Ok... I am confused like nothing else... I had an overheat and turns out my t-stat died. I replaced it with a Mazda t-stat straight from the dealership with new gasket. Everything was cool... now temp is up again. I need to make sure of a couple of things...



1. Is 5w30 ok for cali right now with temps being between 80 and 90 degrees...



2. What coolant mix is recommended for a 13b 2+2???



3. If these are ok... how do I preform a presure test???





Help!!! I miss my car!!! https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub..._DIR#>/wtf.gif

You sure it was the t-stat and not the guage? Those sending units are not all that reliable. Is it actually boiling over when you show a high temp?



To perform a pressure check you need a coolant system pressure checker, goes on the radiator, you pump it up see if the guage leaks down.

Oh yeah... I was on the side of the road with my car smoking white smoke. It was indefinitely the t-stat. And right now I have 100% coolant in my radiator. Am I wrong for not having mix? And is 5w30 ok for an engine with almost 200k miles?

No it should be fine with 100% bad news is rotary's really dislike overheating, you may have fucked something up.

is your fan working properly? are you sure that you bled all the air out of the system when u flushed it?

100% coolant is good??? I thought it was supposed to be 50/50, or more water than coolant for hotter seasons/climates.

Well... yeah... this is the only time I have ever heard that you SHOULD put 100% coolant. And BTW... is the temp gauge being at 1/2 durring hot temps???

coolant should be at least 50/50 if not 70water and 30 coolant in the summer, water cools better than antifreeze.



5-30 is a little light, but should be ok

I didn't say it was GOOD, I just said it should be fine. I've never heard a 100% anti freeze mix overheating a car, but then I've never ran anything over 50/50



EDIT: Hmm well I guess I was wrong, it could I guess overheat your engine, water absorbs almost 2 times the amount of heat as glycol, so i'd start there, although I don't know that it matters overheating a 200k plus rotary can't end in happiness

ok here is another question... how about what TYPE of coolant... should I just stick with Prestone Green??? Or should I switch to something else?!? I was told by a guy at napa that I was recommended to use a coolant with dexcool. So I am confused...

just use the green coolant it usually comes premixed but if its a concentrate mix it 50/50

People are actually recommending Deathcool? That's rich. You might want to read this:



http://www.dexcoolsettlement.com/

what fan are you using?

Coolant:



Never run 100% coolant. Coolant is intended to be mixed with water to raise the boiling point and lower the freeze point. Coolant also helps protect engine parts, since water (especially tap water) has lots of crap in it. Coolant can NOT cool your car off as fast as plain water. Especially, if the coolant is concentrated, and has no water in it. Phins hit that one on the head, so did Mike.



For the summer, try running 75% Distilled store bought water (which will have no tap crud in it), and 25% typical coolant. Don't worry about the brand, just make sure it's typical coolant, not ELC (the red, extended life coolant). Dexcool is ELC coolant, and strangely enough I was told for some reason, I can't mix dexcool ELC with any other type of ELC (highway truck ELC). Apparently the dexcool ELC is formulated for GM's V8 pickup trucks or something. I don't know much about the dexcool ELC.



In general, to run ELC you have to do cooling system modifications anyways. So forget it for now.









Oh, and make sure both your water temp sensors are properly connected (1 under the oil filter, 2 under the t-stat), I noticed with the OEM ECU that if one was unplugged and the other was still plugged in, the OEM gauge would tell you the car was borderline overheating at operating temperature.

Ah... makes sense... its just strange that when I mix coolant and water I get white smoke from the hood. Too weird... (I am so glad that I haven't put dexcool in there...) and yes I replaced the thermostat.

OH HUGE NOTE!!! THE GUY AT NAPA SAID THAT YOU SHOULD NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER (DID I SAY EVER???) MIX DEXCOOL AND ANY OTHER COOLANT BECAUSE IT WILL ACTUALLY CAUSE ELECTROSTATIC DISCHARGE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT... or in short... it will electrocute the block... bad...

yeah ive heard you cant mix dexcool or something, i dunno no danger of me owning anything that would use that stuff anyways

Here's something you may not know about coolant:



It can eat the cooling system if left unchanged for a long period of time. The pH balance becomes upset from usage, and it begins to stop protecting the inside surfaces of the block, routing, and hoses, and starts to rot it away. And sometimes, will produce it's own voltage actually. If you find your coolant produces voltage, that's probably the clearest indicator I can think of that it's time to change your coolant. LOL. Just save yourself future hassles and change the coolant regularly like the manufacturer says!



I'm sure the electrostatic discharge this guy was talking about is associated with different pH balances (acidic or basic).

Remember what a battery is? Two dissimilar metals and electrolyte? What's in a battery cell typically? Metals, water and acid?