Steam under bonnet

[D1 WTF]

i got stuck in standing traffic for about half an hour.  very slow stop start type of traffic.  as i got very near to the roud about i noticed that a little steam was coming out from under the bonnet.  as i got nearer the roundabout there was a bit more.  nothing hugely excessive but enough to be a concern definatley.  it was definately water/coolant as could smell it.  

when it first started i turned the heating on full heat and full blower.  and to be honest it was only just warm.

just the other side of the round about was my destination so i parked up and lifted the bonnet.  still steaming away a little for a good 20-30 mins after engine was off.  i could hear and see a water perging.  and ocassionly squirting out under the inlet manifold.  looking down into the engine bay i can see that the undertray has a little water on it.  and the passenger side of the engine below the inlet manifold looks a little wet.  

around the inlet manifold etc it appears white where the coolant has gone onto and burn off.  

i think i have now realised that it is now not only my fuel gauge that reads out and my oil pressure gauge that aint working quite right.  as the water just showed the car as fine, perfectly in the middle of the gauge the whole time.  

spoke to rotechniks and they seem to think like me, BEST NOT DRIVE IT, lol.  so am waiting for AA to recover to a probably rotechniks.

So any ideas?  i will take a pic of under the engine bay before it goes.  to show where the coolant has left its mark etc.

[Jit]

the stock water temp gauge is crap.end of...its heavily centreweighted...by the time that gauge has moved off centre, youve probably done the damage.
Get an aftermarket one.

The steam might just be coolant burning off on the hot engine....i hope for your sake i is!!

[MillSpeed]

It\'s probably just a coolant leak from the trottle body. Have you checked your coolant level?

[nikp]

yeah, i don\'t think you have too much to worry about - it sounds like a coolant system leak, as opposed to the need to rebuild your engine due to coolant seal failure. Wrong area for the leak.

[D1 WTF]

cheers guys.  it seems like it isnt to much of a biggie like you said it appears that one of the small hoses under the inlet manifold has sprung a leak for some reason.  (i will post the pics up anyway just so everyone can understand)

the red circle highights the area that the leak is.  

and the blue is just parts stained by evaporated coolant etc


some coolant also came out near this expansion/header tank as you can see it on the battery cover etc


going to get rotechniks to quickly have a look.  cheers anyway guys.   :cheers

[MillSpeed]

Hmmmm, another aftermarket AST with cap seating issues. Maybe it is best to just stick with the stock item. The area you circled in red has a coolant pipe running underneath it, it\'s most likely what\'s leaking. The blue circled bits just look like they\'ve got a bit of surface corrosion on em, perfectly normal. Make sure you check your coolant level as the last thing you wanna do to a rotary is run it short of coolant.

[D1 WTF]

Hmmmm, another aftermarket AST with cap seating issues. Maybe it is best to just stick with the stock item. The area you circled in red has a coolant pipe running underneath it, it\'s most likely what\'s leaking. The blue circled bits just look like they\'ve got a bit of surface corrosion on em, perfectly normal. Make sure you check your coolant level as the last thing you wanna do to a rotary is run it short of coolant.

might be being dumb but AST?

[nikp]

AST = air seperation tank.

The area circled in red is near to where a coolant hose comes out the back of the water pump housing - this may have worked loose or come off, or something like that.

[normski]

i got stuck in standing traffic for about half an hour.  very slow stop start type of traffic.  as i got very near to the roud about i noticed that a little steam was coming out from under the bonnet.  as i got nearer the roundabout there was a bit more.  nothing hugely excessive but enough to be a concern definatley.  it was definately water/coolant as could smell it.  

when it first started i turned the heating on full heat and full blower.  and to be honest it was only just warm.

just the other side of the round about was my destination so i parked up and lifted the bonnet.  still steaming away a little for a good 20-30 mins after engine was off.  i could hear and see a water perging.  and ocassionly squirting out under the inlet manifold.  looking down into the engine bay i can see that the undertray has a little water on it.  and the passenger side of the engine below the inlet manifold looks a little wet.  

around the inlet manifold etc it appears white where the coolant has gone onto and burn off.  

i think i have now realised that it is now not only my fuel gauge that reads out and my oil pressure gauge that aint working quite right.  as the water just showed the car as fine, perfectly in the middle of the gauge the whole time.  

spoke to rotechniks and they seem to think like me, BEST NOT DRIVE IT, lol.  so am waiting for AA to recover to a probably rotechniks.

So any ideas?  i will take a pic of under the engine bay before it goes.  to show where the coolant has left its mark etc.

Try the new engine it runs on petrol !!!!!  :Party

[Martiny]

I had identical symptoms. There are several hoses that can leak.
1 There are 2 hoses that feed and return water to the Turbos.
2 On top of the engine sort of near where your blue circles are . There is a hose here that runs from the throttle body to the back of the engine.

I have replaced these hoses. Use only the genuine Mazda hoses.