my car was starting to over heat, so i killed it right away bf it got crazy. it was leeking antifreez from the overflow. so i changed the thermostate, and refilled the radior and such with fluid. the car ran fine for about and hour or so, at perfect temp as always, and then it began to over heat again? what else can it be, info ideas, sugestions?

 

clogged radiator, slipping belt, bad waterpump.

 

what belt would it be? what type of themostate should i use, waterpump? how can i tell if my radiator clogged?

 

If its purging coolant into the overflow for no apparent reason.... might be a bad coolant seal... cross your fingers though.

Also.. use an OEM thermostat ONLY. Do not use auto-parts-store thermostats.

Do you have any visible leaks other than the overflow?

 

nope just the overflow, so i should go to mazda tomorrow and get an oem one, would my coolant seal go that bad that fast?

 

It CAN.. and yes.. getting an OEM thermostat is a great idea!

 

i'm gonna vote coolant seal...

 

how much would that cost to fix/ how hard.

 

Its a rebuild.. and you are looking 900+

900 if you do it yourself.

More like 2500 realistically.

 

if it comes to that anyone wana buy a 10th a.e

 

If you do a soft seal rebuild and you do it yourself expet to pay less than $500. Including fluids and new hoses. Assuming you dont destroy the bearings and you dont NEED apex seals etc.

 

clogged radiator?

 

man, ya'll assume the worst! That seems to be the case with rotaries though! "low compression! bad coolant seal!"

my vote is a shot water pump! it's easy to check for the former two problems, but definitely don;t get anything other than an OEM thermostat!

 

Try changing the rad cap? Also, definetly get a OEM thermostat.

 

Well, that took a while... ^

Rad cap...OEM only. Easy to replace. If the pressure valve on it went bad, it would leak to the overflow and not keep the pressure at 13psi like it's supposed to. I'd do this first, since it's so easy, before moving on to other causes.

To check the coolant seals, start the car with the cap off and the engine cold. See if you get a **** load of bubbles (like champagne wine). If you do, check compression. But first, change the cap.

 

get oem thermostat make sure u burp the system u could have a bubble stuck at the thermostat that would keep the system from cycling through which would make it dump into the overflow (had that problem)

 

Basically, this is what you're looking at for a list of causes:

• Blocked radiator
  1. Corrosion or sediment buildup
• Air added to system
  1. Boiling coolant
     1. Slipping/bad water pump
     2. Bad thermostat
  2. Bad coolant seals on block

To check for a blocked radiator: with engine cool, remove upper fill cap near thermostat, and start car. When engine reaches op. temp., coolant should flow freely through the neck without overflowing. If clogged, backflush and clean your system. If coolant never starts to flow through the neck and the reservoir starts overflowing again, the thermostat is not opening or your water pump is shot beyond all definitions of the word "shot".

Your water pump could be slipping and allowing the system to overheat. This is often caused by loose belts, or a missing belt if your air pump was removed. Tighten belts or add the duel alternator pulley if the air pump is gone. The water pump can also be bad, but almost always it will leak through the weep hole if this is the case. You said you replaced the thermostat, so that's unlikely to be the culprit unless you installed some weird 'performance' replacement.

Coolant seals can be checked for as explained in an earlier post.

 

****.. forgot the rad cap. I jump to conclusions...

Compression tests are like AIDS tests..... You want to know the results, but you don't.. That's why I always jump to that conclusion. Get it out of the way first. If you have good compression, you can have peace of mind.

 

how can i do a compression check. also how can i unclog my radior, there was some crossion on the upper radior hose when i took it off, also there was no coolant in it..

 

i used a pep boys themostat thats set for 180deg.

 

so now can someone tell me step by step what should i do.

 

from least expensve to most lol