94FD Coolant leak?
 

When i first bought the car last week, for the first few days, under the passenger front of car, coolant was leaking, there may or may not have been some oil too. It would make a small puddle. Since then I have changed the oil and have not had a leak since. The other day I started my car and the "Add Coolant" light came on. I immediately stopped the car and added coolant. The light went off. I don't know if completely filled it, but I added atleast 1.5 quarts of coolant mixture. This morning (2 days later) when I started my car I got the same add coolant light. I added a good quart of coolant again. I do not see any coolant leaks after I stop the car. Any body have any ideas?

have the system pressure tested....

possibilties for leaks can arise from many areas..let hope not the o-rings...

You might have air in the cooling system,you have to burp the system over several drives.Just keep checking the coolant leval after you drive the car and after the motor cools down add coolant.Also keep a eye out for leaks .That might be youre only problem.

I had the same problem and it was my O-Rings. I hate to be a downer, but when I first posted the same question I was like "there's no way my motor is blown." I tryed everything to fix it but ended up pulling the motor a part and it was a coolant seal. Best thing to do is check for any other areas that the the leak may be coming from, replace your thermostat, do the proper coolent bleeding procedure and hope that fixes it.

exhaust smell like coolent ?
is it gettin' harder to start ?
is it getting hot rather quick ?

these are some signs of oring failure.....

Don't know what the exhaust smells like I will check. Its not hard to start, maybe 2 seconds.
It doesn't seem to get hot. maybe 4 or 5 minutes after driving it, the gauge goes to just under
half way and stays there.

The engine is very strong if that helps. I hope its not the o-ring.

Also, you probably should not add any more coolant, add distilled water instead. You should be running a 30/70 or 20/80 mix with our weather here. Too much coolant does not transfer heat effectively.

BTW, don't you have an appointment at Rick's later this week? Didn't I tell you not to drive the car until then? :)

yes...

I have an apointment with ricks on Saturday. You know I cant help but drive it. The Car fax I ran gave me interesting results BTW...
in Jan 1998 it hadd 80K miles on it, in may of 1999 it had 120K. on 6/21/2000 it had 133,050, but on 5/29/2001 it had only 133,361. When I bought it, ithad 138K.
Found some maintenance records in the car for around early 2000 that showed a 2400 bill for replacing gaskets and seals on the engine. The bill said that the
car check engine light came on and the car would not start, was leaking oil and coolant. They replaced gaskets and detected no leaks. That was only about 5K miles ago.
Now I am really confused.

It might just be coolant reservoir overflowing.

After your last message, sounds like the coolant seals are probably gone.

I had the same problem when I bought my FD. Mazda keep telling me the car was suppose to do that about the coolant light/buzzer. Idiots..

How much did you pay for the car?

I paid 12,700. The interior looks like new, not even the slightest scratch on the interior or wear on the tan seats. Its really amazing how clean the car is. The oustide paint is good, 2 small dings near the door. When I bought it, I knew I may or may not have to put money into it, to me the cars worth it.

Coolant seals expensive to replace?

Bad coolant seals mean a new engine. You paid a decent price for a car with excellent interior and exterior, all though the miles are a tad high. Before you get all paranoid and upset about the cost of rebuilding your engine, wait until Rick checks out the car. ;)

As rynberg said, wait for the car to be checked out. There are other things that could cause the problem you are having.

As for the coolant seals, that's basically a new remanufactured engine or an engine rebuild (so anywhere from $2500-5000 depending on the the turbos and other things).

$12.7k sounds pretty expensive. You KNEW the engine's going out right?

Well first off...

I knew that Its possible that the engine would need changed, yes. I tookt that in account. I test drove a 93 with 85K the day before, was not nearly as nice. Personally I think 12,7 for a 94 is cheap. The car looks and drives brand new. The owners must have driven it highway miles, which is why the seats are like new. I checked the kelly bb value and it was actually 12,700 for that mileage in clean condition. The fact is I have looked for a 94 or 95 and can never find one, if I can its usually about 17K or more. He wanted 15K for this one, I talked down. I figure I can replace the engine and then I have a new car. I paid cash for the car, its paid off so I don't have payment I can put money into it. You think I got ripped off? This is The bay area too.

Pressure test now
 

I don't know anyboddy that's had a stock radiator last that many miles. If you get the light on the water temp gauge, you are too low of coolant. The problem the previous owner may have had: The dealer asks if the car overheats. Well the temp guage normaly stays in the middle when running hot. There seems to be only 3 positions, cold, warm, too late. From warm to too late takes only 30 sec. So if he told the dealer it didn't overheat according to the temp gauge, they would have been stupid enough not to pressure check the radiator.

I used a whole bottle (supposed to use 1/2) of stop leak and that heald it pretty good untill my Fluidyne came in. Oh if you noticed, the warning light comes on but the temp gauge is still warm.

onecrazyguy, please keep us updated, my problem is kinda similar to yours, except i'm not low in coolant and the light/buzzer does not come on.
but i do have a bit of coolant spewing from my reservior tank on the passenger side.

I will let you know what happens when I get back from ricks on saturday. AS it stands now I have to put coolant in my car every other day. It leaks out front passenger side after I park.

You may just be overfilling it.

If you overfill it, it will kick out the excess after some driving.

I wish...I wish....

But if that were the case the low coolant light would not be coming on. I put about a about half a container of coolant in this morning.

When you park your car, your coolant stops circulating so it expands and overflows out of your reservoir on the passenger side. Its kinda like when you start sweating after you stop running. Also a very high possibility that no one mentioned is that your air separator tank cracked. This is the first thing that broke on my 94 and caused me to lose my coolant. I replaced it with an aftermarket one for about $100 and haven't had a problem since. Your stock radiator is liable to crack and will cause the same problem. Good luck on Saturday and btw, $12,700 is a pretty decent price for a clean 94 assuming your motor is not bad.

When the coolant light/buzzer comes on, is your coolant actually low?

If not, don't worry about adding coolant as it won't matter. At that point it's either a bad sensor or failed rings.

Just pouring more coolant into it when it's not really low will just have the excess dumped out of the car.



I guess what I'm saying is that the coolant leaking may be a result of you overfilling it. The coolant light/alarm is another problem.