Today I was attempting to go to Buttonwillow to see the races. I have to go over the Grapevine to get to Bakersfield. Those that know it the Grapevine is a large hill to get out of the LA basin. Any way I was watching the guages and the temp flutuated up and down. It went up to 3/4 of the way and BOOM The top hose blew. Lifted up the hood!!

I pulled off immediatly and turned it off. Sure as **** the top hose was split almost the length of it. I got a ride into town and bought a flex hose ( cause nobody got a mazda) and a couple jugs of coolant. When I got back to my car I put on the hose and filled the radiator. I was trying to bleed the system when I noticed coolant coming out of the pump as well.....kind of a trickle.

Heres the deal. I had this trickle problem B4 when I put the motor in. When I went to fill the coolant it just started pouring out from under the pump. So I took it all off and put RTV and the gasket back on. (B4 you start typing I did put the two spacers on).

Here's the meat and potatoes.

My front Iron was bad and that is why I rebuilt this motor. I got a used front Iron. Is there any way that I could have a miss match??? Because this it the second time I am going to replace this one gasket. Is there some sort of difference in the way water pumps bolt up?? Do Mazda pumps let out fluids when they are dead?

Sorry my typing is bad, I just got back and its almost 1:am and I left this morning at 7:am. So I am beat.

 

Water pump has a weap hole under right before the pulley, underneath the water pump... Which repesents exsive wear.. time to change the water pump

 

Could that weep hole blow out at the same time as the hose??

 

Sure, maybe the pump let go before the hose blew.. causing it to over heat and over presureize blowing your house off.

 

You ever see the video of the nebraskan hicks burning out the 2nd gen on one rotor. Took 10 minutes at 8k running on one rotor. They opened teh radiator cap and let all the coolant out and it finanly started to overheat. They started that car on fire doing that iirc...


BTW, I just foundout my waterpumps weephole is spewing too. Getting a new one installed later today hopefuly.

 

ANY time you rebuild, you should replace the water pump. It's just cheap insurance.

 

That's a good theory. I wonder if the guage going up and down was the pump not pumping correctly.

The new pump on a rebuild??? It seems that everything should be replaced on a rebuild. FPD, Caching.......fuel pump, Caching (thats a cash register sound) Water pump and all hoses, Caching. etc etc etc.

I know what should be done but when you blow your wad you have no more wad.....

 

my pump used to leak out of the weeper so i got a new pump. by the time i got the pump it stopped leaking and hasnt since. i should put the new one in but i am just too lazy right now

 

^ for real though, but if the waterpump took a crap the system shouldn't over pressurize from overheating, i think it should let coolant into the overflow tank through the cap, unless your cap is bad as well? good luck.

 

my theory is that the hose blew first, then overheated causing the pump gasket to leak. could have distorted it enough to break the seal

 

^^ thats a good one too. when there is no coolant in the system all you can do is turn it off and maybe **** on it to cool it off. But in all seriousness it's just gonna sit there and bake until the temp starts coming down on its own. No air flowing cause your stopped and no water cause you left it on the highway half a mile back. That's always the unknown

 

did you reuse the original upper hose?

i put the recommendations in my list for a good reason.

i'm gonna beat it into you guys to replace all the belts/hoses when you do rebuilds...

 

No, I was replacing hoses as I went. The upper looked ok. I replaced the ones that went into the throttle body ant the heater core. but, like I said I thought the hose looked ok. I think the reason it blew so bad is becuase this is the first time in a long time that it has actually seen pressure. I've been patching up coolant leaks all week. I thought that I finalnaly had the cooling system under control

Here is a good thing to think about as well. The cooling system had problems (the buzzer going off every week) I thought the coolant seals were the culprit.......But think about it. The front Seals and Irons out (probably due to heat) and when I get it fixed all the other problems start to show themselves. BUT the reason the front Iron blew out in the first place was becuase OF the little leaks.....Yea???? Yea??? Maybe???


Still want an answer about the mating patterns for the water pumps. Are there any differences?? I am not so sure the coolant is coming out of the weep hole.

 

**** I've had to replace my upper hose like 4 times in the past year

It's a good idea if it's old anyways, they get really brittle.

 

Why four times???

 

First time because it was old and brittle. Second time because the hose clamp dug into it and put a tiny slit and coolant was seeping out. Third time the coolant filler neck was kinda messed up and sharp on the edge, and over time it poked a hole in it, had to replace the filler neck too. Last time was at the drag strip. I launched so hard that it popped off my intake piping (n/a powah!) and the hose clamp around the coupler for my custom CAI flew into the hose and put a nice gash in it, which I patched with duct tape, refilled with water, and drove home 60 miles

 

the water pumps on all 13Bs bolt to the front iron the same way but there is differences in how the pumps are shaped and fit with the front cover between the S4 and S5 models. i would check the gasket sealking surfaces for burrs and flatness. if you are using RTV only DON'T i've done this and it resulted in a big leak. if you are using just a a gasket and the mating surfaces are burred or not flat then you can add a little RTV to the gasket to help it seal.

 

The first time I installed it, when I went to fill the coolant system it just dribbled out the water pump. I had to take it off and then use RTV on both sides of the gasket. Something blew out still have not had time to look at it as I was building a Deck all day. Both surfaces were cleaned and almost polished with the scotchbright pads that go on the drill.

My front iron is the type that uses the plastic spacer for the oil pump. Is there any other way to identify the front Iron? I still suspect that the two are not mating up properly.

 

S4 and S5 front irons are identical as far as i know of, at least i haven't noticed anything different but i also haven't paid close attention to any differences, i can take a look tomorrow and see if there is a difference since it is late right now.