hey guys, im not sure weather this is a stupid question or not becuase this has never happened to me b4. i just got done running my t2 a little "sprited" and when i pulled into my garage and shut the car off (yes i let it idle for 3min) i heard my coolant boiling/bubbling. Does this mean my car is overheating? normal? not enough antifreeze? too much? any help would be appreciated, and please dont flame, im somewhat new to the 7 world.

 

yes the water is boiling. something is wrong. and antifreeze isnt what cools down the engine, its the water that is suppose to be mixed in the cooling system, buy distilled water, and fill it up if you are low.

depending on how bad this is, you may have a coolent leak.(broken coolent seal)

just pay attention to your temp gauge. o ya and what is your temp gauge at when normally driving? it should only be at no more than 1/3 of the gauge if its an s4. if its an s5 then 1/4.

let us know what happens.

 

s5's are supposed to be at 1/2

 

coolant seal fix, I dont know the address, but thats the same problem I had and this is what I did, and it fixed it. someone post the process

 

do tests first to make sure you have pinpointed the problem(s) before you try to fix something that may not be broken.

 

thanks for correcting, i dunno why i thought 1/4, but ya your right.

 

well one test is, checking the temp gauge. another is, why the car is cold. have someone stand in front of the engine, take off the coolent cap, and have someone start the car. if coolent comes bubbleing out like crazy, then its a coolent seal.

 

It very well could be coolant boiling in the turbo, which is normal.

 

the coolnt seal fix isnt a certain thing, it's a like 6 hour process that will fix that for awhile, and then you can save up to get it rebuilt

 

http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/coolantfix.html

thats the site, and it will work, and when you use degreaser just use marvel mystery oil, it'll work great

 

Make sure it isn't ur coolant seal first (i think the test was mentioned in here somewhere). If it isn't that, make sure there are no bubbles in ur cooling system. If it isn't that, make sure u have no pressure loss anywhere (i.e: check ur coolant filler cap). If that doesn't work its probably ur thermostat.
When i first got my car this was the first problem i ran into...so i feel ur pain.

 

thanks for all the great responses one prob is i have a faulty temp signal sender so i have no temp guage. the car was running fine until i blew my upper coolant hose. ever since that ive had occasional boiling cases. the coolant doesnt bubble when the car is cold, the boiling is definitly not comming from the turbo but from inside the radiator you can feel the bubbles when u put your hand on the radiator. it may very well be my thermostat i also think i may have som leaking vac lines but im pretty sure that doesnt have to do with this prob. anyways ill try to keepo ya guys posted and thanks for all the advice -alex

 

Ya man its probably ur thermostat.
And remember..OEM or BUST.......literally.

 

You said your coolant hose burst. Did you just go and get a new one, put it on, and then put more coolant in your car? If so, you have air in your cooling system. Coolant will push that pocket of air right up to the thermostat and that is usually where it will sit. There will be no coolant surrounding the thermostat, so therefore it cant open and let this hot coolant circulate in order to dissapate heat through the radiator. You need to bleed the colling system. If you find that you can't do it (sometimes it seems like a black art), you can usually take it to a shop that specializes in coolant systems, and they can put a tool on it thats made by Snap-On. The tool will create a huge vacuum in the system. To the poit that all the hoses will flatten out. When all the air is out of the system, the will open the valve which has a hose running to a container of coolant. The coolant will then be sucked into the system, and will occupy the hard to reach spaces that are being evacuated by the air. Works like a charm, and only takes about 15 minutes to do.
I was really impressed to use one.
Anyway, I hope this is the problem that you are having, and not a coolant seal.

 

ok so i go to the mazda dealer today, and they say my car doesnt require a system bleed. They told me i was wrong and my car really didnt need a cooling system. So i was like ok whatever, that was earlier today, so i come back home tonight and what do ya know, my coolant was boiling again. what the hell is going on with my car?

 

You don't need a cooling system? Thats odd.....

 

just take the upper radiator cap off, make sure its full all the way to the top, put the cap back on, take out the black plug on the passenger side top of the radiator with a phillips tip screwdriver, turn your car on and let it get fully warm (dont drive around) and just let the coolant come out of the hole until your car is warmed up. Then put the plug back in with the car still running and maybe that will fix your problem.

 

i could try that as well, is antifreeze corrosive? ill give it a shot, thanks -alex

 

Part of what antifreeze does is protect your cooling system from rusting, so I'd guess that its not very corrosive.

 

Convection cooling (where hot coolant continues to circulate due to extreme heat in the turbo) commonly makes that type of noise, I know of several turbo cars that make that noise, but very rarely can it be felt in the radiator.

I would suggest that you go ahead and replave you thermostat, flush your system, and re-fill it with a 60/40 mix of distilled water and coolant. Get yourself a water temp gauge too. That is so important that it is not even funny. You have no way of knowing if your engine is even overheating. That is ridiculous.

 

i do know how stupid it is to drive without a temp guage but i had no choice, its the only car i have to drive, i did get a new water temp sensor but the dealer ordered the wrong damn part so i have to go back return it and get the right one. so now im really screwed so i dunno what to do now. Does anyone have a water temp sensor lying around pls pm me. thanks -alex

 

Ths stock gauge is useless anyway. Just go get an aftermarket gauge.

I hope you are still runing your stock fan shroud, underbelly pan, and radiator ducts in the nose of your car, are you?

 

well i found the problem, my radiator fan is not working. Its an aftermarket electric fan. It came with the car when i bought it. Where is the fan relay located? is there a possible way i can test the fan to see if it works. when the fan did work, the fan could be manually turned on by turning on the AC. is there a relay in the AC pump that activates it? it seems that there is a wire that runs from the fan into the AC unit. thanks -alex

 

If your fan is not working, then you have major problems. Apply 12V directly to the fan to see if it comes on. If it does, troubleshoot from there.

As for your bubbling, it is common (as mentioned) for turbo cars to do this. Is it actually boiling? You should be able to tell, since boiling coolant will overflow the overflow bottle.

Also, see http://www.aaroncake.net/x-7/cooling.htm (when my site comes back up, that is).

 

is it possible i can permanantly hook up the fan to the battery and have it constantly running? is the battery too powerful for it? thanks -alex