Hey guys,

I drove my 2nd gen nonturbo about 2500 miles on the 4th of july weekend. I have about 170 K miles on it and it still does great. Anyways, didnt have any problems on the road. I had my radiator replaced before the trip (cuz it was leaking). Had it done at Breakmasters. They replaced all hoses as well.
Anyways, so i come home (Albuquerque, NM) and i drive for a while in slowly moving trafic and the temperature gauge start going up (from bout 25 % to about 75%). I was all worried it was gonna overheat, but once i started moving a bit faster the temperature went down to about 33%. The thing was that i was in the slow trafic for only about 2 minutes and my car (my daily commuter) used to be able to stay fine even in 15 minute trafic jams.

Do you know if this is normal or what i should take a look at?

Thanks.

 

Make sure they installed the lower stone shield and shrouds. Also check the front of the radiator for road kill

 

A: make sure there is no air in your coolant lines and your coolant is full
B: if it's an electric fan,, make sure it's working..
if it's a normal fan.. make sure it's spinning at idle the clutch may be bad...

 

oh and a traffic jam is more than 15 min.

 

Not normal(me too).
Sounds like an airflow problem.
First check the simple stuff(cold beer in fridge during troubleshooting).
With a cold engine, make sure that the radiator is full.
Test your antifreeze with a PH kit and one of those float thingies. Some shops use recycled antifreeze--great for the environment, bad for RX7. Purchase ONE of the following from a partsstore/speedshop--royal purple ice, redline water wetter, or CRC tow kool.
Make sure that the level in the reservoir/recovery bottle is higher hot than it is cold.
Test the mechanical fan clutch. Shut off hot engine and spin the fan by hand. Resistance(don't even ask how much, mine spins freely hot and doesn't overheat) should be felt. I can stop mine mech fan at idle with my hands. I also have 9.75 fingers, so again, don't ask.
And with all the money spent, please tell me that you have a new/recent genuine MAZDA thermostat and radiator cap. Any other brand has higher failure rate.

The fan clutch costs $200+. If it is bad, locate used good or switch to electric fan.
The thermostat/cap costs about $15 each at Mazdatrix.

And listen to Banzai---shrouds very important.

Give us more details after you check everything.
It shouldn't overheat after 15 minutes.

 

i had the same problem with my car once

about 2 weeks later if i was stoped i would have to rev it to like 2500 and it would stay real cool

about a week later after that if i want moving at all, it would over heat

later that same week, it would overheat not matter what

now when i start it up exhaust comes out the ol coolent overflow and funny colors come out of the exhaust pipe

hehe 15 min traffic jam, ive been at stoplights for almost that long

 

Actually, i did have a road kill! hmmm.
I'm gonna check that out

 

Thanks for all ideas so far guys. I'm gonna check it out after work tonight and get back to you with some results tomorrow.

 

Check your oil as well.

 

If it heats up when you slow down then cools down when you speed up, it’s always the fan. While all these other suggestions are good things to check, it’s very unlikely they’re the cause of this problem.
It’s really up to you whether you replace the fan’s clutch with a new one or replace the whole thing with an electric fan. If you do go electric, make sure you get a thermoswitch too.

 

I had a simmular problem. When I filled the rad, it had an air lock, allthough it seemed to be full it was down 4 litres. Also you might want to get your coolant system flushed and pressure checked.

 

My fan rotates freely with engine shut off. From what i understand, the fan clutch must be shot.

If i decide to go with electric fan, do i need to take the radiator out to put it on ? Also, i noticed that mazdatrix doesnt have any on their website. Where would i go to get an electric fan and what kind should i get ?

 

I have heard MANY times that the stock fan cools better than ANY electric fan. I have a known good fan clutch that I used for troubleshooting. If you want to buy it email me directly at toddkageals@***.net

 

That’s not quite the proper test. When the engine is cold, the fan should move quite freely with only a little resistance. Start the car and let it idle until it warms right up. Don’t let it overheat, if the temp starts to rise above normal then shut it off. Now check the fan and it should be much harder to turn (not solid but very stiff). If it isn’t, it’s shot.

 

I to had a real recent running hot/overheat problem. Replaced the fan clutch, thermostat. But was still overheating, then I realized my heater hose coming out of the firewall into the engine had a severe crack and I replaced it. It overheated approximately 4 times over the course of about 2 weeks! Now I am wondering could I have caused severe engine damage due to the overheating, and if yes what would the SIGNS be. Please HElp! Please email me at: staceerocks27@aol.com.

 

 

yes you could have. if it doesn't over heat anymore probably not.

 

Thanx for the reply. Since my fix (heater hose), it has been running perfectly. It hasn't seemed to indicate any engine problems from the 4 overheats, no white smoke at start-up due to bad water seals and such. So I'm hoping and thinking I got off lucky. It runs/operates and at a perfectly cool temperature, at normal range.