Ok so I've been having a slow coolant leak for a bit of time now. I could smell it under the hood on a hot day, but I could never actually find a leak. The senser on my tank is useless being that it is a OEM 04 tank. So I just kept an eye on it and the factory temp gauge (I know which is pratically useless). So I add some coolant cause my tank was real low before leaving to run around town, car drives fine, don't notice anything. When I get home I get the feeling I just need to check everything so I pop the hood and my coolant is boiling over the tank. I let it settle a minute then I had my wife move her car so I could put mine up front so I can work on my baby. Pop the hood and now the tank is almost empty again.

So I did some searching and here is the conclusion I got from everything I've read. My leak could have been from the resevoir which the top where the cap twist on is warped and the sensor is bad, the hoses don't look so good, and then there is the radiator. As far as the coolant boiling, I probably added to much, or my thermostat stuck, or my water pump crapped out. Also I've checked the seal on my pump and it isn't leaking.

So this is my plan and I'd love some feedback. I don't plan on driving it for several weeks and I've had a few other things I've wanted to get done. So here is my summer shopping list that I should have everything purchased in two weeks.

1. Mazmart Re-medy water pump and T stat
2. Racing beat silicone hoses
3. New coolant tank with a working sensor
4. Racing Beat guage set for my temps
5. Remove, inspect, and pressure test the radiator, if bad then replacing with BHR radiator.
6. Sohn adaptor and reservoir
7. Mazda Zoom cleaner
8. New set of belts
9. Accessport with MM calibrations to finish it off.

I figure since I'm going to remove the coolant tank, hoses, and radiator, might as well slap in a sohn adaptor while I'm at it. Plus I wan't real guages so see what my temps are running. I'm not taking the chance on the pump or t stat so they are just getting replaced regardless. Once I get everything in and see how she runs, I'm getting an accessport for all those wonderful benefits they offer. I hope this will get my baby up and running better than before with added benefits for longevity.

 

Okay so far I've got the coolant drained, the whole undertray removed, battery removed, coolant tank removed, and a couple of hoses out.

Here is my assesment so far, hoses are shot, they are soft and it bad condition. Will be replacing them is BHR's samco hose set. Radiator has to be replaced. The nipple on the top that has the short hose between the radiator and the tank broke off inside the hose. Could have already been cracked but I finished the job as you can see in the last picture. I will be adding a BHR radiator to my order now. I'm going to order most everything next week and I'm going to just keep getting a little done everyday since it's going to take at least 4 weeks the get the hoses and radiator I figure. Fun fun, just can't wait to get it all in and fire her back up.

Here is a couple pics of what I've got removed.




Here you can see the nipple broke off on the radiator.

 

you can repair that if you want to.
also you need to check your sparkplugs for any coolant?
Keep us informed.
od

 

SSSSHHHH don't tell me wife it can be fixed lol. I "need" a new radiator because it's obviously defective and BHR's (Griffin's) radiator is the perfect solution

Thanks for reminding me OD, I do need to check those. Haven't had them out in 6 months. Will do first thing tomarrow AM if the rain decides to quit. I'm hoping it's all external though, my wife will kill me if I need a rebuild.

I'd get more done but the weather has been bad and I can't fit my car in the garage. Weather permitting I should have the radiator out by the end of friday.

 

lol-- i will delete my post

 

Haven't got anything done on the car today (been doing yard work) but I have done the bulk of my purchasing. Currently I have ordered, Mazmart upgrade water pump and t stat, BHR radiator, Samco hoses, set of Gates belts, Sohn adaptor, new resivoir with sensor, and some zoom cleaner.

Lol in fact as I was typing this Charles just sent me an e-mail telling my i should have my radiator in about 2 weeks, and 5 weeks on the hoses. Those guys are awesome, responded to my order in like 10 minutes after in made my purchase. Now time to head back outside and get something productive done on my car.

 

Might as well drain the remaining coolant from the block. You can use some water and a funnel to poor some water into the block to get more of the old stuff out. Compressed air works well too.

Be sure to get some good foam to put around the radiator to help the air flow throug the radiator instead of air from going around it while cruising down the freeway.

 

Yeah I know there is a bolt where you can drain it, just not sure where it is and if its easy to get to. I've never heard about using foam to direct air through the radiator, but I don't have all that much experience in moding cars either. What kind of foam? Any idea where I could find some pics of an example?

It's going to rain the rest of the day, not getting anything done outside other than I removed the front bumper and took off my ram air duct.

 

Got some more stuff done but I've run into another problem which I will address in another thread since it is unrelated to any of this.

Got the intake out, all the belts, and all the main upper hoses.

 

You are getting there Sometimes getting the parts takes the most time

You definitely needed new coolant...that stuff is nasty colored now

Bolt for coolant drain in block is on the lower edge of the block in the center iron ( between spark plugs) Just above the line of the oil pan

 

Yeah and that WAS semi fresh coolant lol. Got the hoses off and all the metal connectors for the hoses are all corroded. Going to brush and clean up everything real good. Thanks I know exactly which bolt you're talking about. There wasn't anything in the engine cooling section on the service manual I downloaded on my pc.

 

Oh and what is up with the cooling fans having different number of blades? I was checking to see how well they freely turned and I noticed the driver side felt different when I spun it, thats when I noticed they have a different number of blades. Should I possible think about replacing the fans while i'm at it?

 

Been super busy plus bad weather but I've managed to get the radiator out, replaced t stat (total pain in the @$$) water pump, installed sohn adapter, now I'm just waiting for some more parts. My wife took pics during the process.

 

Ok so I've got just about have everything done now. I've been super busy and I'm still waiting on the Samco hoses to arrive. I've already put on the old hoses to I could flush the system really good. I'm very happy with my new radiator.

The Sohn tank didn't go as well as I'd had hoped. I had it put in place with some good old JB weld and it looked nice and clean but then I kicked something over with my foot and I had to let it go for a minute to clean up my mess. I thought it had already set good but when I came back, the tank had slid so I had to reposition it and it made a mess of the JB weld. I can say for sure that it won't move ever again, I got my revenge even if it looks bad lol.

 

Ok it's kind of sad but it's going on more than 6 weeks and my babe still isn't road ready, not that it's from lazyness of my part. It's more from my lack of car DIY experience, and trying to figure out how to get through problems that have popped up along the way.

I ran into a problem with my fuel pressure guage fittings, my fault, waiting on a new set of fittings from jegs, should be here on thursday. After that the car is road ready, I've already taken it out for a drive a week ago. Coolant temps are still running higher than I wan't. Hot day at idle I'm running at about 195-205. I plan on getting an accessport and get the fans to kick on sooner.

The last problem I ran into was this weekend when my Samco hoses finally arrived. 5 out of the 6 hoses matched and fit perfectly, but the hose that goes from the over flow to right above the omp hose was to short and the bends didn't match up. I e-mailed Charles this morning to ask about it and he said that it has been a problem with Samco in the past and they told him it had been fixed....guess not. No fault of BHR's and I saved the OEM rubber hose. I managed to actually make it work by routing the hose different than the original. It snakes underneath the battery box now. Charles asked if I could get some pictures of the hose and so I've got one that shows it compared to the original, and one just the samco hose with the battery out.

 

We'll I'm finally done and so far no issues. Temps running around 200 for both coolant and oil plus no leak that I am so far able to detect and I've seen no loss in coolant levels so far. Now I can move on to other projects that I'm planning next.

 

Nice job!!!


Still am looking for the source of my leak... Might be the tank but check it throughly still cant seem to find any cracks...

 

Good job man, looks awesome. Looks like you did some things the hard way but the more you do stuff like this the easier it gets.

 

Yeah and I've since redone a couple things, mainly with my two stroke tank, it is now better secured and a shortened the line between the tank and the sohn as well. Now just waiting the 11 buisness days for my accessport. Getting a map from MM for the decarb, then it's time to start the data logging for my tune.

 

Hey, where'd you get the coolant hose kit? It's time for me to replace my smaller hoses (not the two major ones). Awesome project pics!!

 

I purchased my samco set from BHR, they have since taken down the product from their website due to problems with samco after I recieved an ill fitting hose that didn't fit right. I had to find a way to make it work or switch back to the OEM one. I got it to work and hanging on to the old one in case problems arise later. You might be able to call Charles at BHR and talk to him. I don't know of any other kit that replaces the smaller hoses.

 

I just realized I never posted my final results on how everything is doing. With my Accessport and Mazdamaniac's tune my temps are running on average 180, and thats in 90 degree temps in mid florida. Even when I'm running to redline on several pulls I can't get the temp above 205. I've tried redlining several times sitting in the drive way, the temp goes up, then drops right back down.

I have to hand it to MazdaManiac, the change in the cooling fan settings makes a huge difference in cooling temps, about 20 degrees difference with my setup. Also I trashed the foam around my old radiator, and did not replace it when I put in the griffen. I really don't think it would make much of a difference anyways.

Side Note: Oil analysis from Blackstone came back 0.00% for antifreeze.

 

Updating this thread because the fitment issue with the lower coolant tank reservoir has been resolved. I received a new hose from samco and a new kit is being put together for the US market.

 

the new hose looks like it fits well! nice of samco to finally remedy the situation after so many orders...

 

i did not there were issues with Samco... i had ordered mine thorugh charles of BHR and had no issues with fitment...