Listed below are the symptoms that I bought the car with. I am draining the oil tomorrow to see if there is coolant in the oil. I am losing coolant pretty quick(within a half an hour, but the car has never smoked, at all. So if there is no coolant in the oil tomorrow, what will it mean? Thank you so much.


I bought it assuming that the coolant seals were bad, but I want to just make 100% sure that they are before I spend 2k on a motor. Here are the symptoms.
1.The car over heated with the owner, he replaced the tstat, that didn't work.
2.His mechanic told him that there were bad coolant seals. He sold it to me 2 days ago.
3.My friend Robbie who owns an FD himself came over today. We burped the coolant system a little bit, added coolant and let it idle. It was fine and temp was perfect and there has never been any smoke.
4.We decided to drive it just to see if she would show any signs of overheating. We drove it for about a half an hour and the temp never budged, at stop lights or anywhere.
5.We get back to my house and as I am backing up the hill to my drive way, the coolant buzzer goes off and she began to slightly overheat.
6.The AST which is a 1.3 bar AST cap(which Robbie said could have a small link to the problem) was hissing like a snake and you could hear the coolant boiling and flowing right over to the overfill tank.
7.We are confused as to what it could be, here are the ideas that he came up with.
A.The AST cap is the wrong one and it is sending the coolant over to the overfill tank way too quickly.
B.Since the car was not driven much, and there is like algae down in the AST tank, the coolant system may have **** loads of air pockets, and or a blockage somewhere(this is what RIKKI suggested)
C.And last case and worse case scenario the coolant seals are bad. But the problem he has with this is that even if they are bad you should still be able to drive the car as long as the coolant stays topped off, unless the coolant seals are horrible. But if they were that bad and they leaked coolant that fast there should be **** loads of smoke coming out the exhaust, if not then where the hell is all of the coolant going? I AM SO SORRY ABOUT THE LONG POST, JUST WANT TO MAKE CERTAIN I AM NOT REPLACING A MOTOR FOR NO REASON.

 

It has overheated twice, but as soon as it happened the car was shut off and not driven again. As I said the car does not smoke one ounce, and I checked the oil this morning to see if there was coolant in it. If the seals are that bad, and they leak that fast, then it should either smoke or have coolant in the oil. Well it doesn't smoke, and it doesn't seem to have coolant in the oil. It would be pretty obvious right? I am going to look at the oil a little closer, if there is no coolant in it then what the hell do I do next?

 

So is there still a chance that I don't need a new motor? I don't get it, the coolant leaks out, the car rises in temp, and then the coolant buzzer comes on. Could be coolant seals but there is absolutely no smoke, and there is no coolant in the oil. Why is it a leak if it comes from the passanger side? Please tell me that I might not need an engine.

 

I wouldn't give up hope on that engine just yet. I always start with the simple basic stuff first. Have you checked to see if the fans are operating properly? I'd also go to the dealer and buy two brand new caps for the filler neck and the AST. After you put the new caps on, give it another brief test, but don't start the engine as it is. You don't want to overheat it again. If either of these things seem to work, I'd also change the coolant because you said you've got a nasty residue in it.

Of course, if you've changed the oil and it's full of coolant, then the engine is toast. I hope that isn't the case.

Good luck, and let us know how it works out.

 

Just saw your 2nd post about the leak from the passenger side. You're not clear on where it's coming from. Is it coming from the overflow tank? If so, that's an indication that combustion gases are getting into the coolant and it means you have a blown coolant seal.
Or is it leaking from a hose or the radiator? (A problem more fixable than a blown engine.)

 

this seems to happen alot with our cars, you would not be able to see it but i bet there is a crack in your overflow tank in the fender. it expands with hot coolant. cheaper then a new engine, first buy a new one with your new caps. u can do a search on how to bandage it temporarily too, just to see if its the problem. then, go smell your exhaust. NO exhaust smells sweet unless youve got coolant burning somewhere! i dont care how fresh the paint is on that candy apple.

 

it doesn't relaly sound like you have to change your motor. If the coolant seals were bad, u would have coolant in the oil as well burning up coolant and smelling it out of the exhaust. Check ALL the paths of the coolant, every darn hose container, cap, eerything. There has to be a leak in there somewhere. Also coolant in oil isn't too hard to spot.

Also i heard of some sort of leakfind tester kit. You can safely add it to coolant or oil and you use ultraviolet light to find out where the leaks are. Maybe it's worth it to buy yourself the mazda repair manual and find something in there too.

you have one nice car and if you get it running it's a steal. If you happen to replace the motor, it's still a steal.

Danny

 

What I don't understand is why you seem to disregard the advice that you have been given previously:

"If you can't determine the problem, then take the car to a qualifed rotary expert (or experts if you want a second opinion) and they can run some tests to find out what is going on."

Why would you just pull your engine if you can't determine the problem and you haven't had an expert look at it?

 

DON'T PULL THE MOTOR.

I was in a similar situation: blowing coolant out, buzzer every time I drive. Except that after the K&W Block Weld, I only have to add coolant before I drive. I've got like 1300 miles out of it already. Who knows how long it'll last?

 

If its leaking from the motor area check the turbo coolant hoses.

 

I agree with 93 R1. I just replaced the turbo cooloant hoses. They weren't leaking but they were hard as rock. Only a matter of time before they **** the bed.

 

I had a similar problem recently (in the middle of a 2200 mile trip). The coolant buzzer would go off every time I'd start the car, and stay on for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Every time I drove the car, let it cool down, and checked the coolant level, it would drop. I'd add more coolant, but the coolant would end up getting thrown back into the overflow bottle, which would fill up, and dump the excess coolant onto the ground on the passenger side. I ended up putting some Bars Leak stuff in the coolant, and its been fine so far. I've put about 1400 miles on it since... I think I had leaking coolant seals, but until they give me problems again, I'm just gonna drive it.

Right after I bought the car (about 7 months ago), I replaced every single vac hose and coolant hose on the car, so I know it wasn't a leaking hose.

 

HEE, HAW, HAH, HAH, Bar's Leaks only works for a time. The next step up is the Block Weld. Might as well go straight to the Block Weld b/c the Bar's Stop Leak gunk the crap out of my motor.

 

See if you can find the source of the leak first before you try Block Weld. If it's the turbo hoses or something like that, no sense in putting that stuff in your engine. If on the other hand, your coolant seals really are gone, then you've got nothing lose, and it's worked pretty well for some people. Start with the simple and cheap stuff first and work your way up. Finding where that coolant is coming from shouldn't be too hard to spot.

 

Jconn is on the money once again...... turbo coolant hoses.......
everyone always forgets them since they are out of sight. They are actually pretty easy to replace with a set of long, curved, needle nose hose pliers. Make sure you replace both of them. They rarely fail outright, but get so hard that you'll have trace amounts of coolant leaking out past the clamps when the engine gets hot. Just enough to drive you freakin' crazy, and impossible to detect when the engine is hot and running since the coolant vaporizes so fast.

If you want to check it - first pressurize the system when the engine is stone cold with a radiator pressure tester and stick a mechanic's stethescope down there with a small metal extension pipe on the tip and probe around a little - you'll hear it hissing ever so slightly.

Use NEW OEM clamps while you're at it. Do not use worm drive clamps or they will just chew through the hose from heat cycling over time. (Besides that you would need to be Houdini to get them tight)

If your O rings are toast, check for "champagne" bubbles in the coolant filler neck as the engine heats up. If they are small you may be able to fix it with CRC block weld. It's one of the very few chemical fixes that actually does work.