Coolant woes - its my turn :-(

Martiny · April 14, 2006, 07:10:22 AM

Hi all

Its my turn to have coolant woes...

The FD is pumping water out of the expansion tank :-(. Its not a lot, I think its about a 1/2 liter every 200 miles or so. Also, I can hear lots of bubbling after switchng off.

Been needing to top up every 2 days, or so.

New cap on the way from Clive... please let it be the cap! (or the AST!)

nikp · April 14, 2006, 10:16:07 AM

Sounds like the symptoms I have Martin - not good. I\'m rebuilding mine next weekend. I have found that by keeping the fans on using the air con (I actually have the air con removed, so all it does is turn the fans on!) and keeping temps below 90 that it all behaves itself, so while not a permanent fix or solution, it does allow the car to still be useable.

Clarky · April 14, 2006, 02:24:31 PM

Same as me it just got worse, rebuilding mine too

Martiny · May 04, 2006, 06:42:20 AM

Clive sent me an 8 Psi cap, and I fitted it on Tue night. I topped up the system again, and I used the car to go to wotk yesterday. Its about a 50 min drive. Lots of sitting and waiting, but there is one stretch where I can thrash it, and I did !!

At lunch time, I went to check the coolant level, and it was all the way at the top! Sooooo, I am hoping to goodness that the cap was the problem !!!!

Will check it now, and see what it did last night, heres hoping for a full system!

M@r]{ · May 04, 2006, 08:23:56 AM

Thats good news but don\'t hold your breath. Mine did exactly that, so I called Pip and he sent out a new cap. Great for a while then it started happening again. I think maybe the extra pressue kills a weak cap, so a new cap was a short term..

iaint · May 04, 2006, 09:31:32 AM

My pressure cap is currently leaking - really freaked when it went as it spat coolant on to the hot bits and steam came through the bonnet vent. Fortunately I can see where it\'s leaking from so know it\'s nothing more serious!

What rating should the pressure cap be as I\'ve heard 0.9 and 1.2 bar mentioned?

Also, is it a universal part or unique to the FD?

Cheers,

Iain

nikp · May 04, 2006, 09:34:22 AM

It should be a 0.9 pressure cap. Mazda originally installed a higher pressure cap (think it was actually 1.3) but then there was a recall on it to change to the 0.9 pressure cap for improved reliability.

Paul-Tll · May 04, 2006, 09:54:03 AM

Another pressure cap what is it with these,Out of all the cars I\'ve owned
the only one I\'ve changed is the one on me old MG and only because it
looked old, never seen a perrished bit of rubber on them seems theese caps
are being changed more than spare wheels and wiper blades :Tongue1
Paul..

Martiny · April 06, 2007, 03:24:24 PM

Went to Carl , and discovered that the cap I got from Clive was not seating on the aftermarket AST, so we put on a standard ASt and a correctly fitting cap.

Having done that, I drove the car a few times, and it was struggling to start sometimes, but I think was due to putting 8\'s in all round.

Have now also noticed a leak around the water pump. But, its using more coolant now than before, I think because I have higher pressure now than before.

Have ordered some magic sealant from Clive, and 2 x 7s are on their way for the Leading plugs.

So today (after the car has stood for 2 weeks plus, I removed the leading plugs, and ....

The rear plug had on it, what looks like tiny water droplets. Could this just be condensation?

Is the rear rotor housing more prone to water seal failure that the front?

RobbieRX-7 · April 06, 2007, 03:55:07 PM

Im having coolant troubles too. The low coolant light comes on sometimes at traffic lights, it\'s starting on one rotor in the morning and it\'s never been rebuilt @46,000miles. I changed the spark plugs last week, upgraded to koyo rad,petit ast and now this happens. I hope it\'s not a water seal. What you lot reckon??

Laeeq · April 06, 2007, 04:08:19 PM

I seriously do not like these after markeet ast\'s. I think problem with then is; you need to get a correct cap for them to seal in correct possition or an angle and even then you are not 100% sure if its on or not. The standard mazda ast is very well made is there for a reason. I had the standard one on my previous car with over 400bhp and never had any problem.

Martiny · April 06, 2007, 05:45:49 PM

Yeah, its back to the standard one for me. They do split, though. I think Rotechniks replace them every 3 years or something.

Mazdarotaryparts · April 06, 2007, 06:07:00 PM

Arrrgg Robbie, this does not sound good, however lets see how Martin gets on with an additive we have supplied him as this may help you.

BTW Guys although none that we sold were ever a problem we stopped selling any make of aftermarket AST\'s around 3 years ago after we started hearing reports of bad sealing and pipe connections falling off !.

If it ain\'t broke don\'t fix it, because as Martin says the Mazda one works, yes they can split but only after around 10 years !!.

Worth noting though that we have removed AST tanks completely from the system and turned the filler on the engine into the pressure cap but only when people have used our radiators (mounted upright) This keeps the car from getting too hot thus eliminating the bubbles that the AST is designed to remove so the bubbles don\'t erode the alloy parts of the engine.

memski · April 07, 2007, 12:02:37 PM

Quote from: MazdarotarypartsWorth noting though that we have removed AST tanks completely from the system and turned the filler on the engine into the pressure cap but only when people have used our radiators (mounted upright) This keeps the car from getting too hot thus eliminating the bubbles that the AST is designed to remove so the bubbles don\'t erode the alloy parts of the engine.

How much would this cost to do out of interest, Clive?

Martiny · April 07, 2007, 02:58:31 PM

Well, I put in the 7\'s, put in the coolant sealer, and....

I cant get it started. After cranking it a few times, I removed the Leading plugs again, and I see water droplets on the plugs, yes both .

Also, after cranking it, when I removed the filler cap, it had pressure in the cooling system and some of the coolant came out.

I tried a few times remove the plugs, turn it over to clear the build - up, and when I do this, there is a small amount of water droplets in the gunk the come out the plug hole.

Last time I tried, I left the coolant cap off, and cranking for a good 20 -30 seconds. the coolant level rose, and it overflowed a little. When I stopped cranking, a few bubbles came up, too.

Oh dear, I am pretty sure I need to rebuild it.

What do you all think?