Mike,
My guess of your coolant problem is this: since you had a leak
in the system (the loose clamp), air entered the system. It may
take a while for the system to bleed that air out of the system,
as it goes through a few heat-it-up/cool-it-down cycles.
But that is just an educated guess. You might better find your
answer on the Miata list. Would you mind if I forwarded this
to them? Or you can ask them yourself.
And I highly recommend Rod Grainger's book, "Mazda Miata
1.6 Liter Enthusiast's Shop Manual". It's available at from the
vendors on Miata.net, or from Amazon.com.
Regards,
Kent
'56 100 BN2
'93 Miata black-and-tan
You wrote:
> I changed the radiator cap because of an article on a Miata web site
> that said "if you hear a sound like a coffee percolator after shut
down,
> then the rad cap is weak. Sounded good to me, so I replaced it.
Well,
> the percolator sound is gone, but after looking under the hood while
it
> warmed up to see if the thermostat was opening (feel the top hose) I
> noticed that the coolant was leaking out of the top hose at the
> radiator. A few turns of the screw driver on the clamp and no leak.
> Success is still elusive though. I noticed the overflow tank was
> bubbling like a hose in a fish tank! There is a constant flow of air
> into the top hose when the thermostat opens. Is this a bad head
> gasket? The flow was apparently greater with the old weaker rad cap.
> The new one only lets a trickle of air out. So is air from the head
> gasket heating up the coolant? Dependable Japanese cars my a**.
|