gmpaul

So driving across country and so far 2600 miles done now im in illinois and the add coolant light comes on and the charge light comes on and a buzzer short first time medium second and long third....now if i go over 55 buzzer comes on [long] i checked the damn coolant and its fine and i checked the alternator and the battery and its running 12 ½ volts so wtf!!!!!!! Please help need answer by 0830 4/8/2012 thanks

projexladen

Have you checked the alternator belt? Maybe there's some slippage when you hit certain rpm's that is causing water pump and alternator to not work so well. (haven't looked at my rx7, but looks like they share an accessory belt in the manual)

Eduardo Santos

^What he said.

And also:
Your car may have coolant, but is the cooling system bled? If it isn't, there may be air bubbles in the cooling system causing the light and the buzzer to come on and also cause some overheating issues.

Akagis_white_comet

iTrader: (4)

+1 for bleeding the air out of your coolant. This is by far the biggest 'stupid problem' I've seen with my own S4 FC, but one of the easiest to remedy.

Open the radiator pressure cap and start the engine. Turn heat to full hot with fan speed maxed out. If there are any air bubbles, they will float to the top of the system (where the pressure cap is). Keep adding coolant so it stays full and you'll eventually get all the air out.

If the water pump/alternator belt is good, I'd say your alternator has conked out. When in perfect working order, the S4's alternator is marginal at best and would only put out maybe 50A on a good day. This was actually the first issue I had with my FC.

If your car is reasonably close to stock, upgrading to a 100 Amp FD alternator would really help out. It is a bolt-on upgrade that only requires slight modifications to work with the S4. S5 cars are wired the same as the FD.

You'll need the proper pulley either from Mazdatrix or Racing Beat and to upgrade the output cable to 4AWG. Japan2LA currently is offering FD alternators with a suitable pulley in 3 different colors for a great price. But if you have a thirsty E-fan such as a Taurus one, it will put you right back at square one by overworking the FD alternator.

Another option is the 130 Amp Taurus Alternator. It takes a bit of easy fabrication (two matching flat brackets with two holes), but no other stock alternator can beat it. My RB pulley fit right on it too, so Japan2LA's pulley should theoretically work the same. Just to be safe, ask before you buy.

The correct wiring diagram for both alternator upgrades is in my gallery. Use 4awg for the output cable and you'll be fine.

gmpaul

thanks guys what I wound up doing is this:: I removed the pressure cap on radiator and then removed the air bleeder plug i put heater on and ran the car i took the coolant from the coolant rez and started pouring that in the radiator eventually some white bubbles came afloat....the buzzer went immediately off...BUT NOW IM HAVING A NEW PROBLEM IVE BEEN FREAKING OUT cause of this past issue ive been driving three days since incident and for some reason the coolant rez has nothing in it i know i emptied it in to the radiator but still shouldn't it be sending and retrieving to the coolant rez? keep in mind the radiator is full of coolant but the rez has nothing in it???

Eduardo Santos

The reservoir, is supposed to be filled with coolant after doing the bleeding... And yes, after doing that, it will work properly.

NOTE: fill only up to the "High" mark. Do not over-do-it.