New-to-us '02 Protege5 is Overheating

R

RavynX

Track Miata!
:
2000 Mazda Miata LS
Hey all, I went with my girlfriend yesterday to pick up a new-to-us 2002 Mazda Protege5. It's a little rough around the edges but she test drove it the previous day for 10 miles and said the drivetrain was solid. She purchased it yesterday and on the way over it started to overheat. We pulled over and popped the hood to find a missing radiator cap. wtf... Anyway, went to an autopars store, got a cap for a manual radiator which ended up not fitting. Come to find out it's an automatic-transmission radiator (the car is manual). Weird. Got that replaced, drove her the rest of the way home (~7 miles) and the temperature gauge seemed find but upon parking and getting out we heard coolant bubbling in the overflow tank. This leads me to believe it's a thermostat issue but we thought the temperature gauge in the car would have shot up immediately. She's going back to the dealer tomorrow to see if they'll take the car back but we're thinking they won't budge since they sold it "as-is" but obviously someone tampered with the car yesterday since she test drove it 2 days ago.

When I get home from work I'm going to pressure-test the radiator but was wondering if you guys know of any other places I can check. I have a Miata and the thermostat and water pump are easy to replace on it. How good/bad is it to work on the Protege5? Thanks! :)
 
the protege is not a difficult car to work on, especially if its a texas car with no rust issues.

the bubbling could be from air getting into the system after not having a radiator cap. if you haven't refilled the cooling system before replacing the cap, that could be the problem. i would recommend replacing the themostat and flushing the coolant.
 
Welcome to the P5 section...wish it was under better circumstances though. From what you have said I would hope they wouldn't give you a hard time returning it but it is a stealership. Should you choose to keep it, the t-stat is an easy fix. While you have the system drained, I'd swap out upper and lower hoses and replace the coolant temp sensor.
 
As stated above the Protege is easy to work on........ I would drive it around more to see if it starts to overheat again. If it does I would swap the thermostat as stated above. It takes about 10 minutes to swap.

Rob
 
Thanks all for the replies and the welcome to the P5 section; I wish it was under better circumstances too since it looks like a fun car to drive. After talking again with my girlfriend she believes it's the water pump b/c it was fine on the highway but when stopping at the apartment it was overheating. She will be talking with the dealership today to see if they can cut her some cash back because she wants to keep the car since it's familiar to her. If she decides to keep it and the stealership pushes the "as-is" condition then we'll first replace the thermostat to see if it fixes it. If not then we'll be replacing the water pump ourselves. How big of an issues is the water pump given that the motor is transverse in the engine bay? I'll keep you all informed. :)

protege5.jpg
 
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Side note: Both front headlights are out. Is this a common issue with P5s (wiring issues?) or just a weird occurrence? Should be easy to replace.
 
to check the water pump the water should be circulatiing within the radiator, you may have a headgasket issue as another possibility
 
Beautiful color and looks great with those wheels. Sad you are having problems like this. Should have looked it over entirely before you purchased it though. Appear to be easy fixes.
 
DarkAngel said:
Beautiful color and looks great with those wheels. Sad you are having problems like this. Should have looked it over entirely before you purchased it though. Appear to be easy fixes.
Click to expand...
Thanks, we'll get it sorted out though. :) Believe me, my girlfriend knows the in and out of cars. It drove perfectly for the test drive on Wednesday and everything looked great under the hood with no leaks and clean oil. On Thursday we found out someone removed the radiator cap before our drove home. Lesson learned that we should have done a full once-over again the day of purchase even though we did that the day before. Ah well. I didn't get a chance to look at it today after work since plans changed but hopefully tomorrow.
 
Alright, so, we finally got some time to look at the car yesterday. The headlights are actually missing. You heard right, missing. She thinks they installed an HID kit and it was removed before selling it to the dealer. Coolant level was fine except the overflow tank was a bit low so we topped it off and drove the car for a bit. Coolant temp gauge was fine after a 3 mile loop but after the car sat for about 1 minute we noticed so heavy coolant bubbling in the overflow reservoir which had the water level almost to the top several inches above the full-mark line. The bubbling subsided while the car idled but it was still bubbling. The driver's side fan kicked on/off like any other fan would and the A/C fan turns on properly as well so that leads us to believe the thermostat is working properly as it warmed up quickly (not permanently open) and it didn't overheat immediately (not permanently closed).
 
Girlfriend here!

Some notes about the car:

• It has 148k miles on it.
• The fans are cycling on and off an proper intervals
• It didn't overheat after driving and idling for 10 minutes yesterday
• There are no leaks at the hoses
• The thermostat appears to have been replaced, evidenced with some fresh sealant around the thermostat housing
• The bolts on the water pump pulley seem untouched
• The bolt seat on the valve cover bolts are new and there is fresh sealant around the valve cover showing it was removed and replaced sometime recently

Since the issue is intermittent, I am less likely to believe that it's a head gasket. The car takes a bit to warm up, so I believe the thermostat has been replaced. The issues seem to point to a water pump wearing out, which is likely given the mileage of the car.

Has anyone else replace the water pump on their Protege5 and if so at what mileage? I know my miata needed one at 90K.
 
Check your radiator for leaks specially if it's the plastic one... I had the same issue with my Protege was an easy fix they carry these radiators for around 130-140 depending where you live also changed out thermostat ..... Protege did the same with bubbling in the water reservoir ..... Total cost for this on mine was 160...
 
Oh my bad, I forgot to mention that the radiator looks NEW new. It's definitely aftermarket and the stickers are still fresh. It's one for an AT, but it works the same.
 
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