...ever notice that the more you work on your car, the more things tend to go wrong?

...or is it the more things go wrong, the more you have to work on it?

*sarcasm over*

The latest things to have my freak out include two things:

1. Why the hell does my coolant level keep fluctuating every couple of hours? It couldn't possibly change that much do to just a few degrees of temp change.


Every time I leave work, my car's coolant buzzer goes off, and then goes away after just a little while.. sometimes it comes back again, goes away, comes back again, and then goes away...again.

Then I get home, top it off (...need to buy some more...), and it's always just a little bit low. But I'm not losing coolant (besides maybe a few random drops?), and I'm not burning coolant, so is it just expanding and contracting, or am I losing coolant somewhere?

I thought the issue might have to do with bubbles, but I tried bleeding the air (ran it for a few minutes with the cap off), but that didn't work... then out of the sudden my buzzer came on and stayed on (car off, ignition on), and I had to put even more coolant into it (the car was warm).

My overflow bottle is always at the proper level, although I noticed the hose was a little lose.. so I tightened it.

The next issue is that I think I can hear my pilot bearing now.. Gods damn it, that's the one thing I DID replace in my drivetrain. How could it be going bad already? And I think the noise of my throwout bearing (I'm never gonna forget to replace one again) has gotten worse... both things have me freaked out, because if I'm gonna have to pull my transmission, I want to be able to put a new clutch in while I'm at it, but don't have the money to buy one... and just a few minutes ago it seemed to develop a "thump" in the transmission (rather than the rear end).

I'm paranoid that my car is gonna start volcano'ing while smoke at any moment, or that I'm going to have to do transmission work...

And now my idle has suddenly started dropping whenever I turn an accessory... which is worrisome, seeing as how my idled already sucked enough... I guess my BAC might have gone out.

 

You might look at the heater core as the cause of cooling system gremlins. If you have been turning the heater on and off just turn it off for a while, bleed the air out and see if it gets better.

If you have a leak somewhere in the overflow bottle plumbing that can do it too. It sucks air in instead of water and pumps the bubbles into the system, then later they get blown out again.

 

Well, I *have* been turning the heater on and off (because it gets too hot after a little while)...

Last time I tried refill and bleed my radiator, the coolant level started rising and rising as soon as I started the car (I had to put the cap back on)... so maybe the level just goes down when the car is off? It also goes *down* when I increase the RPMs for some reason... although maybe that's normal.

Also, if a water pump has old, rusty blades, does that cause extra cavitiation? Perhaps more bubbles?

 

are you confusing the level of the overflow tank as the determining factor of High and Low coolant???

And yes, bad blades of the water pump will cause extra cavitation, but so will the improper rad cap pressure or a bad cap (both of which will also cause the level to raise and lower erracticly).

 

And if it is a rad cap replace it with a Mazda one.

 

No. The overflow bottle stays the same.

It's the coolant level in the radiator that fluctuates...

I personally think the coolant sensor is a little paranoid (needs to be a bit longer IMO), but I'd rather fix this problem than have it buzz so much I stop trusting it...

 

Well it's pretty obvious the coolant recovery system isnt working right. Replace the line to goto the bottle and your radiator cap.

 

General consensus says to use 13 psi OEM Mazda cap, right?

I think I'll also get one of those funnels that prevent bubbles (and make it a lot easier to fill the thing up...) as well.

And for that matter, it would probably be a good idea if I replaced the wire clamps with worm gear clamps (even the Haynes manual says so)...

I get the feeling that simply sand/bead-blasting the water pump wouldn't be a bad idea, since the bearings seem OK (I don't remember just how rusty it was... it's been a while since I've popped it off).

 

Hmm... seems that I have a coolant leak on the throttle body coolant hoses.

Guess I need to replace them... (damn... 60 dollars as a set for all of the TB hoses)

I think I might have seen something spray out of my hood when I give it the business (redlined) a few days ago, and I'd been worried about that. It must have been the coolant from the top hose (it's pooling up on top of the upper intake manifold).

It also explains why there's coolant on the ground on my parking spot...

I also have an oil leak on the oil cooler's top banjo bolt, so I have to replace the washers.

I think maybe I'll just go home and pull off my oil pan to fix the oil leaks once and for all (although that seems unlikely), since I'm tired of leaving oil drips everywhere.

 

To answer your sarcasm: Keep doing it, after a year or two you'll have picked your way through the entire car. My friend with a 240sx (1997) can't stand the fact that every time he takes something apart or upgrades something 2-3 bolts break/shear/strip/round off. I've *never* had that problem with my car unless I over torqued something. His car is still 8 years newer then mine.

 

I know, I'll eventually fix most of the problems caused by it being old, but it's a really long list of problems...

I've still got a rusty sunroof and two small holes that I need to fix... and I should probably get the rust under the car removed and patched up.