Damage control
 

Okay... so my black GXL split the heater hose on the driver's side. The one that goes from the block to the heater core. It was driven a little while the light was on and buzzer going off. The person did not know enough to shut the car down given this situation. What are the chances the engine is still good upon replacing the hose and such?

Fifty/Fifty, I'd guess...I blew that damn hose once in my first gen and pegged the temp gage, and once in the second gen and damn near pegged it, both times everything turned out OK, but if the guy/gal drove it around for a while, who knows?

I will not even be able to find out if the engine is still good until Friday either. NAPA did not have the correct heater hose in stock at all and Autozone does not even show the right one. Damn stores...

Yeh, that sucker is strictly a Mazda dealer, Mazdatrix, etc... part.

Has anyone had permanent success using a "generic" hose?

LOL I just ordered a new heater hose because mine is leaking! :) its 28.81 cents from mazdatrix.

Well, I just talked to NAPA and they do have the proper hose. They even showed me a picture of the one that they are ordering and it looks just like the one on our cars. With the extra insulation for heat and everything. It was only $25 and some change from NAPA and it is being overnighted as well.

Just an update...

Picked up the hose this afternoon and stuck it in there. Pretty good fit, but not exact. Anyways, I flushed the coolant system out and put new antifreeze and water in it. Started it up and boy what a smoke screen... This was not too surprising since it did that before because of leaky oil seals.

Drove it around a little while until it warmed up and the smoking calmed down a lot. When at idle it emits smoke which it did not do before. I am guessing I have fractured a coolant ring or something somewhere and it is leaking into the combustion chamber.

Not real sure what to do in the short term (couple of days) because it needs to be driven, but I know it will need a rebuild soon. Any suggestions other than trying to use some block weld on it?

there is a "block weld trick" somewhere in here. Ireally suggest not to drive it if you have blown a water seal or worse a housing - more damage will certenly occur.