Hey,

My car overheats(gets really hot where smoke occurs) when i drive it for 30 minutes. Add coolant sign comes on, and the coolant resevoir is full, but the radiator is empty.

I have changed the thermostat... didnt do anything.

could this be the engine seals or the water pump or something else?

 

bump

 

ummmmm, add coolant to the radiator itself instead of the reservoir......do you smell a sweet smell of coolant? is there a pool of coolant on the ground when you park?

 

added to the radiator.. no smell.

 

If you're seeing smoke, AND you're losing coolant, AND your oil level isn't dropping any more than usual, that all adds up to the coolant being burned.

 

Check for pressurization of the coolant system.

Also, did you replace it with an OEM Mazda thermostat?

 

check your radiator cap to see if it is holding pressure. if it is then do the coolant seal test found in the FAQ.

 

not oem, some thermostat i found at autoparts in walmart, they said it would work.

I notice that the problem also dramatically increased when i changed the thermostat., because before it would get hot when i was driving on the hwy... now it gets hot after 20-30 mins, and smoke comes out of the engine bay.

 

Change to an OEM thermostat. They're not that expensive.

Since it got hot and overheated, as said, your coolant seals could be shot now. So you'll need a rebuild pretty soon.

But I would still say change to an OEM thermostat first and see how the coolant is after that.

 

if you are getting smoke out of the engine bay you probably have a coolant leak, search for the coolant leak and pressure test the cap and get an OEM t-stat from the dealer then recheck to see if you still have an overheating problem.

 

thanks guys, it never actually 'overheated'... just got really hot... and i turned of the car immediately. I will buy an oem thermostat and check it out.