My engine is dead. White smoke pours out from the exhaust and is hard to start. I've changed every portion of the cooling system rad, wp, t-stat, hoses, coolant, and still the car overheats. When the WP was replaced, the orginal unit was missing 3 of the 4 fins and I could not recover any of the missing fins. When I swapped out the rad, a few more rust peices were found where the lower hose is.

Af few weeks after all of this was changed (prior to the rad being changed), the heater core burst and flowed coolant into the passenger footwell. I was miles away from home and bypassed the heater core so that I could drive home.

So today I tow my car to the Wayne dealership in Jersey and they are saying that I need a new engine and the authorization was denied along with my warranty being revoked???? I was told to call Mazda directly to log any complaints. Mazda Corp tells me that the tech @ the dealership has the final say. By this time, my ride is here and I have no energy to fuss with the service department.

I don't understand how bypassing the heater core can cause overheating? My best assumption is that there are blockages of the coolant passages in the engine itself due to the busted peices of the WP. I still have the old pump.

Advise anyone???

Thanks

 

The heater core itself is a *mini-radiator*

what is WP ?

 

Water Pump

 

So if my heater core bursts and I bypass it, that is sufficent to overheat the engine?

I'm really trying to get an understanding before I call the service manager and try to work this out.

Thanks

 

I see

The op did something stupid then, if it was me, I will just put everything back and tow the car to dealership. pretend I dunno anything, just tell them *my car overheat like nutz for no reason, check it out*

then let them handle the rest.

now, u screwed yourself up. big time.

it shouldnt cause any overheating,

Im thinking its the broken fin still stuck somewhere inside the engine and its making rust right at the engine, thats why u're overheating.

if you still had bumper to bumper warranty in the first place u shouldnt even touch it.

 

Bumper to bumper expired last november. I would have just had it towed to Mazda if that were the case. I had taken it in in April for leaking coolant and they took me that my WP and hoses needed to be replaced but since I was out of warranty was up, they were going to charge me an extreme amount.

 

and you didnt take care of the issues then did you? bad boy.... regardless of how this situation turns out, now you know better. you cant ignore and put off major issues like cooling system

 

did u take care of the issue right after u left the dealer then ?

 

Of COURSE!!! I love Maxine (my car). Ordered everything from Rosenthanal Mazda on 4/29/08 and the waterpump from Mazmart two days later (receipts to prove). Also picked up a new rad once I found peice of the old WP floating around.

I'm kicking myself in the head and the nuts for leaving the heater core bypassed because you were right, if I had just hooked it back and said "I don't know whats wrong" I wouldn't be in this situation.

And to add salt to my wounds, I received the extended warranty notice in the mail.

I'm going to go to the dealership today with the failed WP (i kept it just in case). And the receipts for all the parts that were ordered.

I'm hoping for the best.

Thanks everyone for the support and the hard truth.

 

wow man you screwed up by bypassing the heatercore.. even if that wouldnt have caused it to overheat they would still have voided the warrenty. they try everything they can to get out of paying for repairs. your only options now would be maybe talk to a 3rd party mechanic and/or a good lawyer...sometimes if you make a big fuss and dont let it go away they will write it off to spare any legal action and so they dont look bad..ive seen it done before

 

uh, this thread is 4 months old.. i'm sure the OP has gone over his options by now...

 

um wow sorry lol sometimes i do a search and forget that im still on the search page and of course i always forget to look at the dates...fail

 

bypassing the heater core does not change a thing in the cooling of our car---just posting for future referance,
od--

 

I agree.

 

good luck explaining why to a dealership

 

easy --just crank the car with the return heater hose off---its a non thermostat regulated constant flow. So bypassing the heater core does nothing to the coolant flow pattern for the engine.
OD