Well heres my problem. This damn car has been leaking coolant for about a month or 2 now. It just pumps it out of the overflow bottle, but wont suck it back in. Ive talked with numerous people about this problem, even posted a while back when it started. Ive had people tell me it may be the water seals going, which the compresion would force the coolant the wrong way, and not let it be drawn back into the system. So..I tried running K&W block seal...didnt help at all. I flushed my coolant sytem..(numerous times), replaced thermostat, and rad cap, checked lines and hoses for weakness and leaks, they all looked good. So the other day I got another rad cap..thinking I may have just got a faulty one, flushed my system 1 more time, and then filled with new coolant(the red kind now ), and took her for a drive. Well....that was like 3 days ago......and no coolant leaking. !! Until yesterday, I was driving and the add coolant buzzer came on...I was pissed. I got home and it was absolutely pouring out the overflow bottle. More than it ever has. But it was fine for like 3 days before that..so what the f%ck is going on??? IM fairly certain it isnt a coolant seal problem. Could anyone shed any ideas on what I could do?? I am going to order all new OEM mazda parts now, (rad cap, thermostat, all new coolant lines), and replace everything 1 more time. Thats all the ideas I have. The car has never overheated, ever. Any ideas.....please?

 

Can you check the coolant seals by running the car (cold) without the radiator cap? That seems to me like a good way to see if the system is getting pressurized or not, but I don't know if you car do it on these cars.

 

Not sure exactly what you mean. Heres two ways Ive been told to see if the coolant seals are bad:
1) Pull egi fuse, take rad cap off. Then crank the engine and see if any bubbles are visible coming up
-I did this..could see no bubbles
2) Take off rad cap when car is cold, then start. Check for bubbles.
-Did this, no bubbles.

However my coolant does seem to pulse when the cap is off and I can see the coolant. It goes up and down about 1/2 inch Id say. Is that normal?

 

If the coolant seals are bad wont there be white sweet smelling smoke when you start the car?

 

Ive heard that unless the seals are completely shot, that white smoke would not occur. If it was just a small leak(pin sized hole), it would be enough for the compression to force coolant out, but not big enough for the coolant pressure to force through into the rotor housing. This is why I ran K&W block seal through the coolant system, because it probably would seal any very small holes. But no, my car does not smoke at all on startup, and has a very smooth ~900rpm idle.

 

Do a pressure test.

 

Thanks, I will do that. What kind of shops can I get that done at?? Should most any good place be able to do it?? Anyone else have any ideas?