smg944

iTrader: (34)

started my car today and let it idle for a while. well got back in the car to see 111*C water temps on my pfc. well my car sat for about a month and a half without any coolent in it. so i am figuring my thermostat locked up. going to order one from mazda tomorrow morning. now i am wondering did i damage anything? it was sitting at idle and i shut it off as soon as i seen the temps. i let it cool and started it again and drove it up the road. as soon as the temps hit 85*C, they skyrocketed up again to 105*C, shut her off and rolled it down to my house. touched the radiator and it was ice cold, along with the ast, but the filler neck was hot. well im figureing the thermostat, so i was just wondering if i damaged anything?

adam c

iTrader: (2)

111 degrees celcius ......... what is that? 232 F.??

If thats right, it isn't a problem.

Another reason not to let your car run while you are not in it ( read between the lines ... cough cough turbo timers suck cough cough)

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

should be fine, a little higher and i would be worried, however. Time will tell.

BigIslandSevens

iTrader: (4)

231.8 degrees F. Your OK. Figure out what is causing the hot air pocket or hot spot of coolant.

And whether you were in the car or not the same thing would have happened, so it isn't the turbo timers fault Adam. If your system is working properly , you should not be "afraid" to walk away from your car when it is idleing. If you are,.. Then you have some mechanical competency problems beside the car ...I.E. Get a better mechanic or do a better job yourself.

adam c

iTrader: (2)

No, if he were in the car, he would have shut it off sooner. It would never have gotten that hot. Leaving your car running while you are away from it is an invitation for a problem........ like this one. If he had waited a few more minutes, the car would have overheated severely, possibly blowing the motor. Never let your car run if you are not around.

jeremyb

Ok, before bigislandsevens and adam get into the whole turbo timer deal... exactly HOW long did you "walk away" from the car? Started your car... was it a cold start? It takes a while to warm the car up at idle from a cold start. You say after a while yuo started it back up and immediately saw it shoot up. It does sounds like an air pocket. After you change your T-stat just burp the sytem for a few days. I hope everything works out.

Adam, I don't see anything wrong with leaving your car idling for a minute. I'm not going to argue AGAINST your theory of having a turbo timer being and idiotic idea, but I'm not gonna agree with it either. You do have a point that if he would have left his car idling a bit longer there would have been problems, but I have also seen gunked up oil lines due to immediate shut down after a hard run. I also see cooling differences when using a turbo timer because I have the fan mod to hold them on while idling. With immediate shut down and holding the fans on, I see 103 ºC +. With the timer set for a minute and 20 seconds, with the fans on and holding on for about 10 minutes after shut down, I don't even reach over 98ºC. These temps were recorded in a time period of 20 minutes. From the point of leaving the car to coming back to check the temps.

Jeremy

BigIslandSevens

iTrader: (4)

I don't have a positive or negative view on TTimers. I simply am stating that if the car were mechanically sound and the person doing the work was competent, Then there is absolutely nothing to worry about if you are not in the car.

Soo many people here jinx themselves into problems by being so damn paranoid that things are wrong. if you have to be "that" paranoid, then there are other issues besides the car. Mainly who did the work.

I have NO reservations about letting my car idle all day long by itself. I am completely sure of all my work and all the work on customers cars. If something goes bad, it will happen even if you are in the car. The argument that you are quicker than the ECU is bogus.Unless you are flash gordon with super mad fast ignition switch skillz yo!!

That's all. Take it for what it's worth. But again, i wouldn't bat an eye at letting my car idle all day long ALONE!. Other than all the gas i wasted instead of having fun in the car.

This is almost equal to all the people that ask whether they can take the FD on a 3 hour road trip. If you can NOT, you need a better technician. Who would notice things that might prevent or hamper your journey.

I use a TT to run my fans after shut-down. I don't let it idle, mainly because i get tired of people chasing me down in stores to tell me something is wrong with the car cause it is still running.

smg944

iTrader: (34)

well my car was at 70*C when i left it for about 3 mins, and i came back it was 111*C. so it was quick, thats the last time i leave my car running without me there. as for turbo timers, on our cars ..... after my experience i dont know if i would use one , they are good for the average daily driver.

jeremyb

Yup sounds like you have an air pocket, if you aren't experiencing bogging, crazy white smoke at start up, etc. Just do as I said and let us know the results to assure that the problem was what we predicted and to know it has been solved.

Jeremy