Mazda Rotary Club

General => General Technical => Topic started by: Kenji on April 12, 2011, 07:28:35 PM

Title: Coolant in passenger footwell
Post by: Kenji on April 12, 2011, 07:28:35 PM
Today the Add Coolant light came on, and I immediatly stopped the car.
Found a lot of coolant in the passengers footwell, which seems to be leaking from the black side of this (don\'t know if the leak is there or not, but it looked like most of the coolant came from here):
 
(http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j148/KenjiSil80/IMAG7688.jpg)
 
Glovebox removed and the above is visible under the dash.
 
Bypassed the problem for now by sticking a hose on the heater hoses on the engine block.
 
Anyone recognize the problem and can tell me what I need to replace?
Title: Coolant in passenger footwell
Post by: Nik da Greek on April 12, 2011, 07:34:05 PM
Heater matrix, probably then. It\'s a bit of a pig by all accounts, but a classic FD failure point. The only other possiblity is water can run down the loom through the firewall grommet if it\'s rained a lot, and the grommet\'s perished. If it\'s a lot of water and there\'s coolant in it then it\'s almost certainly the heater matrix.
Title: Coolant in passenger footwell
Post by: Kenji on April 12, 2011, 07:38:39 PM
There\'s definatly coolant in there, not rain water.
 
So I guess my heater matrix is fubar..... I guess it\'s a b*tch to replace??
Title: Coolant in passenger footwell
Post by: Nik da Greek on April 12, 2011, 07:49:45 PM
Yep. Sorry. I think there\'s a guide on here somewhere if I remember correctly
Title: Coolant in passenger footwell
Post by: rx-dave on April 12, 2011, 08:01:05 PM
It\'s a rascal as Nik said, as it\'s summer time why not just bypass it until the colder weather begins again? It\'s a dash out job otherwise :(
Dave.
Title: Coolant in passenger footwell
Post by: TiddlesRX7 on April 12, 2011, 10:41:11 PM
My FC had this problem too (infact im still getting the coolant out of the carpet slowly!). The problem with mine was the jubilee clip on the matrix pipe on the engine side if the bulkhead. The pipe was damaged on the underside ( I think when I got the gearbox changed) The garage must have slipped with a spanner or something and dinted the pipe slightly. The leak was tiny but over time the coolant would drop and I\'d have to top it up. Took me ages to fine it. All I did was move the clip slightly so the rubber hose would seal on the matrix pipe and hey presto leak fixed.
Title: Coolant in passenger footwell
Post by: Kenji on April 12, 2011, 11:06:25 PM
Quote from: TiddlesRX7;755667(infact im still getting the coolant out of the carpet slowly!)..
I took my loose mats into the shower and washed the coolant out with that. And there\'s about 100 metres of paper towels in the footwells with some weight on them to absorb coolant out of the carpets....
It\'ll probably stink in the morning....
Title: Coolant in passenger footwell
Post by: TiddlesRX7 on April 13, 2011, 02:59:37 PM
Yep its a nightmare. I\'ve wet vacced mine months ago and it needs doing again now. The sponge under the carpet is slowly releasing it!