Coolant leak...

[ucMP3]

So, when I got out of my car @ work this morning, I heard what sounded like a a bubbling radiator/coolant. I popped my hood, and saw coolant bubbling and leaking out from the front left corner of the block. It's about 1" in front of the t-stat housing. It looked like it was not the t-stat housing gasket, but the piece farther in from the t-stat housing. I found it odd that it was leaking from this location... BTW, temp was normal on the drive to work, but it was a short (10 mins), easy drive...

It's probably important to note that I drained all my coolant on Sunday & installed Samco radiator hoses (upper & lower). I don't see how this would really cause this leak, but seeing as they are the same system, maybe these hoses increased flow and put added pressure on a gasket that was already well worn?

Anyone else had a leak here? Is there a gasket right there that I need to replace? I'll go consult the manual as soon as I post this, and I guess I'll just buy a new t-stat gasket & I guess there's another gasket from the piece to the block, idk? I'll drain my coolant again and replace those gaskets. Hopefully that will fix it.

If anyone has some insight on this, let me know... I didn't get a chance to look at it for long this morning, as I had to get inside for a meeting first thing this morning.

 

[slavrenz]

Is there any way you could post a pic?

 

[ucMP3]

I'm @ work but I don't have any means of uploading a pic unless I went down to my apartment, that I'm not staying at this week.

Basically, the leak seems to be coming from directly behind the t-stat housing. Looking at the manual, there seems to be a stem that the t-stat housing attaches to, which in turn attaches to the block. It looks like the leak is there where that stem meets the block, but I can't find any part number for a gasket there. I want to repalce that gasket & the t-stat housing gasket. Anyone know what part # that gasket would be? (Not the t-stat gasket, I found that in the manual)

I'm going to take my lunch break in a few, and I will take a closer look then. I have my dad's whip sitting at the house, so I'll probably drive my car home, take a look around @ the leak, and then drive his car back to work. Should be an easy fix, just need that part number...

 

[ucMP3]

Well, I found the gasket, although it's pretty lame that the proper gasket needed is not listed under ANY protege parts list I have looked at, including the FLOPTICAL online parts list linked from the forums. Mazda Dealership enlightened me to the proper Mazda part, but it would take until Monday to get it in. So, then I found the part listed online in another parts lists under a 99-2001 626 water output gasket... Why are parts lists so f'ed up sometimes?

BTW, Autozone has part # fs01-15-169 (the water outlet to head gasket) listed as the thermostat housing gasket... They wouldn't believe that their system was wrong.

I f'in hate autozone. A bunch of asshats; their computer systems are wrong like 50% of the time I've gone in there asking for them to look something up. And they get attitudes when I politely tell them that their info is incorrect.

/rant

 

[ucMP3]

Fixed.

Bought a roll of water/coolant system gasket material ($7) and cut/made my own gaskets. Nice & dry now.

I have most of the roll left, too. And I have the oem gaskets on the way from rock-auto still. Anyone need either water outlet gaskets? lol

 

[KrayzieFox]

Nice work. I thought it was gonna be one of the o-rings on the pipes that come into the water neck.. but I guess not.

 

[ucMP3]

Nice work. I thought it was gonna be one of the o-rings on the pipes that come into the water neck.. but I guess not.

Ya, I thought about ordering them to replace, also. And I still may, since I have the oem gaskets coming anyways, it might be wise to replace all the gaskets and o-rings in the cooling system...