Hey everybody this is my first time posting on here other than buying things in the for sale section. Ive always thought this forum was really useful for information on miatas I've owned and now for my P5 too so i though somebody out there might be able to shed some light on my problem..
A week ago i was sitting in stop and go traffic on a day that was 90+ degrees and 80% humidity when the temp gauge started rising. It got to the 3/4 mark when i turned on the A/C and the temperature came back down to normal. Once i got home i discovered the coolant in the radiator and overflow tank was a brown color when it had been green a few days before. Thinking it was rust i drained it (i found no oil slicks in the coolant and it did not smell like oil) then did a coolant flush using pristine super flush. It was when i was burping the radiator that i found the rad fan (the drivers side not the A/C one) would not come on even when it reached operating temperature which i know this car does. I checked fuses and relays for both fans and everything checked out, not even when A/C is turned on does the drivers side fan come on. Being somebody who does not know how to use a multimeter all that well I chose not to bother testing my coolant temp sensor and just picked up a cheap auto zone $16 replacement thinking it would solve the and it didn't. I noticed the car ran smoother so i didn't think much of it, figured it had never been changed anyway and left it. Ended up hooking the the drivers side rad fan directly up to a car battery i had lying around thats charged and nothing, its dead. I ordered a drivers side fan so I'm waiting on that. Its my only car at the moment so I have been driving around with the A/C on to keep temps down. I have not had the temperature rise again but now I ran into another problem. Whenever i start the car (even when its cold after sitting over night) the temp gauge goes strait to its operating temperature position. Thought it may have been the cheap temperature sensor i put in from auto zone so i put in the old denso one (temp gauge always functioned properly before) but I'm still having the same problem.. I know the car shouldn't do that and it feels sketchy driving around with a malfunctioning temp guage. Does anybody have any idea what it could be causing the temp gauge to do this? I have had gauges go bonkers on me on GM vehicles but it was never overnight like this and never experienced this with any mazda I've owned. Also want to try illiminate any other cause of the problem before hunting down another temp gauge. Sorry i know it may seem like a lot of pointless information but i thought it may help diagnosing.. Any help is greatly appreciated!
A week ago i was sitting in stop and go traffic on a day that was 90+ degrees and 80% humidity when the temp gauge started rising. It got to the 3/4 mark when i turned on the A/C and the temperature came back down to normal. Once i got home i discovered the coolant in the radiator and overflow tank was a brown color when it had been green a few days before. Thinking it was rust i drained it (i found no oil slicks in the coolant and it did not smell like oil) then did a coolant flush using pristine super flush. It was when i was burping the radiator that i found the rad fan (the drivers side not the A/C one) would not come on even when it reached operating temperature which i know this car does. I checked fuses and relays for both fans and everything checked out, not even when A/C is turned on does the drivers side fan come on. Being somebody who does not know how to use a multimeter all that well I chose not to bother testing my coolant temp sensor and just picked up a cheap auto zone $16 replacement thinking it would solve the and it didn't. I noticed the car ran smoother so i didn't think much of it, figured it had never been changed anyway and left it. Ended up hooking the the drivers side rad fan directly up to a car battery i had lying around thats charged and nothing, its dead. I ordered a drivers side fan so I'm waiting on that. Its my only car at the moment so I have been driving around with the A/C on to keep temps down. I have not had the temperature rise again but now I ran into another problem. Whenever i start the car (even when its cold after sitting over night) the temp gauge goes strait to its operating temperature position. Thought it may have been the cheap temperature sensor i put in from auto zone so i put in the old denso one (temp gauge always functioned properly before) but I'm still having the same problem.. I know the car shouldn't do that and it feels sketchy driving around with a malfunctioning temp guage. Does anybody have any idea what it could be causing the temp gauge to do this? I have had gauges go bonkers on me on GM vehicles but it was never overnight like this and never experienced this with any mazda I've owned. Also want to try illiminate any other cause of the problem before hunting down another temp gauge. Sorry i know it may seem like a lot of pointless information but i thought it may help diagnosing.. Any help is greatly appreciated!
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