Just lately when i\'ve started my car up the coolent buzzer has been going on for about 10-15 seconds and then gone off. I\'ve checked the water lever straight away and some times it has been low, so i\'ve topped it back up. But on some occasions it seems to be right at the top. I havent noticed any fluid under the car before i get in and the water temperature doesnt go any higher than normal on my PFC. I was wondering if it\'s possible to get some sort of air block in the system and thats why the buzzer might go off at first. BUt its confusing me why i need to keep putting water in the system :confused
Whatever it is, i\'m still checking the water levels at the moment till i figure it out.
Adam
Hi there,
Have you checked the level in the plastic \'top up tank\' (don\'t know proper name) at the front left hand side of the car. If the water level in this tank has increased, the AST cap might be on the way out and it could be the reason for you are loosing water from the engine. It is very similar to the problem i have had.
Cheers, :wave
Nige
Looks like i do have a leak somewhere after all!!! :reallymad
Got the car parked at work on some flat dry ground and there appears to be water dripping out somewhere at the back right of the engine bay. Will have to get it up on some jacks at the weekend and have a look. Hopefull it just a pipe or something that just needs tightning up a little. NOT HAPPY :reallymad :reallymad
Adam
A coolant leak is better than water seal failure - be happy in that!
Check the AST tank. The leak could be from anywhere, as there\'s a plastic undertray which the coolant is into then trickling to the back and dripping off then end of it.
How easy is it go get the under tray off once ive got it up? and does anyone have any helpfull tips on trying to find where the leak maybe coming from??
Does anyone have a diagram or anything that shows the pipes and things that are in the cooling system so i\'ve got an idea of what to look at and where it is?
Cheers in advance :)
Adam
do you mean the passenger side or the driver side?, if its the passenger side you have the matrix pipes there which may be leaking, if its the drivers side, it could be the turbos which are well known to leak when the water cooling pipe that feed them perish with the heat. There have been a couple of threads on here about that.
Its on the passenger side. But i guess, like nikp said it could be coming from somewhere else and running back because of the under tray.
Just when i thought things were going right for a change! :(
Adam
The undertray is very easy to get off. Just a few bolts. 10mm if i remember correctly.
Jack it up, remove the under tray, and start it up. Make sure you have plenty of coolant in there, and run it till it gets hot (You need to wait for it to get hot, because then the coolant will be pressurized). Then all you need to do is wait for the drips to begin, and follow them until you find the leak - should be relatively easy.
Hi Adam,I had a slight leak on mine after rebuild, and it turned out to be from a small pipe under the throttle butterflies, (best wat to describe the position but dont take them off) you can see and get at this pipe by undoing the big (4 chrome nuts) intake pipe that comes off the upper inlet manifold, if you take this off you can see the butterflies! just below them this small tube goes from throttle body in to the block, (i think!) about 4 inches long coolant return pipe, fixed mine, easy job, the steel tubes just needed the crud cleaning off with sandpaper, worth a look, if it was the other side (turbo side) there are also two small hoses there,
Good luck Bob
Quote from: Ada7Just when i thought things were going right for a change! :(
It\'s always the way mate, I\'m off the road again :rolleyes:
How come you\'re off the road Kieron?
It happened one day when I was going home from work, car was driving fine, no smoke or hesitation, when I pulled up to my drive it wouldnt idle, was jumping between 500 and 1000. The engine was shaking like a washing machine. I turned it off, checked the vacuum hoses, map sensor, made sure nothing had come loose, then started it back up. Started fine on a hot engine. In the morning I checked the coolant and I havent lost any, car started up fine
So whats the problem!? :confused: It had a funny five minutes, but is ok now? Or has it turned out to be something more of an issue?
It\'s seill doing it mate, going to get it looked at this weekend, hopefully it wont be too expensive!
Errr ... hello people!! this thread is all about ME ME ME ME please :p :)
Adam
Sorry! Yeah, still leaking is it....
Drip drip drip :rollin
Adam
doh!
Well, jack it up, remove the undertray, top up the water, start her up, and wait...
(Don\'t forget to leave it in neutral when you start it up jacked up!! :rollin )
Will do tomorrow mate thanks :)
Still got to work today, start at 12 and dont finish till midnight. No one call an ambulance in my area tonight, you might get a very pi$$ed off para! :rollin
Adam
Adam, before taking the undertray off have a look at the throttle body coolant return pipe, as above reply!
Good luck Bob
Quote from: Ada7Errr ... hello people!! this thread is all about ME ME ME ME please :p :)
Adam
It\'s all about me mate :spank
LOL, would offer you a hand but I broke one :rolleyes: give me a call midday, if I\'m back on the road I\'ll come over and supervise.
:p
Quote from: ro284Adam, before taking the undertray off have a look at the throttle body coolant return pipe, as above reply!
Good luck Bob
The what with the how many!!?!?!???!? :confused:
Where\'s that? Pictures and arrows would be most helpfull. cheers :)
Adam
right - there is a big black plastic elbow on the left hadn side of the engine bay. Air goes from the intercooler through this pipe then takes a turn and bolts to an aluminium coloured piece. This is the throttle body. The throttle body has a hose on the top, about 25cm thick, ( near the firewall) and this hose goes across the top of the engine kind of in line with the firewall. It disappears under the aluminium intake ( called the plenum).
Now this pipe gets brittle from the heat and it can split, ( just replaced mine)
Cheers martin. thanks a lot for that. will check it out in the morning :cheers
If it is that, How much did you pay for a new pipe and where did you get it from? :)
Adam
Mazda are very good at getting parts. I use TW White in Byfleet. I think it was less than £10.
I am in Canada now till end of next week, if I was home in Surrey I could have sent you the part number.
When your parts man looks in the parts list, though, its not listed under cooling system, i had to look in "emission control". I think that pipe\'s job is to warm up the air going through the throttle/intake.
Well good luck Adam but that coolant hose to the top of the throttle body near the firewall is not the one i am talking about! sorry if my directions were too complicated, So look at the oil filter without taking anything off, if you look to the left of the oil filter there are two tubes the one to look at is the one furthest left about 2-1/2 inches from the left hand side of the oil filter, and the same distance left from the rear HT lead cap (blue)
this small tube joins on to a steel tube pointing right at you! then turns down 90 deg and conects to another steel tube going downwards. the parts from Mazda,
with the engine hot and topped up you will see water coming from this pipe if it\'s the one that\'s perished, if you need guidance call me on 07799523900,
Bob
OK. Had a good look under the car today. Got the undertray off, started it up and watched for any leak. And leak there was! But it seems to be coming from around the sump :confused: I couldnt really see if it was coming from any higher up and running down on to it. All i can tell is that it is definatly coolent.
I did have my Power steering pump changed recently and was wondering if any of the pipes around it that may of had to of been removed to do this are coolent ones?
What ever it is i think i\'m going to have to get it booked in to a garage for them to have a better look in the week. :(
Adam
Have a look at the water pump seal, may be leaking from that and running down to the sump,
Bob
From what area on the block/sump was it coming from? Front, Middle, back? That might help narrow it down a bit. There are coolant pipes all over the engine bay, so we need to narrow down the search criteria a bit!