Radiator Problem or cracked head

[pressomaz]

Hey all very new here so not sure if i am posting this in the right section , If so then please advise where i am ment to put it.
I own a 1991 mazda eunos presso auto 1800cc , Great we car for what i need and has been going strong but all of a sudden i have got a problem where even after a short drive when you stop you can hear the water bubbling , water is draining out of the system into the radiator overflow tank until it drains itself and leaving one huge puddle of water under the car. Could this just be a stuffed thermostat or something much bigger like a cracked head , i am not very mechanically minded so not really sure what to think. I am just using it to get to and fro to work at the moment which is only a 10 minute drive but i have to refill system backup with water every time i go or comeback from work. Anybody be able to point me in the right direction to what this may be.

 

[Kansei]

Hello, and welcome to the forums! Where are you from? I know in the United States the Eunos Presso was sold as the Mazda MX-3.

Does your temperature gauge show that the car is overheating while you drive it? I would be very careful driving it until you get it resolved.

 

[pressomaz]

hi thanks i am from New Zealand , No the temp gauge rasies to where it normally sits which is around halfway , in a couple of weeks time it is going in to have the cam belt and waterpump done , so guess i will have to get them to check it out then. If it is a cracked head i might as well throw the car away as would be cheaper to get another car then replace head and do cambelt and waterpump.

 

[Kansei]

Yeah is the head is cracked or warped, that's very costly. Is the 1.8litre engine the V6?

I guess it wouldn't hurt to have the thermostat looked at, I know the thermostat on the Protege5 (323astina SP20 over in AU/NZ) is very inexpensive, somewhere around 21 New Zealand Dollars.

I haven't really had any experiences with things going wrong with my Mazda so I don't know how much help I can be. I'm sure in the morning (it's just past midnight in the New Year on the east coast of the states right now) someone else will be able to chime in and help you out.

 

[pressomaz]

Yes its the 1.8litre engine the V6 , Been a great little car for me hope the head is not stuffed i would be so sad to see it go.

 

[pressomaz]

just an update on this this morning i replaced the thermostat but it has made no difference. On a short drive say 10-15 mins when you stop or i would say as you are driving along also water is just going out and into the overflow tank and hence just onto the ground. If i go for a 10 - 15 min drive and pull up at home and get out straight away open bonnet the hose here pic1 which is normally pressurized is not and you can just squeeze it easily , if i take the cap off of here pic2 it is empty and steam is escaping , also if i take this out pic3 steam is escaping from the end of the tube , and if i take the second cap off pic4 that is empty as well and steam is escaping. Where do i go from here , my garage i normally go to is closed and not reopening until the 8th so just need a little advice.

 

[stef_nz]

firstly, are you sure it's coming out the overflow and not one of the welch plugs on the block? i ask cos i had this happen - looked like a water pump leak but a frost plug had rusted a wee hole and was pouring out there.

secondly i'd be checking the radiator cap. the whole point of a radiator cap is to pressurise the water system to raise the boiling point of the water - if it isn't doing that then you will have trouble - also antifreeze will help raise the boiling point and i suspect if you're refilling it all the time you're probably just using water?
if that doesn't fix it, you could drain the oil into a vessel and check for water.

 

[mannydingo]

We call those plugs "freeze plugs" here in the United States. I've had those go bad also. Good idea to check those. They look like the cap on a very small jar off jelly or marmalade pushed into the engine block with the outside of the cap pointing into the engine.

 

[stef_nz]

what was that again manny? hahaha
"if i've told you once, i've told you 1000 times!"
(poke)

 

[Kansei]

forums must have broken again.. they've been doing it quite a bit lately.

 

[mannydingo]

Yeah, weird. I deleted those duplicates of my message.