My MSP Overheats when NOT RUNNING

[Shift_Lost]

Ok, so me and some buddys took the rifles up for some shooting

We climb a mountain to get to where we shoot.

well the first time we went i took The MSP, and everything was all fine and dandy, we got to the top, and i let the car run for about 2-3 minutes as i always do.

When i turned it off i got out of the car and popped the trunk, well as i go to put my head in the trunk i heard a weird BUBBLING noise, thought it was weird so we tracked it to under the hood, by this time it sounded like a grimlin on crack. i pop the hood and the overflow was boiling and shaking eraticly i checked the temp gauge and its all the way at the top.

so i was like what the hell... i started the car and it IMMIDIATLY cooled down.

thought it was weird, but the next weekend it did the exact same thing, but this time i kept my eye on the temp gauge. and let it sit running for 5 minutes. and it tryed to do it again, as soon as i shut the motor off the gauge started climbing rapidly.

It only does it on the hill i go up.(shocked)

[Black_Protege_5]

How hard are you pushing it uphill. The msp radiator doesn't have a very good cooling efficiency due to its size.

[G-Papi]

Don't know your car, but does that have a temperature switch operated cooling fan that's supposed to come on even with the motor off. If so, then is it working?

[evilmonkeyMSP]

no, G-papi, the MSP does not have this function :)

[peepsalot]

a turbo timer might help

[G-Papi]

That sux, especially with the trend toward tiny radiators and reduced air flow.

[evilmonkeyMSP]

how many miles & whens the last radiator flush?

[Shift_Lost]

How hard are you pushing it uphill. The msp radiator doesn't have a very good cooling efficiency due to its size.
Its about a 2 mile drive up a gravel road, i would say i run second gear the whole way up bout 30mph but because of the cliffs i dont run it hard.

[jflo]

i'm thinking you're taking about 2-3 other guys in your car when going up this hill. that puts a lot of stress on the motor carrying extra weight + driving up a hill. i hope you used 1st and 2nd gear most of the way up if 3rd gear put you below 3000RPMs. and letting it cool after driving it up a huge hill will probably be good 'cause now you know your coolant boils after doing so.

[Shift_Lost]

how many miles & whens the last radiator flush?
barly over 30k and waiting on 30k tune up

[G-Papi]

OK, I'm ignorant on this ~ is there a fan at all, and is it running at all?

[Titanium-99]

Its the thermostat!!!!!!!! Replace it! My car was doing this a few weeks ago same noise and symptom of the catch can pissing out coolant. I replaced the thermostat and it hasnt had a problem since. oh and when you change it the car takes 1 1/2 gallons of coolant I almost found out the hard way when I only put in 1/2 a gallon and almost fried my turbo.

[evilmonkeyMSP]

yeas, there is a fan :)
OK, I'm ignorant on this ~ is there a fan at all, and is it running at all?

[Shift_Lost]

OK, I'm ignorant on this ~ is there a fan at all, and is it running at all?
the fan does not run after the car is off.


i think i should just pop in to the dealership for the 30k tune and tell them about it..


considering i have put 13k on it in less then 4 months it probably would help

[Titanium-99]

its doing it after you shut the car off because the thermostat isnt opening and allowing coolant back into the engine which is causing the radiator to over fill and piss into the catch can. The reason its only doing after the hill climb is because you are putting stress on the engine from the drive up. Mine wasnt doing this with hill climbs but rather after I would get on it basiclly the same thing you are doing with going up the hill just in a different way.

[G-Papi]

I was just thinking (something I have no license to do) that 30 mph uphill in 2nd gear for a couple of miles would not generate enough air flow as normal driving. If the fan . . .

Oh ftw . . . do what the guy says, and replace the thermostat.

[evilmonkeyMSP]

titanium sounds correct...thermostat...

[Titanium-99]

I garuntee its the Thermostat, I would bet My Nuts on it!

[Shift_Lost]

QUESTION?

thermostat covered under warrenty? i have 8 months left in warrenty

[evilmonkeyMSP]

should be...if not, its inexpensive to do

[Shane5425]

I garuntee its the Thermostat, I would bet My Nuts on it!

hmm... lets just hope no one holds u to this...

[Black_Protege_5]

LOL. That would suck to lose your nuts over this. But yea the thermostat should bu fixed under warranty.

[Titanium-99]

It should be coverd under warranty but the may say that its a part that is designed to wear out much like your clutch or break pads but you will probably be ok with getting it fixed under warranty. should the deny it under warranty go to the parts dept and tell them you need a thermostat for your msp and its like $18.00 + tax so like $21.00 plus two gallons of collant another $20.00 in total $40.00 and takes about 15 mins to replace. just drain the old coolant and undo the two bolts on the thermostat cover/drain neck and pul it back out of the way, oh it should be two 12mm bolts. use a small pick or small flat head screw driver to pop out the old thermostat. take the new thermostat and put it in the old ones place just make sure you put it in with the little rubber tab lined up with the little cut out on the engine. push it in firmly and make sure the rubber ring around the thermostat has made a good seal and put the thermostat cover back on and tighten up the two bolts (do not use the gasket that comes with the new thermostat, its self sealing) fill the car back up with coolant again use 1 1/2 gallons, undo the clips going to each coil pack and turn the key in the ignition about 10 times then hook the clips back up and start the car. just let the car sit ideling for about 5mins.

[31R]

Weird question, but this happend to me with my coolant can spurting out coolant, now i have oil in my coolant. Can a bad thermostat cause that? Im already assuming its a blown head gasket, but i checked for all the symptoms of a blown head gasket and the only i have is the oil in the coolant. The plugs are good, there is no water in my oil, i removed the radiator cap and there is no oil in there. There is no white smoke coming out the tail pipe, car runs great. To be safe i got a worked head with new gaskets, timing belt, head bolts etc... I should probally throw in a new thermostat.

[Black_Protege_5]

It could also be a cracked block or fried rings.

[evilmonkeyMSP]

if you have oil in the coolant then its probably your head gasket...

[Black_Protege_5]

But wouldn't white smoke be blowing out.

[Shane5425]

no, an oil port can leak into the water port with out getting into the cylinder, therefore, no white smoke..

[31R]

I thinking i might as well go forged. Would a compression test tell me if i have a fried ring and cracked block

[Black_Protege_5]

no, an oil port can leak into the water port with out getting into the cylinder, therefore, no white smoke..

Hmm didn't think about it that way.

[Titanium-99]

If it was a blown head, bad head gasket or cracked block you would have oil in the coolant catch can, white smoke from the exhaust and lots of it or coolant running down the side of the block! I was told the same things when this happend to me but the best way to know for sure is if you have a sweet smell coming from your exhaust. If you do then you have a blown head, head gasket or internal crack in the block. Again I am 100% sure its the thermostat he is describing the symptoms to a T of what my car was doing when my thermostat went bad!

[31R]

I stuck my face in front of my exhaust and i didnt smell anything sweet. I'll check again though

[G-Papi]

Remember, Titanium has his nuts riding on his diagnosis.

[Titanium-99]

Chances are if you have oil in your coolant that you have a blown head gasket! Or its possible the last time you got the oil changed that the guy doing it could have dripped oil into your catch can when he was checking or filling up the coolant.

[Titanium-99]

Remember, Titanium has his nuts riding on his diagnosis.

(bow) Pleas show me mercey! Though I do have Pleanty of Nut's to spare!

[31R]

Where can you order a new thermostat from besides the dealership?

[elmer1987]

could be the hill stree, little radiator, and thinner air (depending on the height)

[Shane5425]

no mercy for the weak...

(bow) Pleas show me mercey! Though I do have Pleanty of Nut's to spare!

[Titanium-99]

Where can you order a new thermostat from besides the dealership?

you can get one from autozone but belive it or not its more expensive than the one you can get fromt he dealership. the one from the dealership is $21.00 after tax.

[31R]

Right on, Thanks!

[ChopstickHero]

i vote thermostat too. i've gone up a mountain nearby and the elevation is like almost 6000 ft. depending on traffic, i'm moving anywhere from 30mph to 45 mph. usually, driving with boost for lots of twisty action. :) no overheating.

[Rally Ninja]

Scott, did u fix it yet? Saturday night man. MSP VS MSP? at PIR. Tell Dusty to bring his stir fried Rabbit too!

[mp5van]

its thermostat...i got the same problem last summer....however on my case it just overheating so i changed the thermostat aswell as coolant sensor....its cheap doh and easy to install......

[MrDiggler]

Ok, so me and some buddys took the rifles up for some shooting

We climb a mountain to get to where we shoot.

well the first time we went i took The MSP, and everything was all fine and dandy, we got to the top, and i let the car run for about 2-3 minutes as i always do.

When i turned it off i got out of the car and popped the trunk, well as i go to put my head in the trunk i heard a weird BUBBLING noise, thought it was weird so we tracked it to under the hood, by this time it sounded like a grimlin on crack. i pop the hood and the overflow was boiling and shaking eraticly i checked the temp gauge and its all the way at the top.

so i was like what the hell... i started the car and it IMMIDIATLY cooled down.

thought it was weird, but the next weekend it did the exact same thing, but this time i kept my eye on the temp gauge. and let it sit running for 5 minutes. and it tryed to do it again, as soon as i shut the motor off the gauge started climbing rapidly.

It only does it on the hill i go up.(shocked)

I'm not sold on a bad thermostat. I'm also not saying it might not be bad, either, but... My car has acted somewhat like this since day one. When you drive up a mountain (I do often) and have extra weight in the car like he did, the load causes a lot of heat to build in the motor... maybe more heat than our cooling system can get rid of during that time frame. When I put my car through this scenario and then shut it off after a couple of minutes (Was the fan running during that time? Very important piece of the puzzle.), my radiator cap will often get pushed open and coolant will bubble noisily into my overflow tank. It doesn't bother me, as I rather expect it and it lets me know the system is functioning as designed.

It's a known fact that extra heat built in the motor right before shutoff will soak into the coolant after shutoff. I'm thinking: 1) If your thermostat was hung open this wouldn't be occurring, as the system wouldn't build this extra heat as readily. 2) If your thermostat was hung shut the extra coolant pressure wouldn't even make it to the radiator and then to the cap to be purged to the overflow tank, it would be trapped in the block.

I may be completely wrong here, it's just a hunch.

[Shift_Lost]

I'm not sold on a bad thermostat. I'm also not saying it might not be bad, either, but... My car has acted somewhat like this since day one. When you drive up a mountain (I do often) and have extra weight in the car like he did, the load causes a lot of heat to build in the motor... maybe more heat than our cooling system can get rid of during that time frame. When I put my car through this scenario and then shut it off after a couple of minutes (Was the fan running during that time? Very important piece of the puzzle.), my radiator cap will often get pushed open and coolant will bubble noisily into my overflow tank. It doesn't bother me, as I rather expect it and it lets me know the system is functioning as designed.

It's a known fact that extra heat built in the motor right before shutoff will soak into the coolant after shutoff. I'm thinking: 1) If your thermostat was hung open this wouldn't be occurring, as the system wouldn't build this extra heat as readily. 2) If your thermostat was hung shut the extra coolant pressure wouldn't even make it to the radiator and then to the cap to be purged to the overflow tank, it would be trapped in the block.

I may be completely wrong here, it's just a hunch.

Well i had the thermostat replaced under warranty and has not done it since so....(ughdance)

[TheMAN]

fuck the thermostat, put on a new radiator cap first! if anything, a high pressure one... high altitudes will have reduced air pressures, the pressure differential between the cooling system and the air will be high, causing reservoir tank expansion to happen sooner

shutting off the engine will cause an immediate pressure rise in the system because coolant is no longer flowing and all it can do is sit there and heat soak, raising temperatures and thus causing it to boil.... the gauge may get inaccurate due to air bubbles to form when the water boils, and that's assuming if your system is not 100% free of air (which is practically impossible to get)

using a lesser mix of antifreeze will also reduce boil over protection, having 50/50 mix increases the boiling point of coolant a lot more over straight water

a high pressure radiator cap will further increase the boiling point, thus when the engine is shut off and the pressure spikes, the coolant will be kept mostly in the system instead of going out into the reservoir tank

a faulty radiator cap which is below pressure specification will cause boiling to happen sooner because a lower fluid pressure means lower boiling point, this is especially true in high altitude areas... replacing it with even just a new stock radiator cap will usually fix these problems, but on performance vehicles where the engine tends to run hot, a high pressure cap maybe needed

[SergMSP]

Im also over heating again....when it first happened we replaced by thermostat and did a flush...then it started happening again and we had to do a mod to this POS weapon r coolant tank i have, it was fine for a while but now its fucking overheating again...
i put it 50/50 mix almost once a week...it slowly goes up to H while im idling but then when i start to drive again, the higher i rev the faster the needle on the temp gauge goes back to the middle...

i just bought the 1.3 bar rad cap from pg...im also planning on putting back the stock coolant tank...any other suggestions before i break my fuckin car?

[MP3Architect]

turns out my problem was actually the meter itself. mazda replaced mine under warranty...although it also ended up replacing the total gauge cluster and in doing so reset my miles. i dunno. its strange.

[540James]

i need to try the new radiator cap thing that you are talking about, where do i find a high pressure radiator cap for a p5 radiator?

[azeli73]

http://mazda3online.web.aplus.net/index.php?cPath=21_32_179