Why is it if something is going to fail it happens on the Sunday of a long weekend? This past weekend was thanksgiving here. Drove back from the cottage and decided it was time to get the 3 ready for winter. Rust proofing, inspection, tire swap. Oil change for good measure.

And then...why is the belt end of the motor covered in coolant? Well at least I got home without issue.

Couldn't get parts until this morning.... after I finish night shifts. Surprisingly the pump wasn't horribly expensive. About $170 CAD for dealer parts. Aftermarket was about the same price. New belts, replaced the seal on the suction pipe. Here's the best part...dealer was out of coolant. I had 3/4 of a jug, not enough.

It wasn't a terrible job but man some of those bolts are tight to get at. The problem I had was the pump didn't want to let go of the o-ring on the suction pipe. Spent nearly an hour wrestling with it. And of course once it let go it was coolant everywhere including on my face lol.

Can't run it yet until I get coolant tomorrow. Not really holding this against the car, this is the first failure I can't attribute to other factors. Over 7 years and around 230k kms and all I have to show for it is a failed water pump. Pretty good I'd say

That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

Dealer supplied FL22 is premixed, I believe. Ravenol-branded FL22 is the concentrate¹ (per attached photos). I would prefer the latter as it allows you to flush the system first with (hopefully soft) municipal water and then introduce, say, 65/35 ethylene glycol/distilled water... which ends up being diluted by the flush water remaining in the cooling system after flushing (despite your best draining efforts) with the system then approaching 50/50. My thoughts, in any case...

¹I believe the Ravenol is the concentrate... However, it may be "concentrated at" 1:1. Does anyone know German?

 

As always the problem is obtaining these items north of the border. I have yet to find FL22 spec concrete that is reasonably obtainable here. If I can, I'd be all over it. Concentrate is usually cheaper than premix.

Even the stuff you recommend doesn't exist on amazon.ca. sure you can get the prestone Asian vehicle stuff and it is compatible....but I'm really not a fan of multi vehicle specs for fluids. It's kind of like if you go to a restaurant and order toast with butter and then they give you toast with butter and jam. Technically your order has been filled as asked....sorta.

As for flushing it, I'm good there. Last year I did a big and expensive flush. Replaced thermostat but I took the old one and cut the guts out so the system just free flows. Drained and filled with deionized water. Ran 10 mins to mix. Repeat until all water. Then did the same with coolant until I got a good freeing point.

 

As I am near the border, here in Vancouver, I can get the Ravenol shipped to my mailbox service in Point Roberts, WA...

 

Must be nice. I'm on the other side of the country with no such option.

 

whats the odo on it if you dont mind me asking... I'm around 190k.... its alternator failure odo zone for the last car. I hope the water pump will hold a little while longer.

 

Somewhere around 230k kms

 

Considering that this is the first failure I've had that can't be attributed to some other factor (like the minor accident I had a few years ago) I'm not holding this against the car. Every car out there will have some sort of failure at some point.

Well there was the seizing rear brakes....but that's solved long ago.

 

A person can't generally say that the Skyactiv-G Mazda's are unreliable. I think they give good service. A water pump at 230,000 km is good svce in my books 🙂.

 

Agreed! My old car had way more issues. Other stuff has been silly small stuff, like a connector on the starter corroded. Cleaned it up and good to go

One that amazes me - I posted about it here some time ago, that accident I had a few years ago resulted in a brief overheating of the motor since I lost all the coolant to a broken rad. This gave me an extremely mild head gasket leak. I've been monitoring it closely for a couple years now and it's a non issue. All that happens is I get a very small amount of oil in the coolant. After a while it pretty well seals itself up - changing coolant makes it slightly worse. Other than that no ill effects. Hasn't deteriorated in all this time. The oil leaking is so tiny I can't see any change on the dipstick between changes. No coolant loss either.

I wanted to try a retorque but I just don't have the time to do the job. Oh well.

 

Leave it well alone. I would not "disturb" the current sealing by applying more torque. "Let sleeping dogs lie". The cheapest fix ever to mechanical prbs can sometimes be diligent monitoring of fluid levels, judiciously adding/changing fluid as deemed necessary.

 

Yes this has crossed my mind. If I were to do it, I'd buy a new set of head bolts and torque them correctly. But could it make matters worse? Of course.

At this point I think the best thing to do is what you're saying. I can monitor for it getting worse with compression test. If the motor dies, I guess I'll drop in a new one

 

Yes this has crossed my mind. If I were to do it, I'd buy a new set of head bolts and torque them correctly. But could it make matters worse? Of course.

At this point I think the best thing to do is what you're saying. I can monitor for it getting worse with compression test. If the motor dies, I guess I'll drop in a new one

If you keep an eye on it it I think it's unlikely (tho not impossible that) things will go "south" without you noticing the signs and symptoms first.

 

When i did my flush (new pump and thermo last year) i used some liqui moly rad flush to delime and loose any deposits in there. But also replaced all hoses to silicone. Found a set on ebay for $99 cdn .

But more recently ...my power steering failing at the most unfortunate time... 130 kms/hr at track before a 90 degree right (slow to 80 before) ...so lets say i mowed some grass. Moral of the story remember the last time you changed the fluid.
For me... that is never in the 10yrs 270K kms ... please dont laugh too hard.
Flushed it out (it was black) and put in some Motul stuff - dexron stuff - its auto trans fluid

 

Power steering is electric nowadays.

 

yup it is ... i have replace it

 

I have run into corroded connectors myself, some of them are not well sealed if at all. The starter has a small single wire with a white connector. It's practically open, complete joke. Sure fix is easy and free, but I shouldn't have to do it.

Good luck with yours, wiring can be painful.

 

I have run into corroded connectors myself, some of them are not well sealed if at all. The starter has a small single wire with a white connector. It's practically open, complete joke. Sure fix is easy and free, but I shouldn't have to do it.

Good luck with yours, wiring can be painful.

i have been testing last few weeks
Seems to only been cutting out on cold starts / cool down and start again
Cuts out for 5-15 sec and then its back does it 2 or 3 times and then its fine for daily drive.