im loosing coolant some how.... all my hoses are on and im still losing coolant. thinking of getting water pump and thermostat plus seals.

next question...

water pump. mechanical or electric ? which would be better and what brands are reliable?

thermostat. which ones are reliable?

please keep in mind im working on building up to between 300-350 rwhp so i need parts that will handle temp and pressures.

 

personally I wouldn't replace the water pump or thermostat until you find the leak. I replaced my water pump and thermostat with the one from rx7.com and 13,000 miles later Ive never had any issues.

 

+1 on trying to diagnoise where the water volume loss is coming from.

That being said, I spent a few weeks last year trying to track down missing coolant and it turned out to be coming from a failed bearing on my original water pump. I was able to determine this by tracing a very faint leak back to the water pump pulley itself. In the end, I replaced it with an OEM unit, but if I had to do it again, I might have gone with one of the aftermarket water pumps with an improved water impeller.

 

Check your dipstick for any contaminant. If you're seals are going out you should see a dark substance collecting on the fluid level indicator.

Are yous till running the factory AST? Those tend to crack and leak.

Also, Mazda OEM thermostats are your best option

If you want a second set of eyes you're welcome to stop by my place Thursday or Friday if you're free. Just PM me for my info

Tim

 

Also, have you noticed any leaks? Or just disappearing coolant? Have you done any recent oil changes, coolant changes, etc? Give me some more dirt on what exactly you have done and found

 

i checked all the hoses, dip stick, and every thing i can see from the top. every thing on top looks good. from the bottom... all hoses are good, there appears to be green fluid in the fins of the inter cooler (i think) which is on top?

 

Most likely a bad AST if you have coolant on your IC. The AST is mounted to that and if you have the stock one it's probably cracked at one of the seams. Do you have an upgraded metal AST, or still the stock plastic AST if I remember right

 

it is still stock. i have a aluminum AST on on order but it have been on back order.

 

rent or buy a coolent system pressure tester. plugs into the rad cap then u pum,p it up see if it starts leaking somewhere/ is losing pressure.

 

Well the only coolant system components near the IC are the hoses to the AST and the ASt itself. One other unlikely possibility is a leak in the coolant hose to the back of the throttle body spraying forward, but it should be evident in other areas as well. Most likely the AST. Take 10-15 mins to remove it and inspect is thoroughly

 

could it be the O ring on the intake, it would be on the passenger side. or does your windshield fog up when you turn the heater on, you could have a heater core leak? Lift up the rug on the passengers side and see if you find any water.

 

no heatercore is fine.....no fogging of windows... so that nerrows it down to the AST area...so as soon as i get back from being at sea then i will have a look.

 

well thats one less thing to hunt down.

HAPPY Sailing