My temp gauge's been acting a bit funny. Like it usually goes up to around 1/2 of the circle. But recently it's been only going up like 1/10. The car still seems to be running fine. Though there has been a fuel smell. Not sure if they're related. Any ideas anyone?

 

Possibly a thermostat suck open. That would cause for low temps, which would in turn cause rich mixtures.

 

You mean the "water thermo sensor"? I'm looking on page 4B-46 of the FSM and I don't see anything about it being stuck. They just have a test to make sure the resistance changes with water temperature. But then again, I'm at school, so tomorrow I'll be home and play around with it and see if I can see what you mean by stuck.

 

that happened to me. Its probably your sensor. Clean it out or buy a new one.

 

No, if I meant water thermo sensor I would've said water thermo sensor. I said thermostat, which controls water flow to the radiator and hence the engine's temp. Look in the Cooling System chapter.

 

Ahh...I see. Many thanks. Kinda wish the FSM was text-based, so that I could search through it. Oh well. Make that my project over winter break.

 

heh, replacing a thermostat is a one-day event, not a winter-break project. heh, assuming thats the problem, of course! also, many people will say to stick to the Mazda thermostat, not a parts store one.

 

One day? Hell you can do in under an hour as part of a cooling system flush.

Definitely use Mazda thermostats.

 

I meant rewriting the FSM as a text-based PDF so that I could search through it as a winter project.

 

Gotta love it!!! This is how I pass the time at work-Hilarious!!! Right to the point!!!

 

Oops, now I see what you meant.