level appears to keep going
down, you have a leak somewhere. At least you can keep the overflow level
right and not worry about overheating until you find and fix the leak.

You're getting there!

 

I wouldn't use the prestone stuff, just use a hose to force water in and out of the radiator and
block.

In fact I would flush it at all now until you find the leak because at that point to fix the leak you
will likely have to drain the coolant anyway and that would be a good time to flush it out. Don't
make more work for yourself than you already have.

 

Maybe I'm over thinking this, but this morning the coolant in the rad was no where near where I filled it too. I couldn't see it above the top row and the overflow looked the same. There was a big wet spot on the splash pan which could've been from where it was spilling out last night when I was filling it or I have a hole in the top part of the rad. It got hot again at first but cooled to the middle or just below.

I'll let it cool completely tonight when I get home then take note of the level and start it up and watch the overflow. Wouldn't a hose be bad to use to flush? I bought a bunch of distilled water to just run through multiple times till it came out clean, if it is dirty at all.

 

So two issues:

1. The overflow is not working correctly, as it should have sucked down more fluid
as the radiator level dropped. You may need a new hose or cap. You can
blow thru and suck on the tube to the overflow to check the hose. The cap, if old
may be preventing a good seal and so it cant suck the fluid out of the overflow.

2. You have a leak and its probably the radiator because - old. Fill it good and then
when you park it make sure its all dry around and below and set out some
newspaper under the radiator. Check the next day a see what you see.

 

You will be fine with hose water, just drain the old coolant from the drain plug on the engine block, put the drain plug back on, fill the radiator with water to the brim, start the car and pull the drain plug while the water is still running through the hose to the radiator, turn the heat on and put the fan to max output. Just let the water run through the system until you think it's good. Turn the fan and heat off, then the car. Drain the water out of the system, put the plug back on and fill with coolant. I did mine at a shop so it might be messy for you lol

 

Ok so the Temps have been much better lately, but it does get back up there every now and again. Mostly when it first gets to operating temp it keeps going and then settles down. I'll do a flush when I replace the thermostat and add as much coolant as possible afterwards. I tried checking the overflow hose but I couldn't get the darn thing off. I also ordered a dual pulley for the alternator so I'll see how that works and go from there.

 

My bet's on the thermostat. That would account for your fluctuating coolant temperature on the gauge. Good luck,

 

Agree with duck on this, sounds like a tstat issue.

 

Get a real brass Mazda thermostat, not a stupid Stant one. Also get the real Mazda gasket paper. Both available from Mazdatrix. Anything else absorbs water and will rust the bolts in place on the waterpump.

 

I get all parts from mazdatrix if possible

 

When you do the flush, make sure the heat is on and engine running. Also remove the small plug (bolt) on the drivers side center iron at the bottom. This will drain the block.

 

Well I took a closer look at the tstat housing and the whole thing seems to be rusted, bolts included. I haven't tried to loosen them yet. Should I soak the bolts in a penetrating oil for a couple hours, or days before even trying to loosen them?

 

Never a bad idea on an old car.

 

So I changed the thermostat, old one wasn't oem, and it runs at normal temp now with no fluctuations at all. Weird how the thermostat went at exactly the same time the belt blew..... thanks for the help everyone!

Annnd I have a dual pulley but of course can't get the belts even tension. Does that banzai bracket even the tension out or is it just a better than stock bracket?

 

Good to hear Tyler.

The belts are never exactly the same size, so one will always be a little less in
tension than the other. It helps to buy them at the same time from the same store and same
brand so that maybe they will be consistent in size. Mfrs do have some minimal tolerances in
place for belt sizes.

 

Yep, aftermarket thermostats suck. Almost overheated an engine once with a stant that didn't like to open very far.

Don't worry about the difference in belt lengths if it's minor. As they break in, switch positions. They'll eventually even out.