Overheating Problem!

[batty13]

Please help with this overheating problem I had today!

I just recently purchases a 2002 protege5 about 2 weeks ago.
The car is in amazing condition and everything looked superb! The engine coolant level was between high and low. I had decided I would get it flushed soon as the winter is approaching.

However, today while driving on the highway I noticed the check engine light came on. I then noticed a bunch of steam coming from the engine on the left side. I pulled over immediately and popped the hood. The reservoir plastic tank that holds the coolant had blown the top off and was blowing out massive steam. I ran and looked at the engine control panel and verified the heat level was at HIGH.

There have been no leaks that I have noticed. There have been no other issues that I have noticed. This just came up out of the blue. Except the fact that it is a car that I have only had for two weeks.

There is one thing though that I have thought of that may have caused the issue. The previous owner had a "sports bra" for the vehicle. (leather type front end cover of hood). However he only had the hood part of it on, not the full bra that covered the front of the car. IT is an official Mazda front cover though and has two sections open so the engine gets wind/ air. This was just a possible thought and concern.

The car is now at pep boys awaiting their cooling system diagnostic...

In the event that it is the radiator, water pump, or thermostat, are these items relatively easy to access for a "Sunday Mechanic"? Ive replaced a water pump before on a 280Z years ago and I usually do my own brake jobs and oil changes..


Thanks so much for any and all help and guidance.

Logan

 

[patmaz]

first thing,wlecome to you!

second thing,yes it is easy to get parts,and easy to work on...

third thing,protege s are not known as overheating cars,so it must be minor...

maybe a thermostat failure,wich is easy to find out...with the engine cold,open the rad ,and start the engine,let it warm up,with the cap off...as it get hot,you should see the prestone go down the rad,disappear i mean...if not,well its not opening....when you say it overheats,how much does it?really high?

do you smell anything?is there any heat coming from the heater system in the car?

a water pump would smell,would even sometimes make a bit of noise...

if you dont have any smells,well,not much to search,thermostat,and a rad flush....is the cap keeping its pressure?

all thoses littles hints can be problems,but maybe easy fix,so look at thoses things and get back!(glare)

 

[batty13]

First Diagnostic shows..

Thanks! Glad to be here!

Yeah, It overheated HIGH. VERY HIGH! IT was like Mount Saint Helen!
Blowing white steam everywhere, the front lights were fogged up, Antifreeze was splashed all over the engine compartment and the reservoir melted a little bit was bubbling all over the place like a witches couldron.

I let it cool down for about 20 minutes turned off. Then started driving again. It immediatly jumped right back up to High. The check engine light stayed on the entire time.

Pep boys has it right now and they let the car idle for a while and say they have found nothing wrong with the car so far during thier "coolant diagnostic" test.

Actually, I kinda did smell a little bit of something but cant place it and it was faint.

No heat coming from the heater system in the car.

"a water pump would smell,would even sometimes make a bit of noise..."

now that you mention it, when i first started driving the car that morning I did notice an odd sound from the engine. maybe a bit of a grinding kind of sound. but it wasnt the brakes or anthing loud. very faint and mild?

Rad cap keeping pressure? yes.

Sounds like a tough one. A friend mentioned some kind of switch that turns on the second fan. But i did notice the second fan running when it was overheated.

Thanks !

 

[batty13]

What I found out

So pep boys was able to find out the problem eventually.

They said it was the thermostat stuck in the close position.

I purchased the thermostat, thermostat gasket, coolant flush (why not im already there) and coolant. Plan to do the job tomorrow any thing else I would need or to watch out for on this job? mabye lubricating the gasket or something?

Wish me luck . . .


*mumbling to myself* "now where does this dohickey go?*

 

[batty13]

Fixed

So it was the thermostat and I was able to replace the part myself without any difficulty. Heck installing a new hard drive is actually harder than that was.

So Ive now learned that the cooling system is much like an apartment.
When the apartment gets to a certain temp. the "thermostat' kicks in and pushes in cold air thus cycling the cool and hot air keeping the inside temp a certain level. When the thermostat is stuck in the "closed" position, its unable to allow new and cold air back into the apartment. Thus the air gets hoter and hoter reaching boiling temperatures.

That's excatly what was happing to the car. The thermostat was not allowing the cooled coolant back into the engine. Thus the engine was overheating. The water pump could have been the problem as its job is to pump the water from the engine to the radiator where it is then cooled by the fans etc.
Im just not sure if the water pump sends the water to the engine or to the radiator.

Apparently theres a few t.s. guidelines in the Haynes repair manual if anyone else ends up having similiar issues. I was unable to find one on short notice as its a new car.

So thanks for the help and good luck to anyone else having overheating issues.

Logan

 

[batty13]

New Problem that is now occurring please help!

I then put on the new thermostat and gasket without a hitch. There was a small leak but I was able to tighten it up.

Now a few days later I noticed it was leaking again but this time really bad there at the housing! I tried to tighten it up again but its as tight as I could possibly go.

Three questions now:

1) what does the gasket really do? it looks like its just a shield between the two metal parts. Is this to keep them from merging together/melting?

2) Can I just take off the gasket? (like it was how i found it)

3) OR, IS there a sealant type rubber thing that I should use there to keep the leak back??


Thank you~!

Logan

 

[batty13]

Update to the overheating issues that I had where my car would always over heat the faster/longer I drove it. Never in stop and go which actually kept it cool. I also had a problem with always needing to add more coolant, which more often than not was boiling hot. Loss of coolant could have been a leak but was never external. I changed everything out in the cooling system trying to get it fixed and nothing worked. Found out later it was the head gasket.

The mechanics couldn't figure out what the problem was at all the places I went so I just took it easy all of the time. Much later my check engine light came on and getting that diagnosed I found out I had a problem with the head gasket. Thankfully the head was not blown or cracked. The symptoms from a leaking head gasket were the exact same problems I was having. Fixing that solved all of the other problems.

 

[TheMAN]

the headgasket probably blew because you overheated the engine before

 

[slavrenz]

the headgasket probably blew because you overheated the engine before

Agreed. People seem to think that it is "optional" to stop driving when their temp gauge is pegged. I don't know why, but if your coolant temp needle is near the top, stop driving immediately. Not 100 feet later, not a half mile later.

Good luck man, I hope you're not stuck with a $1,000 repair for a new gasket (if you're lucky, that's all that happened).

 

[pasadena_commut]

Agreed. People seem to think that it is "optional" to stop driving when their temp gauge is pegged. I don't know why, but if your coolant temp needle is near the top, stop driving immediately. Not 100 feet later, not a half mile later.

If it is pegged definitely, but that doesn't mean you can't keep going with a car that is overheating a little. As long as fluid or steam aren't escaping anywhere turning the heat and fans up all the way, and of course rolling the windows down, is often enough to keep an overheating car running only slightly hotter than normal. Unfortunately, I have owned a couple of cars which could only get to the top of a long uphill grade (for instance, the Grapevine, Interstate 5 south leaving the central valley going towards L.A.) in this "bake the occupant" mode.

The two Mazda's I have owned have not had this problem, although the 323 did twice develop pinhole leaks in the pipe which connected to the heater core. (Symptoms of that: initially an odd gurgling from the dashboard, later on an obvious leak under the car.)

 

[slavrenz]

If it is pegged definitely, but that doesn't mean you can't keep going with a car that is overheating a little. As long as fluid or steam aren't escaping anywhere turning the heat and fans up all the way, and of course rolling the windows down, is often enough to keep an overheating car running only slightly hotter than normal. Unfortunately, I have owned a couple of cars which could only get to the top of a long uphill grade (for instance, the Grapevine, Interstate 5 south leaving the central valley going towards L.A.) in this "bake the occupant" mode.

The two Mazda's I have owned have not had this problem, although the 323 did twice develop pinhole leaks in the pipe which connected to the heater core. (Symptoms of that: initially an odd gurgling from the dashboard, later on an obvious leak under the car.)

The keywords here are "overheating a little" and "slightly hotter than normal". Yes, I completely agree with you that running your heat and fans on high can often keep a car from reaching that critical temp point, but many people seem to think that the steam coming out from the hood and the temp needle at "H" are warning signs of potential coolant issues down the road. Unfortunately, by the time you reach one of these points, expensive damage has more than likely already been done.

For the vast majority of people, if you don't know what you're doing (for example, if you're reading this and don't know why turning on your heat helps to keep your engine from overheating), pull over immediately when your temp gauge starts getting high.

 

[mmadeo]

I've just encountered this exact problem with my Mazda P5 2002. It's in the parking lot at my work, about 10 miles from home, and I'm debating whether it's worth the risk of driving it to my mechanic (freeway, about 8 miles), or if I should have it towed-in. It was the same symptoms: engine light, temp gauge all the way high, and boiling coolant. I didn't notice the temp gauge at first so I restarted the car 10 seconds after turning it off, and that's when it steamed. I'm terrified of a head gasket problem - could it already be too late?

 

[slavrenz]

I've just encountered this exact problem with my Mazda P5 2002. It's in the parking lot at my work, about 10 miles from home, and I'm debating whether it's worth the risk of driving it to my mechanic (freeway, about 8 miles), or if I should have it towed-in. It was the same symptoms: engine light, temp gauge all the way high, and boiling coolant. I didn't notice the temp gauge at first so I restarted the car 10 seconds after turning it off, and that's when it steamed. I'm terrified of a head gasket problem - could it already be too late?

tow it.

 

[memo79]

tow it.

+1

 

[P-Funk!]

Tow job is cheaper than a headgasket

 

[briank53207]

'02 P5 ... having this problem right now.

CEL light came on. So I got the codes pulled at Advanced Auto Parts but nothing was found that related to this. It was when I was driving home from Advanced that I noticed a noise (like a soft whirring), smelled a little antifreeze smell, noticed heat gauge was pegged. Antifreeze overflowed but not terribly so and no white steam to speak of, really.

I'm guessing it's the water pump.

[EDIT: Nope, it wasn't the water pump -- just the thermostat]