Today and tomorrow I am putting new heater hoses, thermostat, radiator in. Pretty straight forward. I have been through plenty of threads about it, however I still have a question:

I do not have my thermostat or my "new" radiator flushed yet, will not be here till the 10th, will my engine be okay sitting with empty coolant for a few days? Not being driven of course.

 

A few days wont be a problem at all.

Too long and things can oxidize in there (the passages in the rotor housings), but not THAT quick by any means. I have engines I've torn down on the shelf which sat without coolant for quite a while and things still look fine.

~T.J.

 

alright sweet. thanks a lot!

 

Hopefully you chose a Mazda thermostat. Motors have been lost with aftermarket replacements. Also be sure to check the FSM for the correct jiggle pin orientation.

 

hmmm I did not... I went to Autozone for it, Duralast I believe because they were out of everything else... I suppose I'll make a trip to the Mazda dealer then

 

You might also be able to carefully drill a hole in the new thermostat. Use the stock mazda part as a guide. I've done it, but its not fun. Works if you do it right though

 

just to make sure, you mean drill a hole in the Duralast thermostat, not the Mazda one right?

 

Correct, drill a hole in the aftermarket thermostat. Its very small, just allows some coolant to always flow through the system.

 

The purpose of the jiggle pin is to prevent air from becoming trapped at the thermostat. The trapped air prevents proper operation of the thermostat valve. I suppose a hole could achieve the same purpose.

 

the aftermarket one has a jiggle pin, is it just not sufficient enough? could the failures have come from wrong installation?

 

If it has the pin, then it should be good. What failures are you referring to? I highly doubt any failures would be caused by a lack of the pin or improper installation of the thermostat.

~T.J.

 

Lack of pin can cause air buildup under thermostat. This causes the thermostat to not open, raising engine temps. A few years ago there were also suspicions of aftermarket thermostats not opening correctly.