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94 Miata losing coolant

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  #1  
Old 01-06-2009, 06:30 PM
Alex4's Avatar
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Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 2
Default 94 Miata losing coolant

Losing a noticable amount of coolant everytime I drive. Have to fill up the overflow bottle from min to max about every 3-5 days of driving. Very noticable white smoke (outside temp in the 30s) coming from the tailpipe on start and for the first5 min of driving. Smoke stops until I park and it sits for a couple of hours and it does it again. I can't find any leaks under the hood nor are there any puddles of coolant under the car after it sits.The oil looks goodat the dipstick andcap with no noticable contamination. I ran the car withthe radiator cap open andwhen itwas warm. It started a very slight overfow but no bubbles.The engine hasnever overheated (in the past two years that I owned it anyway and the problem started about a month ago). The Mazda Specialist repair shop noticedthe coolant wasa "little low" when it was in for a failedcamber angle sensor a few months ago and saidit pressurechecked good. They replaced the radiator cap. Now I am losing much more coolant then at that time.
Suspect a head gasket, cracked cylinder or warped cylinder head. Are there any other possibilities? Assume my next step is taking it to the garage.
 
  #2  
Old 01-07-2009, 07:54 AM
hixx's Avatar
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 1,324
Default RE: 94 Miata losing coolant

Blown head gaskets on miata engines are very very rare but not totally unheard of. A block checker can verify it if so,however the throttlebody has coolant running through it and could be leaking directly into the intake as well as an intake gasket leak.
 
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