Engine running hot

L

lunchbox16

Member
:
mazdaspped 3 2008
on my way to work today i went to turn on my ac and nothing happened. just blew out hot air. i took a peek at my temp gauge and it was almost pinned on hot. i pulled over and checked the my fluids all of which were fine.
i'm thinking it maybe the thermostat but why is the ac not working? is there a relay that turns it off in that situation?
 
Could be. The A/C dumps its heat into the cooling system. I could see that getting turned off if the motor's too hot. "Pinned on hot..." Was the fan running?
 
Your T-stat is probably stuck partially open. This happened to me ~5k miles. Bought a new T-stat from my local dealer for $40, swapped it out, been fine ever since... but I still get slightly paranoid on hot days like today.
 
Last edited:
you mean stuck closed? if it's open it will run hot...stuck open it will not allow the motor to warm up correctly.

I'm guess there can be 3 causes of his problem:

1. Thermostat bad (causing 'possible" overheat.
2. A/C not blowing cold, Auxililary cooling fan not turning on when it's suppose to, so maybe a bad thermstatic fan switch.
3. bad resistors for the cooling fan therefore not cooling A/C condensor.

just my 2 cents.
 
it was the thermostat. because the car was running so hot it shut off the a/c. fixed on sat it's been fine since. thanks for the input.
 
BTW: For all who read this post - allowing an engine to run hot is the single most deadly thing that can happen to an engine and is the absolute leading cause of engine failures. OP seemed to have shut it down before damage occurred and may have allowed a cool down period before driving. He's one of the lucky ones.

I've seen to many damaged cylinder heads and engine blocks from overheating to count. And a dealer or engine specialty shop can identify overheating incuded engine failure in a heartbeat. When the temps start to climb, don't drive. Find out why and fix it before you drive it.
 
MSMS3 said:
BTW: For all who read this post - allowing an engine to run hot is the single most deadly thing that can happen to an engine and is the absolute leading cause of engine failures. OP seemed to have shut it down before damage occurred and may have allowed a cool down period before driving. He's one of the lucky ones.

I've seen to many damaged cylinder heads and engine blocks from overheating to count. And a dealer or engine specialty shop can identify overheating incuded engine failure in a heartbeat. When the temps start to climb, don't drive. Find out why and fix it before you drive it.
Click to expand...

Ford does on many of their new vehicles (including my '10 Escape), but does Mazda include an auto-shutoff feature on their new cars to prevent overheating (besides on the Tribute, that is). On my Escape, it's basically just a sensor that measures the temperature of the actual cylinder head, and if it goes beyond a certain level, the car won't start (not sure if it will shut down while you're driving tho).
 
spdjnke said:
you mean stuck closed? if it's open it will run hot...stuck open it will not allow the motor to warm up correctly.QUOTE]

I know what you meant but I just want to clarify in case anyone else misunderstands. If your thermostat is stuck OPEN it will run COOL; the water with always be running through to the radiator and will almost never over heat. As you said this can cause the engine not to warm up properly in cold weather.


If your T-stat is stuck CLOSED the car will overheat.

You can run a car without a T-stat if needed, although I would be weary of it in cold weather.
Click to expand...
 
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