SiDHEaD

Hello,

Bought a cheap car on ebay (yah i know lol) to tide me over while mine is repaired.

All seemd fine but it always "smells warm" round the engine. Today it decided to **** a load of water out of the overflow on the top of the expansion tank. Engine was showing as halfway on temp guage and didnt feel super hot.

Feeling the vaccuum pipe the other side of the thermostat it was cold. Tho to be fair the water coming out of the overflow wasnt that hot.

Do i need to get another thermostat? Soz if is stupid question i know nothing about engines lol

Car is a Mazda MX-3 V6.

Edit: also i've noticed in these cold nite/mornings it always steams from exhaust more than other cars. Seems to ALWAYS do it.

Thanks,

Andy

NotoriousREV

Might have blown the head gasket

1. Check for signs of oil in the header tank (film floating on the top)
2. Check for mayonnaise around the oil filler

If you can, whip the thermostat out and drop it in a cup of boiling water and see if it opens, if not it needs replacing.

SiDHEaD

Hmm not got those symptoms but yikes! Will get the thermostat off tomorrow.

Shark Man

Head gaskets do NOT always cause water/oil mixing

Also one can get mayoniase on an oil filler just by doing several cold starts/short journeys from condensation in the crankcase....which is very common at this time of year, with it being so cold and all that


Although I suspect the headgasket maybe the problem, in this case; a pressure test of the cooling system would quickly rule that out.


It can blow betweeen the water jacket and a cylinder...therefore no way water can reach oil...but coolant is still lost, and the cooling system gets pressurised and airlocked from combustion gases.




Thermostats usually stick open, not closed, even if it was stuck shut, this would not affect the operation of the temperature guage (unless its broke or the cooling system is full of air).

BOB.T

My money is on the head gasket

If the thermostat was stuck shut it would overheat, stuck open there'd be no need for it to overflow.

SiDHEaD

I guess i have been lucky so far that it hasnt overheated then!!! I've sat in traffic for 30mins and allsorts I'll have to take it down a garage as I think changing head gasket is well beyond me!

vindaloo

Check/change the thermostat... but also, once you're sure there's a proper level of coolant in the system, try revving the engine whilst looking under the bonnet. Might just be a pin-hole leak in a hose. revving the engine makes it more likely it'll squirt a decent way if that's the case.

I found that trick out when my glasses inexplicably got wet whilst trying to debug a coolant loss.

J.

SiDHEaD

LOL ok thanks !! New thermostat will be with me tomorrow so i will stick that in and put some proper coolant in.

The Zohan

Agree 100% with what he said - oh and a bargain on ebay as well, draw you own conclusions...

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