Discussion
Hola Boys & Girls...
Life with the '5 has been excellent! But we had a little mishap yesterday!
Heading to the Sunday Service...We hit Salisbury in stop/start traffic & after the hoon down I glanced at my temperatue gauge & saw it was it waaaaaaaay over to the right. Slap bang in "H" territory! First time I've seen it move anywhere from beyond dead centre. Figured I must've been a bit too exuberant on the hoon down & something had come loose or flown into the rad.
Anyway, I trusted the car to atleast get me there, 15-20min after some jiggy pokery in rolling the car in stop/start traffic without the engine on I made it to Wilton where the car promptly died as we queued to park up. It got me there! It was still in the red! We rolled it into place & I left it for a few hours in the hope that we may have a miracle when I returned.
Called a recovery truck just in case & had the bloke top up the rad & so on & nothing strange seemed to happen. Stayed dead centre! I drove all the way back from Wilton to Worthing (80ish miles) - After taking it easy for a good 20-30 miles I opened it up a bit more & it was very very happy tootling at 80/90 leptons.
I got to Arundel & stop/start traffic (10 miles from home) the temperature gauge started creeping up. So got out of the stop/start & got onto clear roads, temperatue gauge went back down to the middle. All well! Behaved impeccably from then till I got home. Checked underneath the car after 5 min when I parked up, a small dripping from under the engine where the front 2 wheels are!
Tried it this morning, fine idling, noticed the coolant reservoir nearing "LOW" after it had been topped up yesterday. After 5 min, it started rising in idle traffic. Then was fine every other time I stopped. However when I creeped above 70+, the gauge would hit around 1:30/2:00pm on the temp gauge till I backed off to around 55 where it would settle back down to the middle (This goes for any speed below 50, it didn't move an inch! Including stop/start!)
Hoses I hope? Could it conking out yesterday after the sustained heat have caused a major impending catastrophe for the engine?
Life with the '5 has been excellent! But we had a little mishap yesterday!
Heading to the Sunday Service...We hit Salisbury in stop/start traffic & after the hoon down I glanced at my temperatue gauge & saw it was it waaaaaaaay over to the right. Slap bang in "H" territory! First time I've seen it move anywhere from beyond dead centre. Figured I must've been a bit too exuberant on the hoon down & something had come loose or flown into the rad.
Anyway, I trusted the car to atleast get me there, 15-20min after some jiggy pokery in rolling the car in stop/start traffic without the engine on I made it to Wilton where the car promptly died as we queued to park up. It got me there! It was still in the red! We rolled it into place & I left it for a few hours in the hope that we may have a miracle when I returned.
Called a recovery truck just in case & had the bloke top up the rad & so on & nothing strange seemed to happen. Stayed dead centre! I drove all the way back from Wilton to Worthing (80ish miles) - After taking it easy for a good 20-30 miles I opened it up a bit more & it was very very happy tootling at 80/90 leptons.
I got to Arundel & stop/start traffic (10 miles from home) the temperature gauge started creeping up. So got out of the stop/start & got onto clear roads, temperatue gauge went back down to the middle. All well! Behaved impeccably from then till I got home. Checked underneath the car after 5 min when I parked up, a small dripping from under the engine where the front 2 wheels are!
Tried it this morning, fine idling, noticed the coolant reservoir nearing "LOW" after it had been topped up yesterday. After 5 min, it started rising in idle traffic. Then was fine every other time I stopped. However when I creeped above 70+, the gauge would hit around 1:30/2:00pm on the temp gauge till I backed off to around 55 where it would settle back down to the middle (This goes for any speed below 50, it didn't move an inch! Including stop/start!)
Hoses I hope? Could it conking out yesterday after the sustained heat have caused a major impending catastrophe for the engine?
Edited by ironictwist on Monday 10th August 13:23
ironictwist said:
...I glanced at my temperatue gauge & saw it was it waaaaaaaay over to the right. Slap bang in "H" territory! Anyway, I trusted the car to atleast get me there,
Probably a bad move. If my temp gauge were to inexplicably go up, then engine goes off, straight away. Hope its not too bad mate.Edited by ironictwist on Monday 10th August 13:23
OllieWinchester said:
ironictwist said:
...I glanced at my temperatue gauge & saw it was it waaaaaaaay over to the right. Slap bang in "H" territory! Anyway, I trusted the car to atleast get me there,
Probably a bad move. If my temp gauge were to inexplicably go up, then engine goes off, straight away. Hope its not too bad mate.Edited by ironictwist on Monday 10th August 13:23
Sounds like a blocked rad.... fine when trundling, no good under load / limited airflow.
Ideally check the whole rad gets hot (usually there are cold spots)
If you have AC then you can't get into it so remove the stat and see if the same thing happens, if it does its the rad.
BTW I'd not drive on hot and I'd have turned the heater on full too.
EDIT - just re read - is your fan coming on ?
Ideally check the whole rad gets hot (usually there are cold spots)
If you have AC then you can't get into it so remove the stat and see if the same thing happens, if it does its the rad.
BTW I'd not drive on hot and I'd have turned the heater on full too.
EDIT - just re read - is your fan coming on ?
Edited by OnlyMX5ives on Monday 10th August 15:25
If you're leaking water at that rate I'd be tempted to check if you water-pump isn't knackered. Pop the under tray off and look for a leak at the bottom pulley behind your cam-belt.
I'd be careful how you go with over heating, my car overheated on the motorway the other day, luckily I was right next to a junction so I knocked the ignition off and coasted down, but for the 2-3 minutes I had it running it managed to drop a valve and completely f
k my engine - hence why I'm now having to change it.
I'd be careful how you go with over heating, my car overheated on the motorway the other day, luckily I was right next to a junction so I knocked the ignition off and coasted down, but for the 2-3 minutes I had it running it managed to drop a valve and completely f
k my engine - hence why I'm now having to change it.OnlyMX5ives said:
EDIT - just re read - is your fan coming on ?
+1I'd definately plum for the fan........without looking, is the fuse common to anything else that might no longer be working?
The water seen dripping from underneath will almost certainly be from reservoir blow back as a result of the engine overheat.
Edited by Quick silver on Monday 10th August 19:01
OnlyMX5ives said:
If he keeps topping it up it might.
A half full rad will behave like a blocked rad...
Ok in slow driving, overheating when driven with more load.
Indeed. When my water-pump went it got hot a bit, and then when I had open road my temp dropped once again, I got it home, shut it off and heard the water pouring out of the water-pump - yet it only spotted out when the engine was running.A half full rad will behave like a blocked rad...
Ok in slow driving, overheating when driven with more load.
I Am Milk said:
OnlyMX5ives said:
If he keeps topping it up it might.
A half full rad will behave like a blocked rad...
Ok in slow driving, overheating when driven with more load.
Indeed. When my water-pump went it got hot a bit, and then when I had open road my temp dropped once again, I got it home, shut it off and heard the water pouring out of the water-pump - yet it only spotted out when the engine was running.A half full rad will behave like a blocked rad...
Ok in slow driving, overheating when driven with more load.
ETA, Actually, having read his original post again, it was more like 70 miles - half of which was driven in excess of +80mph......F A N
Edited by Quick silver on Monday 10th August 19:21
Appreciate the posts gents!
I had a look under the bonnet before I left from work for home...The coolant reservoir was bone dry (Despite having "enough" before I left for work). Topped it up, then set off. Again it was fine all the way up till 60ish at which point the needle would be at 1pm. But aside from that it's behaving. I daren't push any harder for the moment, just coasted back home at 70ish with the top down.
Had a look under the car when parked up, didn't spot any dripping at the time but will see what happens.
Already had the car booked in for a check up before I head to Scotland 2 weeks away..So finding out now things are awry can only be a good thing!
Could be any of these from what I've heard/seen!
Head gasket
Radiator
Water pump
Duff hose
Regardless, my poor 5 has a further 4 days of commuting (280 miles total) till I can take it to autolinkuk for them to have a look.
Keep your fingers & toes crossed!
I had a look under the bonnet before I left from work for home...The coolant reservoir was bone dry (Despite having "enough" before I left for work). Topped it up, then set off. Again it was fine all the way up till 60ish at which point the needle would be at 1pm. But aside from that it's behaving. I daren't push any harder for the moment, just coasted back home at 70ish with the top down.
Had a look under the car when parked up, didn't spot any dripping at the time but will see what happens.
Already had the car booked in for a check up before I head to Scotland 2 weeks away..So finding out now things are awry can only be a good thing!
Could be any of these from what I've heard/seen!
Head gasket
Radiator
Water pump
Duff hose
Regardless, my poor 5 has a further 4 days of commuting (280 miles total) till I can take it to autolinkuk for them to have a look.
Keep your fingers & toes crossed!
The only time mine ever went above half way was when the water pump started to eat itself, as everyone else said, fine on open roads but idling or slow traffic sent the temp skyrocketing. If the waterpump is knackered then it normally sounds like it is lathing itself to death, does it all sound normal under the bonnet?
It is easy to check if your fan is working or not; jump TFA and GND with a paperclip and it should come on.
http://www.miata.net/garage/CoolingSystemProblems....
HTH
ETA - IF the fan is operational but isn't kicking-in when the engine is hot = sounds like a replacement thermostat (and gasket) would be in order. Good Luck!
http://www.miata.net/garage/CoolingSystemProblems....
HTH
ETA - IF the fan is operational but isn't kicking-in when the engine is hot = sounds like a replacement thermostat (and gasket) would be in order. Good Luck!
Edited by bluetone on Tuesday 11th August 04:35
bluetone said:
It is easy to check if your fan is working or not; jump TFA and GND with a paperclip and it should come on.
http://www.miata.net/garage/CoolingSystemProblems....
HTH
ETA - IF the fan is operational but isn't kicking-in when the engine is hot = sounds like a replacement thermostat (and gasket) would be in order. Good Luck!
N.B - when doing this test - the fan WILL NOT come on when the car is idling, and cold. http://www.miata.net/garage/CoolingSystemProblems....
HTH
ETA - IF the fan is operational but isn't kicking-in when the engine is hot = sounds like a replacement thermostat (and gasket) would be in order. Good Luck!
Edited by bluetone on Tuesday 11th August 04:35
You do the trick with the paperclip, start the engine - and then put a bit of pressure on the throttle - THEN check the fan has come on.
For what it's worth, I ran my car overheated for a couple of miles after a hose burst (stupidstupidstupid!). I replaced the hose and was baffled by the continuing water leak. I took it to Freelance Mazda and they diagnosed a failed waterpump gasket. I can't comment on engine behaviour in that state as I only drove the car like that for less than ten miles and in open country. However, this could explain your water leak after overheating...
mine overheated with a knackered rad - it didn't actually look that bad but replaced it (with a second hand) and it's been rock solid.
before that, i had some water leakage from the expansion tank, turns out my rad cap had knackered and wasn't holding the pressure so the fluid just boiled up and escaped, replaced it and that sorted that
before that, i had some water leakage from the expansion tank, turns out my rad cap had knackered and wasn't holding the pressure so the fluid just boiled up and escaped, replaced it and that sorted that
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