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Old 26-03-2004, 02:17 PM   #13
st11x
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 68
Hi guys,

Didn't have the time to work on the car till tomorrow. However, in the process, I have found this website

http://www.troubleshooters.com/tprom...210/200210.htm

and my experiences were very similar. I have reasons to believe my radiator is clogged like he described. The temperature gradient is from hot at the top, to much cooler (not cold) at the bottom. Also, the bottom hose is cold.

Last Saturday, I had to go to Sydney airport to pick up a visiting relative and came back with heater on full blast and windows opened. The journey to the airport was fine, but on the way back, the gauge kept going higher and higher until I turned the heater on. That gave me a real fright. All this while the air conditioning wasn't even switched on.

It didn't help when I met several others who had steam coming off under their bonnet along the highway, one of them was another Astina.

I'm going to replace my radiator cap, thermostat, both hoses, and reverse flush the cooling system this time, not just the radiator.

Is it okay to leave the thermostat on while reverse flushing the system? Can't find a straight answer from google.

I have the Gregory's manual, but I can't find the correct pressure rating for the radiator cap. The one on it is rated as "0.6" or "0.9", one of these two. Does anyone know the correct rating? Does your radiator cap feel easy to remove, like little or no resistance?

I went to an auto dealer who had cars with their bonnet opened. I twisted several radiator caps and found they had much more resistance than mine. It's like you can feel that it's screwing in and out.

I have bought parts from the Mazda dealer, but had been given the wrong parts before. According to them, their computer system and their manual system didn't tally! So I thought better to get feedback from the ground first.

BTW, if you are interested ;-), pictures of my Astina can be found at

http://dotphoto.com/GuestViewAlbum.asp?AID=1411981

login with username matthewsoh password matthewsoh.



Thanks for all your help.

Matthew
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