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- 2003.5 MP5 Laser Blue Automatic (SOLD)
Im curious if the overflow tank is part of the coolant capacity listed in the owners manual for my car (Protg 5 with heater). For my car it shows approximate 7.9 quarts of coolant capacity. And the problem I have is this. When I do a coolant flush and on cooled off engine I open the drain on the bottom of the radiator and I let it drain for about 20-30 minutes until I only see drops coming out if the radiator. The amount that drains is a little over a gallon. I close the drain and I refill with distilled water but the amount that came out during draining does not want to go back in. Only about 85% of one gallon goes in before no more can be added. So I start the engine and get it up to operating temperature with the heater on and feel the radiator to make sure its hot so I know that the thermostat opened and the water I poured in mixed with the rest. I let the engine cool for about 2 hours and I repeat the same process again several times using 7 gallons of distilled water. This is a lengthy but safe process as I dont have to deal with hot coolant on my hands as I did 2 years ago when I screwed up the mixture and noticed my fan turning on more often than previously . One thing I noticed after several of these flush cycles is that I have to top off the overflow tank each time and this is where I think that maybe the 7.9 quarts listed in the manual includes the overflow tank. I know there is air present in the radiator and possibly some parts of the engine right after topping off the radiator so maybe Mazda included the overflow tank as part of the total coolant capacity. I dont know for sure.
Reason I want to get rid of all traces of coolant is that I would like to get the coolant to about 55% antifreeze and 45% water. And since the cooling system capacity is 7.9 quarts which is slightly less than 2 gallons I think I can achieve close to this ratio if I drain a total of 1 gallon of pure water from bottom of radiator and overflow tank then refill both with exactly 1 gallon of pure antifreeze. Eventually when the coolant system equalizes and pumps out all the bubbles I should have approximately the 55% antifreeze/45 water mixture.
Does this make sense to you guys?
Reason I want to get rid of all traces of coolant is that I would like to get the coolant to about 55% antifreeze and 45% water. And since the cooling system capacity is 7.9 quarts which is slightly less than 2 gallons I think I can achieve close to this ratio if I drain a total of 1 gallon of pure water from bottom of radiator and overflow tank then refill both with exactly 1 gallon of pure antifreeze. Eventually when the coolant system equalizes and pumps out all the bubbles I should have approximately the 55% antifreeze/45 water mixture.
Does this make sense to you guys?
