Help. Overheating at idle (fixed, was fan fuse)
 

My 8 is starting to overheat when I am at idle for more then 10 minutes. I noticed it today when I left the car "on" at the car wash while drying it. When I left the lot, I smelt radiator fluid and then I notice the temp gauge was 3/4 the way up. I drove it home and then the temperature came back to normal.

I had a feeling the car only overheated when it was idle, so I left it at idle for 10 minutes when I got home. The temp went up, so I shut her down right away.

The car rested for a couple of hours, then I test drove the car around for about 30 minutes. The temp was normal for the whole trip. Came home and let it idle again fro 10 minutes. The temp went to maximum fast and quickly spilled out about a quart of radiator fluid.

I researched it a little bit and I think it could be either of the following problem:

-The thermostat

-The water pump

-The fan


I'm not sure how to diagnose each of the problem but I know the fan isn't coming on either time the car overheated. So I think maybe it could be the fan.

Should I bring it back to the dealership to diagnose any of these problems?

Is any of these problems covered under warranty? My 8 only have 35K miles but is almost 6 six years old.

I've heard about people identifying the problem and I was wondering if I can fix it myself. I am not too sure but I think I hear the fan trying* to kick on after I shut of the car. I am pretty sure it's a mechanical sound.

Any help on what the problem could be and how to fix it would be much appreciated.

If you have a diagram of the cooling fan and how to get to it would be awesome.

-Thanks, -Scott

Edit: Thanks everyone for the help. I took apart everything today and found that there wasn't a leak anywhere. It was just a blown fuse. The smoke came from the overflow bottle dumping fluid underneath the battery.

if you smell coolant burning my first spot to look would be the water pump, look under the pulley to see if any is dripping out of the "weep hole" (tiny hole on bottom of water pump) it'll likely be whitish/yellowish crud, if its leaking it's covered under basic warranty and you def. should change it ASAP. In reality the only way to know for sure if you cant see anything is to do a pressure test.

Checking your fans is easy, run the car with hood open. do the fans come on? With the car overheating the fans should be at full speed while the temp is above normal. I have seen the fans blow. You can check the fuse for them since when the fan blows up it normally blows the fuse too.

kevin.

Thanks.

I seem to have some sort of leak since an hour ago. About another 1/2 quart spilled from somewhere in the engine bay while the car was resting.

There isn't any fan kicking in after I revved and then shut the car off.

I'm going to check for the crud you're talking about once the residual radiator fluid drys. There was a lot of steam so I going to clean it up.

I hope the extra radiator fluid is from the reservoir bottle boiling over.

If you need a Thermostat ofr waterpump I would suggest MAZMART. They have the best.
I would also consider lowering the coolant raio in your system to 40% coolant and 60% Distilled water.


Check the coolant overflow tank. The are a known source of coolant leaks. They become old and brittle.

I read your thread Easy E1. I don't think it's the same problem because it is only 40 degrees outside.

I'll look at the other area you mentioned though. Thanks

Smoke Honda, I'm guessing you have an 04 ... so basic warranty is over. My 04 water pump or water pump gasket started leaking. It's located just below the alternator. Grab a flash light and look around the edges of the water pump. Fold up a paper towel and push it up against the bottom of the water pump and see if you get coolant. Taking off the coolant filler cap will make it leak faster if you're trying to find the source while the engine's off.

Do not DO NOT change the mixture. If anything you may want more anti-freeze as you are on the East Coast and need that for the winter.

yes east coast generally needs more coolant. unless youre willing to change it seasonally, i run almost straight distilled water in summer, my rotaries arent driven in winter (march-august sometimes sept).

kevin.

I've checked the water pump and there seems to be no leaks around that area. There is radiator fluid evaporating from somewhere underneath the battery box. The radiator light does not come on and there seems to be a small leak somewhere that I cannot see. Fluid only overflows when the car overheats after about 10-15 minutes at idle.

Can I rule out the possibility of the cooling fans being broken because the fuse is ok and the fan does come on when I turn on the A/C? I assume it's the same fan that turns on right? Right fuse panel, labeled Fan#1 and #2.

I wanted to take it to the dealership tomorrow because I though there was an extension on the warranty. I thought there was a 8 year/ 100K warranty on the power train now?

Any ideas? Thanks.

The 8 year/100K warranty is for the engine only. I would check your overflow bottle. It is known to crack and leak.

this happend to me too, turns out my water pump went out...took it to the dealer had my car back in 2 weeks, fck HB mazda

if your pump is dry and the leak is near the battery its most likely the coolant overflow bottle, like they above said, its somewhat common.

kevin.

2 weeks :uhh: How much did they charge to fix it and what was replaced aside from water pump?

I wonder why the coolant overflow reservoir is so damn expensive? :rant: I had to replace mine cause the low coolant light was staying on when the level was fine.

You can replace the pump yourself IF YOU KNOW HOW.

Its not really a "hard to do" diy. just take the time, be careful, nothing will go wrong.

Holy smokes! That's more expensive then the water pump and the gasket combined.

Ugh. I thought I was saving money because the water pump is cheaper then the fan. Now the bottle is more expensive then the pump. I'm going to pull everything on Thursday. I hope it's just a tube or something.

Any follow up to what happened Smoke? I have the same exact issue... I'm pretty sure it is the fans because I'm blowing fuse 6. If that isn't the case for you it could it be the relays?

It's not the relays, it the fuse. It's funny because I just finished replacing it. It's a 40a fuse. I took apart the whole radiator to make sure everything was not leaking. I have a spare if you want it.

Take the aircleaner box out and check that the fans spin by hand - if something falls in and jams, they will burn out.

I did, and it spins free as a bird.

The whole process took less time then an oil change. I took apart the battery box, the overflow, and the intake. A lot easier then I had expected.

I have no idea why the fuse blew. I thought it could have been the relays too but they were fine.

FIXED (I think)
 

Update:

The 8 was still running a little hot and it was still dumping radiator fluid so I went out on and got an extra cooling fan just in case. Used, thanks G3tR3DDY2GR3DDY.

Went to my friends shop, pulled out the intake, battery, and overflow bottle. Powered up the fan and everything seemed fine.

The fan spun. Great I thought, but out of curiosity, my friend powered up the new fan and there it was- the problem. The new fan spun at least twice as fast as the one that was on the car.

I have no idea how this had happen or how many people could be overheating because of this but I think the fan is a huge problem.

I think I'm going to take the old fan apart in the next couple of days to see what the problem was.

Taking out the fan was not fun at all. Apart from taking apart the battery, intake, and overflow bottle. We had to loosen the fuse box, the main radiator hose, radiator, loosen the a/c lines, the undercover, and wiggle it for about 20 minutes to get it out. One of the hardest placed fans I have ever dealt with. The whole process took about 3 hours.

After fixing the fan, I've notice a lot of power returning to the 8. Even though it was 90 degrees today, it ran like a champ.

Side note: I did find my two grommets that was on the intake retention plate. It was believed that these grommets could seize up the fan and cause overheating. One of the grommet was right below the intake. The other was behind the fan. I don't know that this caused to fan to be damage but I don't think it was.

Smoke Honda,
Thanks for that info. Hope it's fixed.

Did your replace both fans? How did you compare the new/old fan speed? I did not think you could see them when the car's all assembled on a stock car, so did you have the intake off or is your car non-stock?

I wonder if there's a gadget that can measure fan speed and does not cost an arm.

Yea. I bought the whole fan assembly. I looked at the fan when the fuse first blew and I knew I couldn't get to the screws for the fan motors because it was between the radiator and the unit. So I had to take off the fan the replace the motors.

I had to take off the intake to see the fans. Then I hooked the fan directly to the battery to see it run. I did the same to the new fan.

I'll take some pictures for you when I can.

Its a common problem for those rubber groments to fall and stop the fan from working.

Probably wedged in there blew a fuse then fell to the way side. Replaced fuse and fan worked but motor/brushed fried so doesn't spin at correct speed.

Where were you 22 post ago?!

Ha Ha......he's right though. It's happened to many in the past and just that way. Everyone should go look and make sure that a grommet hasn't found it's way there.