Frogman

So today the temprature is 104 degrees . I normaly drive my car 40 miles to school every day
Bellow 70 degrees the temprature is almost always around 20-25%, above 75 degrees the temprature is always around 30-35 % , and I know for a fact on days above 95 I always reaxhes 45-50%.
Today My temp gauge went up to about 60%.
I drove for another 5 miles and popped the hood during street driving for the last 6-4 miles of my drive ( i only stopped on 3 red lights) , temps gradualy climbed down to 50% .

Is this normal
My rad was refurbished about year ago and no coolant loss exist, Engine felt great and sounded super smooth as well.
Note my car did NOT overheat or get close to the top or even a fourth (75%) of the white zone , the hash has a nother spot up top , It went a bit above half . I'm just asking if it's normal for temp's to climb to just about half in 102-4Deg weather doing 4'500 rpm for about a 45 min drive.

Ckforker

Do you have a Mazda thermostat? How old is the water pump?

sounds like water flow is an issue and if the radiator is refurbished, I’d check those items.

the other item is the fan, clutch or electric? The clutch fans can act like they are working, but not very well. I had this problem last year.

tommyeflight89

iTrader: (4)

Edit- Post above me came in as I posted this. Good advice!

Is your mechanical fan in place and the factory shroud plus undertray still there? This is critical. And hopefully you have a proper OEM thermostat with the bleed feature.

When your car is cold, remove the rad cap, you should see a full rad. If it is not full, you could have a tiny coolant leak or a bad rad cap. A bad cap or tiny leak will let coolant out into the recovery tank as the engine warms up but not 'vacuum' it back in from the tank as it cools down.

Frogman

I have a OEM 3 row cooling system minus the hoses and Stock FMOC.

I noticed my Resivour would be at low and when it would get hot it would rise to half way .
It hasnt been doing that as of late and just moves up and down a bit reguardless of the temp . I susspect the little pipe might be clogged since i bent it once on accident .Il run a small wire down it to see if it has any clearance .
My rad cap is oem . My rad burst because my mechanic used a correct nut faulty rad cap on my rad when i lost the oem one.

midnight mechanic

is there a plastic grocery bag or leaves blocking air to the radiator?

if the t-stat jiggle hole is blocked, the engine will heat up in minutes

when the t-stat is open, there will be turbulent coolant flow in the radiator Remove the rad cap when the engine is COLD, then run the engine so it gets hot and check the coolant flow

t_g_farrell

iTrader: (1)

You have a leak somewhere or the cap is not working right. The over flow works via a sealed system, so as it heats up the coolant expands and at some point the cap allows it to bypass and go to the overflow. On cool down the system will experience a vaccum as the coolant cools and that will pull the coolant back out of the overflow. A new OEM cap or a pressure test or both may be able to determine if you are holding pressures.

LongDuck

Stock radiator, stock thermostat and an otherwise good functioning cooling system, the temp shouldn't fluctuate much between warm to hot days. On cold days, you might see a difference (cooler) because there's a lot more heat dispersion with cold ambient air temp. If your temp gauge is fluctuating and getting higher on hot days, that's an indication that your coolant system needs to be refreshed. Be sure you're running fresh coolant in the proper 50/50 mix with distilled water. Not only does it anti-freeze, but it also raises the boiling point of the coolant, helping to maintain pressure in the system.

Frogman

I'm going to drain my coolant which is 50/50 and run 65/35 (water/coolant) . I checked the pressure and the overflow is working fine ( I gave it a good wire brush scrub) ..
I have been driving the last 3 days in 70 deg weather, temps stay a stable 25% , they only ever reach half in 95+ degree weather.
Reminder, I have an automatic car, my trans is cooled by the rad as well, if I park on the black tarmac that has been heated for hours, my temps almost always go to half within 5-10 mins .

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

have you checked the underside of the intake manifold? if the leak is small enough, you could be losing antifreeze when hot (and under pressure) and it might be hard to see a puddle because it may get vaporized by the exhaust manifold. just a thought (based on a past experience) ...