alright i did a search first off, my car is getting extremely hot in a matter of minutes...i read up on the fan clutch the water pump and tstat. Here is the story, i was driving off base and a coolant line in the back of my engine explodes after taking it off, it wasn't dry rotted at all so i replaced it and it was still overheating. I replaced the tstat and still overheating. It takes about 5 minutes and it's 3/4th the way to "H". I tried checking for shaft play in the water pump(the best i knew how) the fan and everything are pretty quiet. It has plenty of fluids...when it overheats the upper radiator hose looked like it was swollen pretty big so i shut it down...i touched the top of the radiator and the right side was blazing hot whereas the left side wasn't hot at all...i touched the radiator fins and all over it was cold. I then proceeded to compare heat to the top rad. hose to the bottom...the bottom was much cooler. I could feel water flowing through it(or so i think). What do you guys think is wrong with it? I don't have a whole lot of money to spend taking it to the shop and i am usually working on my VW's myself so i thought i would take a crack at this one. Any input is appreciated. Thanks

 

Cold spots indicate blockage, swollen hose indicates severe blockage. Have the radiator recored or replace it.

 

Make sure you have OEM thermostat and radiator cap. When looking at the installed tstat the 'diddle' stick must be up. If you don't see a 'diddle' stick than you have a non-OEM tstat, so go immediately and order an OEM from mazdatrix.com.

Sounds like water pump isn't circulating coolant.

1-In the morning, when car is cool, undo the radiator cap. Do you hear a "pffft" from the cap?

2-note the level of the coolant. Is it lower than yesterday?

3-Give the plastic fan blades a spin. Do they stop in a second or two, like they're dragging?

4-try to look under the water pump to see if there's any sign of water leaking from the "weephole". Is there any stain or wetness?

5-Leave cap off, start engine, look in radiator neck for water streaming past underneath the opening. If it's not got a noticeable flow then your pump is shot.

6-Look at those plastic fan blades: are they spinning?

7-let engine warmup. Has coolant level gone down? Is there any bubbling visible through the filler neck?

 

alright i will check it out tomorrow and post a reply, when the engine is running the fan does spin. I do have an oem tstat in there now but previously it was a non oem. I thought it might have been the water pump seeing to how the lower one was cold then i got to thinking maybe it was just really blocked up since one half was hot and the portion where the filler neck it was cold. This takes me back to my BHG mr2/supra days haha..Thanks alot for the help and taking the time to reply

 

i did everything on the checklist you gave me. When i opened the rad. cap i didn't hear anything.

The coolant leval in the resovoir tank is the exact same from yesterday.

I spun the fan blades they don't spin freely more than 1 revolution

i looked under the radiator opening and saw no water through

the fan blades spin fine when the engine is running everything is pretty quiet

After the engine warmed up i still didn't see any water coming up ...after i turned the engine off i heard it gurggling through the radiator

i filled the filler neck all the way to the top this morning thinking well maybe i didn't add enough fluid but, when i saw it running i looked and it was leaking water from the "weep hole" so i guess you could say the pump needs to be replaced.