Hi, Im here for a co-worker of mine.

He has a 99 Mazda B3000 with a v6 engine.

Everyone here at work says he basically needs a new engine and I think there full of it and just want his money so they can make a few bucks off him.

Heres the story.

He was driving it one day and water started spraying from the radiator cap.
Someone says he has a blown head gasket which is possible.
The oil is not mixed at all, its straight oil. He put in a new thermostat and also checked compression and its where it needs to be.

Well we just went out and looked at the truck(he hasn't drove it since this has happened) The truck has been sitting in the barn here at work for like 2 weeks. We go unscrew the radiator cap and it starts spraying out radiator fluid.(we didnt start it or anything)

To me that seems very odd to have pressure build up after 2 weeks of sitting.

My thoughts are the water pump is dead.
What do you all think?

 

or a water line is clogged up. That would allow the pump to create pressure.

I think I would do an old fashioned engine flush with a garden hose. Flush the engine and the radiator separately. I hope this video shows it (didn't have the time to watch it all).

 

14 year old Rad
14 year old water pump
14 year old coolant?!

Take your pic!

 

I think we'll give that a try.

The bottom hose that connects to the water pump is hard (obviously has water in it, but the top one wont fill up.

So I think at the least we'll take the water pump off, check the 2 water hoses and run the hose through the engine and radiator.

Just though id ask you Mazda guys to see if you have ever had this problem before or know what we should do.

It would be a shame for the coworker to be talked into a $1600 engine when it only needs a $50 part.

 

You need or ugh coworker needs to give more input/history of the cooling system. Is this original since 1994 other than tstat?

 

Noggin has a point, three points actually. That's why I thought the flushing will reveal which part is shot.

 

You do bring up good points, and honestly we couldn't tell you.

Hes had the truck for almost 2 years. Im sure its the original pump, radiator and coolant.

That's why he has come to me to figure out whats wrong and from personal experience I would think its the water pump.

But as mentioned above, we should flush the system to reveal more answers and that's what we will do tomorrow after work.

 

I'd visit replacing ALL hoses as well as flushing ect.