hey whats up everybody, i bought this car about 2 weeks ago and i really like it but i am having some problems with it. i bought the car knowing it needed an alt,tires, but also had to do front and back brakes put a new battery in it and now it is having some sort of overheat problem. the temp gauge is going very close to the h zone to close for comfort for me and then it goes down to mid point after fan kicks on, but this is happening constantly. also when i turn the car off i am unsure if there should be a fan that comes on to cool the engine if there is it is not working. i have noticed that once i use the car then shut off even for a number of hours when i restart the temp gauge goes right to mid point as if the car never really cooled down. the temp gauge does not do this all the time but does it most of the time when driving street or highway. also i have an orange indicator light coming on underneath the rpm gauge , someone told me this is a universal check engine light. it looks like its the shape of a ufo. i dont know if it is a universal check engine light or if this light has something to do with the overheat problem. and last but not least this car has a problem in the gas tank area where the fuel comes back up when putting gas in the tank and has to be put in very slowly. i dont know if this has to do with the overheat problem but the mechaniic that did my alt says it might have something to do with it, but i dont know about this guy anymore. when he did the alt he disconnected the radiator fans and lifted the radiator itself to get to the alt after it was recommended professionally to remove an exhaust pipe to get to the alt. for all i know he could have caused this problem and i asked him about it he told me to take it to a shop and have it looked at by someone who is a foriegn car specialist. can anyone help me out and shed some light as to what i can do to trouble shoot this myself and fix it. i already dumped $600 into it since i got it and it is still not running right. i hope someone can help me cause i dont have much more to fix this right now.


thanks in advance
cugene

 

There is no fan that runs while your car is off to cool it down... Check coolant level.... Maybe the thermostat is getting stuck.....

 

hey thanks for taking the time to reply dave87, i really appreciate it. i am new to the site but think itis great that it is available, also i did a serach after my post, i didnt realize you could pull up old posts like that in comparison to your own problem and i def. am going to go with your suggestion about thermostat(already checked coolant level its full) it seems thats what is tried first in these situations so i am going to try it. i just hope its not showing signs of the head gasket going, i saw several other posts with similar symptoms that my vehicle is having saying it turned out to be the gasket and my milage is the same as well its at 170k. Again my thanks i saw alot of your replys to others in my search it seems there are a few people on here that really know what they are doing when it comes to mazdas and you are one of them.

thanks for your help
cugene