Here is the story, I am hoping for some suggestion on what might have gone wrong, and on if there is anything I can do to fix it, other then put in a new motor...

I was on my way home from work, and slowing down to pull into my driveway, the car sounded funny, so I looked at my guages, and saw the heat gauge climbing really fast. I pulled into my driveway, and parked it, but by the time I did the heat gauge was all the way up. I looked at the end of my driveway, wherew it first sounded funny, and there was a large puddle of water. I checked the radiator, and there was essentially no water in it. I waited for the car to cool down, put water in it, and started it. I immediately turned it back off, because water was POURING out from the engine area (looked like passenger side, a bit behind the front wheel). Now, what happened to the car, and what can I do to fix it?

 

First step is to pop the hood and watch what happens when someone starts it up. it sounds to me like you blew a hose, if water is POURING out of the engine bay. There are two coolant lines that run between the back-block area and the firewall, and also one on the top of your block going into the throttlebody. If you fill it back up, and watch, you should get to see what's happening.

You will also need to properly "burp" the coolant system, to refill it with water. I wouldn't panic about overheating the car if you shut it down before/as soon as it hit the high mark.

AFAIK, blown coolant seals don't cause water to pour out of the car, blown coolant seals cause great plumes of white smoke.

Start there, and tell us what's up

Good luck!

 

All three of those hoses have been checked now, and they are all fine - no cracks, and pliable rubber...

 

okay, where is the water coming from then?

 

Check to see if the end tanks on your radiator cracked..

 

found it, the end of the rear housing to throttle hose (the end attached to the rear housing) blew out (had a HUGE hole) in the bottom angle. they sure made that hose hard as hell to get to though... anyway, getting one later today, and will see how it goes...

Part# 13-680A-N326

 

There isn't any special hose or anything you need to replace that, either... just take your old one to an auto parts store and get a replacement. I just had the same exact thing happen to me about two weeks ago...

Glad you found it!

 

well, found it, and got the correct hose for it from Irvine Mazda (only 10 bucks for OEM - may as well get the correct one at that price) - now my problem is that the one end connects way back under the hood, between the firewall and the engine, and I can not for the life of me get the clamp off that end, and the hose will NOT pull off...

Main problem is getting my hand down in there to work on it, since I can't see the nipple where the bottom end of the hose attaches, I can only feel it... and while my hand fits down there, barely, my hand with a pair of pliers or some other tool does not

 

It's the one from the block to TB?

 

yes

 

you can just do the TB mod right now if you wanted..

 

TB mod?

 

Remove the thermowax, fast idle cam and secondary throttle plates. If you wish you can port it also. After that you can block the two hoses on the block off, or loop them..

 

do it...

 

I see - I would much prefer to find a way to do this without removing the throttle body...

 

Bah, removing the throttle body is simple, and makes it a LOT easier to work under there. Just a few bolts & such.

-=Russ=-

 

See, that's the one that I guessed on my first post unfortunetly, you're going to have to take the throttlebody off... there's really no other way to do it with the engine in the car. Don't worry about it too much, it's only a 30 minute job to take it off (the first time), and about 15 minutes to put it back on... but while you're under there, you really want to consider replacing all the vaccuum hoses (I think you use 5/32", check FSM), just buy a roll for 5 bucks at an autoparts store, and if you want to get really ambitious, check and replace the fuel lines and inspect the pulsation damnper for leaks/replace, along with replacing the o-rings around the fuel injectors.

Then you've pretty much eliminated any chance of failure, leaks, or vacuum problems that can occur, and you should be good for another 10 years

 

the vacuum lines I think I do need to do, since they look a bit cracked around the tops... but I really don't look forward to taking the damn thing off - I and electronics love each other, but I swear all engines and engine accesories hate me :L

 

ok, so I got the TB off, and replaced the hose (still almost impossible to get to, even after the TB is off), now I have a diff problem, and I just KNOW it means I did something wrong...

The car starts just fine, but the idle jumps up and down, and then, if you press in the accelorator, it dies. I checked all the lines, and they seem to be back in the correct positions, and there is no extra hoses, clamps or screws laying around... what did I do wrong?

 

found it, the TPS is screwed - somehow it got stuck in the down position, and will not come out...

Thank you all for your help - now if any of you are in SoCal, and have a cheap used TPS for me...