Spitting Coolant
05-10-04, 05:36 AM
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Spitting Coolant
My Car sprays its coolant after a few minutes of operation. BUT!!! The amount of loss does not increase with engine speed idle to redline I get one violent ejaculation every 5 to ten seconds. I have bled and bled and bled the cursed cooling system. The best I have achieved is a longer 20-25 minutes before the sudden water/vapor ejaculations retuned. Once they start the system empties itself in short order. The water pump is less than a year old. I have replaced the thermostat twice. The cap once. I also tried switching to an electric fan because the old slip clutch died and the Mazda replacement was half-again the price of a thermostat equipped electric. The symptoms don’t precisely match a leaking internal seal. My exhaust is not sweat. But I find no external evidence of coolant loss either. It just seem to boil inside then have one small eruption after another.
05-10-04, 02:26 PM
#3
How is Germany? I miss living there!
Here is a test to see if you need a new motor:
I think my engine has been overheated. How can I check to see if the coolant seals are good?
Fill coolant system ALL THE WAY UP (engine cold). Make sure that the fluid level is as high as you can get it. Leave the filler cap off. Remove the EGI fuse. Crank the motor (it should not start). If you get a LARGE amount of coolant coming out of the coolant fill, its safe to assume your coolant seals are blown. Also, a good indication is a fuel/exhaust smell in the coolant.
Here is a test to see if you need a new motor:
I think my engine has been overheated. How can I check to see if the coolant seals are good?
Fill coolant system ALL THE WAY UP (engine cold). Make sure that the fluid level is as high as you can get it. Leave the filler cap off. Remove the EGI fuse. Crank the motor (it should not start). If you get a LARGE amount of coolant coming out of the coolant fill, its safe to assume your coolant seals are blown. Also, a good indication is a fuel/exhaust smell in the coolant.
05-12-04, 06:08 AM
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I found a garage that used a Carbon Monoxide sniffer on my coolant as the bubbles came out. It is sure now "new engine needed", there was a lot of exhaust gas in my coolant.
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05-13-04, 05:49 PM
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well now that he has his question figured out i have a question now.... the other day my add coolant light came on for all of 2 seconds and went off. i continued my journey the rest of the way home and when i got home checked it. it was just a little low so i topped it off. then start it up for work this morning and the add coolant light comes on and stays on while im still in the driveway so i pop the hood and open up the radiator and it was a 1/2 liter short. i looked in my overflow bottle and sure enough i found where some if not all of my coolant had went. Now here is the weird thing, my car has never overheated. Everytime ive checked it since i started having this problem it has not been bubbling coolant. My temp guage has never been over half way and under normal driving conditions it stays around 1/4 of the way up and if im running around 90mph or above its right below halfway. So at this point im assuming its my coolant seals. well i pop my water pump filler cap off and start the car, there was no geyser, there wasnt even ANY damn bubbles i let the car run for 3 minutes with no cap on the filler neck and i didnt see one bubble not even any small ones. Does this mean my coolant seals are ok? Also i have the wrong caps on both my radiator and water pump filler neck so that might have something to do with it, but ive owned this car for 1 year and it has always had those same caps on it and the problem just started within the last few days.
thanks james
thanks james
05-13-04, 06:10 PM
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either your cap return relief function has gone bad, or you have a small hole in either the overflow tank or the tubing attaching it to the rad overflow, ruining the vacuum that is supposed to draw the coolant back into the rad...My guesses 
05-13-04, 06:13 PM
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could you explain a little better what exactly "cap return relief function" is and does? And i think you are on to something cause my car has never ever pulled any of the water out of the over flow tank and it has been low before. Can you extrapolate on your idea wayne?
05-13-04, 06:17 PM
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your rad cap should have two distinct functions built into it
1) a 19 (or so) psi relief valve to allow hot expanding coolant to "escape" to the overflow bottle, and
2) a vacuum actuated "return" valve to allow the fluid to return to the rad during cooldown
the terminology is prolly not quite right, but that's the nuts and bolts of it...
1) a 19 (or so) psi relief valve to allow hot expanding coolant to "escape" to the overflow bottle, and
2) a vacuum actuated "return" valve to allow the fluid to return to the rad during cooldown
the terminology is prolly not quite right, but that's the nuts and bolts of it...
05-13-04, 06:30 PM
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yeh, that's the easiest thing to check first- take a good look at the tubing run, paying particular attention to areas that are in contact with the rad edges or other components...even better, take it out & do a good visual on it...these cars have so many different cap/ overflow arrangements it's hard to troubleshoot from the 'puter edit- also make sure the overflow bottle cap is sealing nicely when closed
edit- also make sure the overflow bottle cap is sealing nicely when closed
05-13-04, 06:31 PM
#14
Originally posted by WAYNE88N/A
your rad cap should have two distinct functions built into it
1) a 19 (or so) psi relief valve to allow hot expanding coolant to "escape" to the overflow bottle, and
2) a vacuum actuated "return" valve to allow the fluid to return to the rad during cooldown
the terminology is prolly not quite right, but that's the nuts and bolts of it...
your rad cap should have two distinct functions built into it
1) a 19 (or so) psi relief valve to allow hot expanding coolant to "escape" to the overflow bottle, and
2) a vacuum actuated "return" valve to allow the fluid to return to the rad during cooldown
the terminology is prolly not quite right, but that's the nuts and bolts of it...
05-13-04, 11:02 PM
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my brand new professionally installed motor was doing the same thing, it wouldn't suck the coolant back into the radiator when it cooled off. Couldnt find any leaks either. So I just added another over flow bottle. This one was hooked to a hose that ran to the t-neck. I routed the hose over to the drivers side inner fender where I mounted a first gen over flow bottle. Viola! problem solved.
05-14-04, 07:25 AM
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well i have a spare 2nd gen overflow bottle i might swap into it i hope that will help.
And to answer wayne: yes the over flow tube is coming off a nipple firectly under the radiator cap and yes the rad pressure cap have been changed and are not the right ones. ive got to drive this car to work today so will let you guys know the outcome.
And to answer wayne: yes the over flow tube is coming off a nipple firectly under the radiator cap and yes the rad pressure cap have been changed and are not the right ones. ive got to drive this car to work today so will let you guys know the outcome.
05-14-04, 07:53 AM
#20
One other thing you might want to take a look at is the water pump. When the seal around the bearing on it goes, it will leak out the weep hole just below the pulley.
When mine went it wouldn't leak until high rpms, so looking around the engine bay at idle or a few taps of the throttle revealed nothing. but run it at 4-grand rpm and you could see a steady but small leak. Of course at that speed as soon as it hit the front cover it would evaporate, making it hard to find the leak in the first place.
Just though I'd add one of my experiences. hope it helps
Forgot to and that my over flow bottle would fill but the coolant wouldn't suck back into the system. Perhaps it would lose its vacuum through the leak as well
When mine went it wouldn't leak until high rpms, so looking around the engine bay at idle or a few taps of the throttle revealed nothing. but run it at 4-grand rpm and you could see a steady but small leak. Of course at that speed as soon as it hit the front cover it would evaporate, making it hard to find the leak in the first place.
Just though I'd add one of my experiences. hope it helps
Forgot to and that my over flow bottle would fill but the coolant wouldn't suck back into the system. Perhaps it would lose its vacuum through the leak as well
Last edited by seveninphilly; 05-14-04 at 08:03 AM.
05-15-04, 01:28 AM
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Originally posted by sunshineacid
just bite the bullet and spend 10 whole dollars on a new cap and a 2 ft section of hose @autozone.
they carry universal caps for EVERYTHING.
just bite the bullet and spend 10 whole dollars on a new cap and a 2 ft section of hose @autozone.
they carry universal caps for EVERYTHING.
05-15-04, 01:48 AM
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i have never *once* had a problem with a universal rad cap on any car ive ever worked on.
not to mention pcv valves, hoses, or pumps of any sort.
i did have a problem with a replacement mazda radiator though. but iirc it was an OEM replacement, and some cool guy painted it black before the seals were put in, so it leaked. whatever the case, autozone has a great "if **** doesnt work, bring it back" policy.
so imho, get the rad cap from autozone. if **** doesnt work.... bring it back?
save yourself some cash.
if it doesnt work, youve lost nothing.
not to mention pcv valves, hoses, or pumps of any sort.
i did have a problem with a replacement mazda radiator though. but iirc it was an OEM replacement, and some cool guy painted it black before the seals were put in, so it leaked. whatever the case, autozone has a great "if **** doesnt work, bring it back" policy.
so imho, get the rad cap from autozone. if **** doesnt work.... bring it back?
save yourself some cash.
if it doesnt work, youve lost nothing.