please help guys... coolant started leaking (rant)
 

damn it guys!!! .... i checked up on my car today and wanted to go check on the coolant level .... i open of the filler cap and *boom* coolant starts spraying all over the place.... i say about 2-3 fluid ounces all over the engine bay... i close the filler cap wiped off all the excess coolant off i could see. i then start the engine to see if somethine was wrong.... as the car heated up a start noticing coolant dripping from underneath the car on the passenger side.... at first i thought it was just coolant that i didn't wipe of and was just the excess then all of a sudden i started noticing that it kept on spilling so i was all like oh ShizZit!!! :eek: i turn the car off and watch in horror as the coolant kept on spilling out on the driveway... then the gurguling sound starts from the engine bay and i say to myself ..." sh!t my car is dying" cuz it looks like green monster blood dripping from underneath. My friends came over and they tell me that i shouldn't worry too much cuz it might just be a hose that popped off cuz this has never happened before... the wierd thing is is that this is the first time i tried opening the filler cap... and this is the first time coolant started spilling from my car since i bought it in sept.... :( damn it ! now i have an oil leak, a vacuum leak, and a coolant leak ... Sh1t ! i love my car but it hates me... somebody help me please what do you guys think is wrong with my 7 in regards to this coolant problem?

Stock 93' touring edition 5speed w/ 62,000 original miles

thanks
-93'roadwarrior

You need to pressure test the cooling system.


It sounds like it is losing pressure somewhere in the system, via small hole or busted o-ring, and there is no pressure to suck coolant out of the resevoir. It just keeps filling it up until it comes out the neck of it.


Also start up your car with the cap off and check for bubbles coming up to the top.


If that is the problem, and your pressure was screwed up, I don't know why it would spurt coolant everywhere when you took off the cap, unless you did it while it was hot.

The car does not hate you. It's trying to keep you on your toes.

The filler cap? Do you mean the reservoir or the upper most rad cap?

the filler cap... next to the intake manifold .. the one that has a yellow sticker on it that says filler-cap and do not open when hot....:( my friends and i just opened up the engine bay, gutting out some of the inards of the beast, ( airbox and hoses ) and filled up the car with distilled water at the filler cap. sure enough i have a leak somewhere as coolant and water dripped onto the garage floor from these small hoses near the oil pan... wtf ??? anybody have any ideas on what i should do next?

thanks

- 93'roadwarrior

Sounds like someone got a little crazy with a screwdriver while you guys were "gutting the innards" and punctured one of the coolant lines or didn't tighten up a bolt. Shouldn't be too hard to find the leak, and it'd take no time for a shop to pressure test and ID.

Try the main hose under the airbox, as that's near the area you were screwing around in.

nope we didn't puncture any hoses when taking out the airbox... what i'm trying to get at is... has this ever happened to anyone else here on the forum?

open up the filler cap and coolant starts leaking from small hoses under the intake manifold near the oil pan... seems kind of odd... do you guys think it was leaking already and by opening the filler cap i modified the pressure that the cooling system is used to therefore causing a major leak from one of the lines? my coolant level is totally empty now because of this leak...

what is causing my coolant leak and what should i do to prevent this type of thing from happening again in the future...? how much do you folks think it would it be to replace all the hosing for the cooling system and vacuum lines? also... what type of hoses worked out the best for you folks...and where can i get a better radiator and for how much?

thanks a million
-93'roadwarrior

Man, I'm breakin' my brain trying to figure out where you are saying the leak is from. Do you mean four smallish rough textured lines that run down the face of the engine on the left hand side as you are looking at the engine? Run down to a couple banjo bolts? These would be the oil metering pump lines. I've seen coolant run off of them when I overfilled the filler neck, they are in the gravity flow path from there. I also recall seeing coolant from there when my water pump was dying (I think I've had every coolant problem there is!).

For pricing of coolant hoses, look at mazdatrix.com. there are 14 hoses. Really.

Fluidyne rad drops right in, Koyo drops in with a little fightling. Both cool well, better with the manual control fan mod. I paid $425 from my Fluidyne, and I paid too much!

If I were you, I'd go to NAPA and get a coolant system pressure tester and adapter for small (import) radiator necks. I'd fill the filler neck, put the tester on there, and pressurize. You find the source of the leak pretty quick. If you are feeling adventuresome, try pulling the crossover tube, the black one that comes from the turbos to the intercooler. there is a coolant hose just underneath there that might run coolant down the face of the engine if it were leaking...

haha thanks for all the help bro imma try that... how much would it cost to replace the whole cooling system lol i'm getting pretty ticked off with trouble-shooting this damn thing :) i can't seem to find the leak anywhere... :confused: i think me and you are on the same page here about the four oil metering line thingamabobs connected to the who'sawhat banjo bolts i'mma try again tomarrow to find whats wrong:D

Ya, You lost me too. The whole cooling system in some peoples eyes may mean an engine rebuild, because there are gaskets in the engine that can go out and often due. This most likely would not cause an external leak though.

What I would do is completely dry everything off. Make sure the coolant is as full as you can get it at that time. Start the car and let it warm up (t-Stat open). Get under it and watch the coolant hit you in the face. If you don't want to do that, go get it pressure tested by a shop. Hell you can buy the equipment at any auto parts store almost.

Any chance you pinched the line between the radiator and the expansion tank when you were putting things back together?

haha mann a coolant bath huh? yea i think imma try that... lol shizznit... naw i actually tried that i think the next thing imma do is get it pressure tested... the airbox is still in pieces cuz i didn't put it back together yet... i just hope my car will be up and running in time for wednesday night drag races this season...:(

make sure you don't misplaced the coolant caps, there's Two, if your FD has separtor.

hmmm i just found out that i opened up the thermostat cap... and that, that cap is where the coolant sprayed out from when i opened it up... as to why my coolant is dripping from underneath i have no clue as to where it's comming from... and why it's dripping coolant underneath because i opened the thermo cap... what do you guys think?:confused: