Rotaryman13b

Okay I got a 87 Turbo 2 and I had a water pump that failed on me a few weeks ago, I was kinda forced to drive with it as it pissed away coolant, although I did keep it filled everywhere I stopped, but still it would go through a lot. Anyways I replaced the water pump with a new one, and fixed any leaking that had occurred, but I am still getting high temp readings on temp gauge. In fact it will escalate up rather quickly, it all but takes to miles worth of driving to get it up to the half way mark on the gauge, Today it got up to 3/4 while coming into work. So now I am freaked, I've heard what overheating can do to a rotary, so I was pissing my britches to drive the poor thing. But what makes it worse is wondering if it really is overheating or if I am having thermostat failure. I am sure the excessive coolant leaks couldn't be good to any of those sensors. So I was wondering what you guys think, and what your best advice would be in my shoes. I need this car to be running cause work for me as a 40 miles a day of freeway commute, and I don't want to be out an engine.



your responses will be greatly appreciated,



Greg

Rob x-7

For starters I would change the thermostat with a Mazda one

and see from there, like $14 from the dealer with the gasket.

Rotaryman13b

Yeah thats on my definite to do list, I was wondering if there are other things that need to be check to like the auxiliary fan sensor or the water temp sensor?



One other question too, I can never seem to get a straight answer from other forums, but would it be worth the investment to replace the stock clutch fan with a flex-a-lite water pump driven fan?? Electrics don't pull enough cfm for my taste but I was curious about the clutchless. Granted it's gonna steal more power away from me, but I am curious if its able to pull more air through the AC condenser and radiator. Any thoughts on this??

1Revvin7

Stock fan pulls more cfm than electric ones. To see if you thermostat has failed, which I suspect, when the engine temp is warm feel the upper radiator hose. If its cool and the lower radiator hose is warm then its the thermostat. Regardless do as rob said.

Rob x-7

I like the stock fan, when properly functioning its more then adequate.



If you dont know or dont remember when your thermostat

and coolant was changed, then its a good idea to do it.



You can also test a thermostat to see if its working right by

boiling water to a certain temperature, but you

have to remove it, so at that point why bother and just put a new

one in.

Ranzo

Just a couple of other advices when you change the thermostat, check the clutch fan and ensure that it is not worn out or broken. Just give it a spin with your hand and see how long it will spin.........If if spins for a while without stopping it is bad and is not moving enough air to cool your car. I have had this problem before....twice actually. Also when refilling the radiator on a FC I always let it run with the cap off to ensure that all the air is out of the radiator. Too much air can cause false readings on the guage and overheating as well. Since yours is an 87 model there should be a valve on the radiator that you can open and bleed all the air out.



Just a couple other things to think about.

Rotaryman13b

Heheh I was aware how poor electric fans are, at best you can expect what 3K cfm from them, and the stock clutch fan pulls about 6.5K cfm. I was just wondering how the direct bolt-on flex fans compare, I can never really get a cfm reading for them. But I so hope its not the clutch fan, I've been looking around and the going rate for the clutch unit is a good 181$ USD But I'll go ahead and do that test you refered to, Ranzo. as far as air in the system, I had did the radiator cap air bleed when I had to replace the waterpump. As for the thermostat I'm just gonna go pick up a new one at autozone after work tonight, the closest Mazda dealership from where I live is 12 miles away and I already have to put 20 miles on it to get home, and I don't like driving it in this condition any more than I have to, since Autozone is just a few blocks away from where I live.

1Revvin7

Do not Use anything, but a genuine mazda thermostat..

teknics

ill sell you my clutch fan if you want it, works completely fine too.



kevin.

Rotaryman13b

my baby is in pain coming home tonight the car was climbed up to a little over 3/4ths the way on the Temp gauge. I hated it I didn't want to drive it because I know that every second of driving it is killing the engine. When I got home I popped the hood and felt the upper pipe, it was HOT! so I guess the thermostat is working right?? Plus I went a head and tried spinning the fan with my hand, and it spinned pretty freely so I am thinking the clutch had failed. But at any rate I am gonna test out the thermostat. Plus my friend is telling me my radiator needs to be rod out. This **** sucks and I need my car running by the 19th.



1Revvin7 : Please tell me why I should only use Genuine Mazda as opposed to other brands, please support your argument.



teknics: how much are you willing to part with that fan clutch and how soon do you think it will take to send it to me, I live in LA.



Greg