I just took my car out of storage, and the temperature guage consistantly goes up to about 3/4 after a while. I am afraid to drive it, because I know of the problems that come with overheating a rotary. My first thought was that the water pump had gone bad, but it could also be a clogged radiator or temp. reader/sender. Is there any way to diagnose the problem without fixing them one by one until the problem goes away. Also, what is normal operating temperature for these cars. I don't remember mine going as high as 3/4 ever. Thanks in advance.

P.S. This problem started happening right before I put the car into storage, so it was not caused from the car sitting for 4-5 months. Thanks again.

 

mine stay 1/4 of way i have an e- fan and a 180 thermostat. id check to see iff your fan clutch is working first you can do this buy trying to stop it while it is spinning if you can it is bad if you cant (ouch) just position hand with directoin of rotation, if it is bad get e-fan next take your t-stat out and boil it in water and see how long it takes to open boiling temp is 212 it should open before boiling temp if not it is bad. hope this helps if your pump was bad it would leak coolant from the bottom side out of a hole an indication that it needs immediate replacement.

 

try flushing your radiator. if that dosent help. take it to a radiatior shop and have the boil it out. that will clean it out real good. if that dose not help.. then you have other things going wrong.

also if you dont have one already get your self an electric fan. not only will it help cool just as well if not better but its a little performace increase.

if that dosent work would say try and get a hold of a nother water pump and see if that helps.

if that dosent help you might even worse problems... are you getting alot of white smoke?

 

Could also be a radiator that has a clog or 'hotspot' which is near the temperature sending unit. You can remove the radiator and have a radiator shop rebuild it for about $40 which includes 'rodding-out' which is unsoldering the brass top and bottom tank, and running a metal rod down each of the cooling tubes - this pushes all the junk and corrosion out of the system and results in a much better working radiator after they seal it up again.

As Fuel states, it could be as simple as the fan cover going bad, which results in the car overheating since the fan isn't turning as fast as it should to pull air through the rad. Usually symptoms include overheating at idle, but not overheating on the freeway (since air is forced in the front at speed). Give it a check, but watch those fingers on the fan - I'd suggest using an old rubber rad hose rather than your hand or fingers.

 

yes that would be better. i only know this cause i went throughthe same thing you are and those are the steps i went through i found out my fan clutch was bad and my t-stat wasnt working well now it wont go over 1/4

 

Well my water pump is leaking a little oil out of the bottom, so that would suggest that it is the water pump. If that does not work I will move down the list. I was thinking about changing to an e-fan, but need to go to the local pick n pull first I guess.
For this fan clutch test, does the engine have to be warm already? Thanks for your help.

 

no it doesnt just running, and if it is leaking then REPLACE IT IMMEDIATLY NO HESITATION clean thouroughly with degreaser to determine where leak is. keep me posted i am interested in knowing how things go

 

Well, I replaced the water pump today. It took longer that I thought, but it got done. It still runs hot, but is not overheating. I think that my thermostat might not be functioning properly, but the replacement from pep boys looks like the opening is smaller than the original so I was hoping to get a new one from the dealership. Has anyone used the cheap replacements? Do they work just as well even though the hole for letting coolant through is smaller? Anyway, that should get done this week, and if that still does not work, then I guess that the radiator will need to be cleaned out as well. I will keep you posted on my progress.

By the way, do any of you car people know what makes a water pump go bad. The "bad" one appeared perfectly fine, and in other experiences I have failed to notice any major mechanical problems. Sorry about the length.

 

Nobody can answer any of my questions?

 

Belt too tight...When you have a brand new belt, it should only be snug tight....drive for a day, then adjust...Remember that the belt will expand so there is no purpose to make it very tight in day 1..

Patience is the key.

 

Thanks, but what physical part of the pump goes bad? It seems to spin fine when the outside turns. What am I missing?

 

i had this sameproblem about 2weeksago. tokk the rad to a radiator shop cost $42 dollars to have them rod it out and i also replaced the thermostat with one of the cheap ones and the cars runs better than ever never going above a 1/4 on the temp gage.

 

Well, I just want to say congrats, I believe you are the first overheating thread of the year.

When was the last time your intake was removed from the engine. Your O-rings could be past the 10yr 100000 mile warranty mark. Not allowing the cooling system to pressurise..

Why water pumps go bad, no one really know just when you see it leaking its time to change it. If they never went bad who would make money in selling replacements?

 

check resistance on sender (within spec.)
check if its HOT on upper and lower hoses after warm up. one should be hot
other should be HOTTER .