Mazda - Mazda3 :: 2005 - Take Longer To Reach Normal Operating Temperature - CEL?
Feb 4, 2014
Our 2005 Mazda 3 appears to have a problem with the thermostat. My mechanic read a check engine light code connected with a thermostat problem. My wife has noticed that the car seems to take longer to reach normal operating temperature than it used to (close to 15 minutes of driving). Other than probably diminishing the gas mileage and having to wait longer for nice heat is there any down-side to this problem? Is it likely to get worse and fail altogether? The shop guesstimates it will cost around $150.00 to replace.
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I noticed that it seems as though my Mk7 takes longer to reach operating temp than my mk6 TDI did. My commute to work is plenty of time to warm up (25mi) but I feel like this car is slower to warm up (but faster to get cabin heat d/t the electric heater). I just find it strange as here in MA it hasn't even been that cold yet, so I'm wondering how the car will be wen the temps dip well below freezing.
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I have a 97 Ranger 2.3 standard shift, No A/C, a pretty simple Ranger with 158,000 miles. About a month ago while do some checking around under the hood I noticed my coolant overflow tank was empty, so I filled it up to the proper level with some anti-freeze mixture. Thinking if the system was low on anti-freeze it would suck what it needed from the recovery tank, wrong! About two weeks ago I noticed that my temperature gauge was NOT registering in its normal position and was considerably lower towards the Cold mark. Heat coming out of the heater was normal.
I opened the radiator cap and everything looked okay. After a few days this would not go away and replaced the thermostat thinking the thermostat was stuck in the open position, wrong again! I burped the system by letting the engine run with the radiator cap off and filled the radiator with anti-freeze mixture every time some of the air was expelled. I did this for a few days and noticed that the engine would not reach normal operating temperature at idle speed! I had to put something on the gas pedal to increase idle speed so the engine would get hot, this is not normal. Finally I got to a point where the radiator would not take anymore anti-freeze mixture, but the problem still exists.
Two things I noticed that will get the engine temperature up to normal, engine speed (RPM's) and not having the heater on. Let me explain, at normal idle the engine will not reach its proper temperature, but when driving down the highway the temperature goes up to normal (about halfway on the scale) no matter if the heat is on or not. When stopped at a light or just idling I can watch the gauge slowly go down towards the cold mark, if I turn off the heater it takes longer to go down to cold. I do know the heater fan is cooling the coolant to a degree (no pun intended), but it shouldn't cool it so much as to make the temperature drop so dramatically. Okay, heater off, riding down the highway, everything normal, come to a stop and idle temperature starts falling slowly, but when I turn on the heater the temperature starts falling faster.
My diagnosis: I have no leaks of anti-freeze, checked and re-checked. I have no symptoms of a blown head gasket, no milky white appearance on dip stick indicating anti-freeze mixing with engine oil, no clouds of white smoke coming out of exhaust, checked tail pipe for anti-freeze, none found, no loss of power and no loss of gas mileage. I changed the thermostat, like I said. Do not think it could be the radiator pressure cap, normally if the cap goes bad the system will have no pressure and the engine will overheat, the opposite of the problem. Water pump, normally if the water pumps goes the coolant will not circulate through engine and will over heat, again, not the problem I am having. Could it be:
1. A long shot, I bought a defective thermostat and it is still staying open.
2. The temperature sending unit has gone bad, very improbable since it does register the correct temperature when truck is moving down the highway.
3. The coolant is spent, again unlikely, it has been in the engine only for about 3 years and still looks clean and green.
4. Have to have a cylinder pressure check to determine actually if the head gasket is really blown or not, which I doubt.
My conclusion is that I still have a huge air lock somewhere in the system and the engine is still not completely filled with coolant and when the rpm's drop not enough hot coolant is reaching the temperature gauge sending unit, but if that much coolant is not in the system, why am I still getting lots of heat blowing from the heater? The vehicles cooling system is not that complicated and there are few parts involved in its proper operation, I think I have covered them all, but somewhere I am missing something to pin point my problem.
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Sometimes, when the engine is at normal operating temperature, it won't start up when I turn it off. For example, let's say on my way home I stop off in a supermarket to pick up some stuff. I'll come back out 20 minutes or so later, only to find out my car isn't starting. I'll turn the key and the engine will crank, shake and then immediately die on me [I'm under the impression the engine isn't even starting at this point because tapping the gas does nothing]. Again, this is a problem that is only happening sometimes. I can do the same routine tomorrow and it'll start up flawlessly.
1) This is only an intermittent problem. The problem doesn't seem to be occurring more frequently, but when it does happen, the engine is harder to start. For example, the first time this happened to me, I got it started after one or two tries. After my latest episode, it took me 11 tries to get it running!
2) After the engine does finally start, the engine will run really rough and shake a lot until I tap the gas a few times (which is leading me to believe this is some sort of fuel related problem [sometimes, the engine will start on one try, but will run rough until I tap the gas a few times]).
3) When the car is cold, it starts up flawlessly every time without fail.
4) The car runs mint! No hesitation or otherwise stalling, etc.
What I've done so far to try to remedy the problem:
1) Changed spark plugs
2) Fuel line cleaning/flush
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I have a 2003 Corolla with 178K miles and a 2007 Camry V6 XLE with 30k miles. Both make a tapping sound when the engine is not at normal operating temperature (when the engine is still cold during the morning). I've changed the oil regularly on the Corolla with 5W-30 oil every 5k miles. I'll be making my first oil change on the Camry in about a 1 week.
The tapping noise goes away once the engine gets warm. Is the tapping noise normal? I don't hear this noise from our Honda Odyssey, which uses 5W-20). Can using a different weight oil work?
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I went out and checked my engine oil level when the engine was cold and the oil level was near the bottom of the hash marks. Drove the gti for around 15 min and fully warmed the engine and waited five minutes and rechecked the oil level. to my surprise the oil level was actually higher! it was now at the top of the hash marks. if I added oil when the engine was cold I would've over filled my engine. I always thought it was the other way around with a cold engine all the oil would have drained back to the oil pan and should read higher when cold. Why the oil level reads higher when the engine is at normal operating temperature?
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Idles really high at startup until the engine gets to normal operating temperature and falls back to normal. Takes 10-15 minutes. I recently de-greased the engine and think I may have fouled a sensor...though the check engine light is NOT on. I'm afraid if I keep this the way it is it will cause damage to the engine.
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1998 Honda Civic EX. This has been a great car and have got a ton of good miles on it. The problem that I am having now is with the temperature gauge. The measurement is completely all over the place while driving. While moving around town, the gauge shows the temperature VERY hot. As soon as I reach a consistent speed, the temperature drops back to normal (moves very erratically!). The gauge seems to get even hotter while idling. Another issue (may or may not be related) is the heat coming out of the vents is only working while the car is in motion. While stopped, it pumps out cold air. The temperature immediately changes when I get going again. Both problems seem to be getting worse. The car has coolant, and all other levels of fluids are normal.
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I have a 2005 Mazda3 with a 2.0 engine & a five speed transmission and 94,000 miles. Since June the car has twice not started, and so far three trips to two different Mazda dealers have not resolved the problem. The car had sat overnight, when I tried to start it the engine it turned over normally, and sounded normal, for just a second. Then it sounded like it started turning over much much faster than normal and the turning over sound changed to the sound of a high speed "whirl" (I don't know any other way to describe it).
In both cases the car just turned over and over and never sounded like it was going to start, resulting in a tow being needed. I've now found out that the dealer started the car by pushing the gas pedal to the floor, then cranking over the engine and then very slowly releasing the gas pedal until the engine started to fire. In the three months in between the non start days the car has started fine and it drives fine, lots of power, constant power with no surges or bogging down. The dealers have checked the compression, fuel PSI, and run computer diagnostics and everything appears to be normal. They also removed the value cover and say that as far as they can tell the fuel injectors seem to be functioning normally.
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My 2005 Mazda Tribute has an ABS warning light that comes on as soon as I reach 40 mph. It will remain on after that no matter what speed I drive until I turn the car off. The braking system appears to function normally with normal breaking even if the light is on. With hard braking the ABS performs as it should too, rapidly oscillating the braking force. If I restart the car and keep the driving speed below 40 mph the ABS light never comes on. Otherwise, the car runs great. What is causing the ABS light to come on at 40 mph and how do I fix it?
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I have a 2005 Mazda 3, with ABS. Recently, the brakes on this car began to fade about halfway through the pedal travel, then firm up. This is while driving, (ie, with the engine running). When the engine is off, the pedal pumps up high and firm. I bled the brakes, eliminated the possibility of any hydraulic problem such as a leak, no change. I then reasoned that since the problem only appeared when vacuum was applied to the power assist, that must be the culprit. Replaced the power assist, problem remains. Next suspect is the master cylinder, but, as I said, with the engine off, the pedal is fine. Usually cars make sense to me, but this has me questioning my instincts.
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I have a mazda 3 and i just tried to start it but its just making a clicking noise. The radio works so does that rule battery out....
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1996 Miata. The hood of my car is so hot that you could fry an egg on it. The hood is so hot that you can not put your hand on it. The heat actually comes through and can be felt on the legs of the person in the passenger seat. The temperature gauge reads normal. This began recently. I took it to the Mazda dealer who said it was normal?
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The gear selector on my 2005 Mazda 3 with automatic transmission is difficult to move between P, R, N, and D positions. It does not "click" or fall into position like it used to. It has gradually gotten worse. When the car is in Park, it seems to not want to go all the way up into the Park slot. Even though the car actually parked, the P will not light up on the dashboard, which sometimes causes the car not to start when the key is turned. So sometimes I have to put it in Neutral to start.
Now the problem is that when it is in Drive, it will "fall out of gear". I put that in quotes because it is still in drive, but it was shift up to a higher gear if i don't physically pull the gear selector knob back. For example, if i'm driving and the car is in 4th gear going 60mph, and the shifter know slides up an eight of an inch, the D light will go off and the car will move into a higher gear (not sure which one, feels like 2nd or 3rd) and the engine will rev up. It doesn't feel like neutral.
Is there anything I can do myself? I plan on trading in the car in the next couple months, but I'd prefer to not have to get it worked on until then.
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This past weekend, however, I took it out on the highway and found it has a pretty bad vibration. The vibration is coming from the body, not the steering wheel, so i initially suspected the real wheel balance. Next I varied my speed betwn 50-75 mph expecting to feel the vibration intensity vary, but it did not. While doing that however I realized that when I let off the throttle, the vibration stops. Given it some gas and it comes right back.
I got off the highway and pulled in to a parking lot. Driving at parking lot speeds, accelerating or not, there is no vibration. Come to a stop either in gear or neutral, and the engine is rock solid steady. Then got back on the local streets and the vibration returned but only while accelerating, even gently.
At this point I should mention that we replace a bad motor mount a yr and a half ago when we bought the car, the upper passenger side. The mount damage was easily so it was an easy diagnose. Replacing it eliminated the vibration the car had at the time. We had also planned to replace the lower rear mount at the same time but the one we bought was defective, and the one we removed from the car looked fine, so we put it back in.
So now I am wondering if the rear mount has failed, but it is not possible to see the rubber unless you removed it. Could it be an issue with the engine itself, or do all these symptoms point to the mount?
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For the last few weeks my car has been making a winding sound at highway speeds. It sounds as if it is winding out at high rpms but it isn't. When I let off the gas, the sound doesn't decrease until the car begins to slow significantly. It also seems not to make the sound if I am going around a right hand curve. The car is a 2005 5-speed mazda 3.
What the problem might be? And is it safe to drive 600 miles back home before having it checked out. With the holiday, I don't have many options.
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2007 Camry V6: how miles to warm up to reach normal temp?
When i start cold (30 F ) it take at least 5 miles (in town) to reach the ''ALMOST'' 9 O CLOCK mark on the temp gauge or 185 F on my ULTRAGAUGE connect to the OBDII connector.
At 20F outside temp or less : i plug the block heater (cartridge type in the block (not coolant) )
Then when i start the car the TEMP on Ultragauge is 60F after 2 hours on 110 Volts.
Then go to city..........and take the same 5 miles to reach 185F. So same time.
My Question: is it NORMAL that it take at least 5 miles to warm up at 185F. Is my thermostat OK because it is a big (long) job to replace myself and it is cold outside .
Q.: 2 : When i stop the car about 25 minutes (20F outside temp)) the temp is down down below the first white mark on car gauge....... normal or not ?: (if not :maybe the radiator pressure cap?) Never had a japanese car.......my caddy was at normal temp before 5 miles...
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I have a 2006 Mazda3 with about 112K miles on it and what I have noticed recently is that the steering shakes a lot. I looked up online for a possible cause and have found that wheel balancing could be a reason. I got wheels balanced and aligned but still there is still some vibration in the steering, so what do you think could be the reason? I have got rotors machined once before, like a year ago.
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I have a 2004 Mazda 3. I just had it inspected and cabin air filter replaced. Now, my car makes a loud noise when the a/c is on and I'm accelerating. The noise sounds like a fan is vibrating /something is blocking it or like a motor is rev-ing that shouldn't be. There definitely is something wrong that wasn't there before the filter/s replaced. I watched a Youtube video on it... a real pain to replace them, but it looked like the fithad to be pretty tight... Could the filters have been installed incorrectly or some part not put back together correctly?
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I hear a noise- what I can best describe as a metallic plucking sound - like a low metallic chord being plucked- when my automatic transmission 2008 Mazda3 shifts from first to second gear. It only happens the first time. I don't hear it after the car ihas been driving and is warmed up. Any thoughts on what could be happening?
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My mazda 3i is cutting out while driving. I added fuel injector additive to gas and it still cuts out. Battery check is fine. What the issue can be. RPM loss
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