engine bay really hot after a short drive.

[SuDD3N5HiFT]

after a short drive from my school to my home, roughly 20 mins I notice my engine bay becomes really hot. I think its coming from the headers of the engine, the part closest to the firewall. I also notice that my coolant jar is boiling. I've checked all my fluids and nothing seems to be short, I don't drive hard since my engine is in the breakin period.

I have a 2010 3, gs hatch.

Anyhow, does anyone know if there is a problem with my car, is it normal?

Thanks

[Thrizzl3]

what does the temperature gauge read when you drive?

[SuDD3N5HiFT]

I don't think I have a temp gauge on my dash.

[Soyabean]

new mazda3's dont have a temp gauge if i can recall correctly. If the car overheats, your dash will have a light the comes on to indicate that your engine is overheating

[Thrizzl3]

new mazda3's dont have a temp gauge if i can recall correctly. If the car overheats, your dash will have a light the comes on to indicate that your engine is overheating

thats stupid..what if the light burns out..

[Zoom Zoom Boy]

after a short drive from my school to my home, roughly 20 mins I notice my engine bay becomes really hot. I think its coming from the headers of the engine, the part closest to the firewall. I also notice that my coolant jar is boiling. I've checked all my fluids and nothing seems to be short, I don't drive hard since my engine is in the breakin period.

I have a 2010 3, gs hatch.

Anyhow, does anyone know if there is a problem with my car, is it normal?

Thanks


What do you mean by coolant jar? Please elaborate.

If you're talking about the coolant reservoir in the engine bay, it should definitely not be boiling... Have you seen the fluid actually boiling???

[Fuman]

keep your oil on the oil levels and colour, if anything take it back to the dealership,
meet up someone that has the same engine as you (another 2010 gs), see if they have this issue

[Soyabean]

thats stupid..what if the light burns out..

I guess u out of luck then. Same thing can be said for CEL light or anylight other thing on the dash

[mazdabetty]

Lemonnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!

:chuckle kidding.... sucks you have no temp gauge... that's really a handy thing to have in situations like this lol

But I have to say my hood is always way too hot to touch after driving, maybe that's normal... but fluid bubbling is not normal... I don't think. haha

[3GFX]

Check your oil, simple place to start.

Keep in mind on a short drive where you don't get up to speed your engine never really gets a chance to cool down especially through city diriving....there's not much air flow.

[Zoom Zoom Boy]

Lemonnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!

:chuckle kidding.... sucks you have no temp gauge... that's really a handy thing to have in situations like this lol

But I have to say my hood is always way too hot to touch after driving, maybe that's normal... but fluid bubbling is not normal... I don't think. haha

LOL. Hot engine bay is normal. Moreso if you have a speed3. However, your coolant boiling, is most certainly not normal... That's pretty f'd up too that the new models don't have a temp. gauge. I look at my gauges regularly and in particular the temp. gauges. Then again, I'm a bit of a gauge head anyway, which is why i added boost, oil pressure and EGT gauges to my MS3.

[Gizzmo_jr]

Do you GS hatch come with the fiber hood liner? I know on my 07 hatch GT it has it, and I find it keeps most of the heat in instead of allowing it up and through the hood.

[laksman91]

thats stupid..what if the light burns out..

When you start your car I think all the lights flash right? So I guess you'd see from there.

[SuDD3N5HiFT]

What do you mean by coolant jar? Please elaborate.

If you're talking about the coolant resorvoir in the engine bay, it should definitely not be boiling... Have you seen the fluid actually boiling???

ya the reservoir, I just checked again after leaving the car still for like 4 hours, the condensation droplets still shows in the reservoir. though I didn't see it boiling right after I got home, I was curious and opened the reservoir's lid and I saw a little bit of steam shooting out along with a hiss from the pressure buildip. also, during the trip, I didn't get any overheat warning. it was all city driving.

[SuDD3N5HiFT]

Do you GS hatch come with the fiber hood liner? I know on my 07 hatch GT it has it, and I find it keeps most of the heat in instead of allowing it up and through the hood.

ya there's some black fiber lining on the underside of the hood, looks to me like a good insulator.

[Zoom Zoom Boy]

ya the reservoir, I just checked again after leaving the car still for like 4 hours, the condensation droplets still shows in the reservoir. though I didn't see it boiling right after I got home, I was curious and opened the reservoir's lid and I saw a little bit of steam shooting out along with a hiss from the pressure buildip. also, during the trip, I didn't get any overheat warning. it was all city driving.

Condensation in the reservoir is normal, as is the hiss and slight steam if you removed the cap after a drive. Are you hearing your engine cooling fan cycling on constantly, even when the engine is turned off?

A few folks with the older gen 3's had issues with bad thermostats that needed replacing, but so far, what you described sounds normal. If you're worried, I'd suggest taking it to the dealer, or Jimmy at Street Perfrormance, to check out and have them test the strength of the coolant to make sure it is correct FL22 fluid and also hasn't been watered down or anything, which wouldn't be good if it was...

[kjb86]

I've actually seen my fluids boiling at times

Specifically my coolant and power steering fluids

and I have an 08.5

[Zoom Zoom Boy]

I've actually seen my fluids boiling at times

Specifically my coolant and power steering fluids

and I have an 08.5

Were you tracking the car at the time? I know people who have boiled their PS fluid during auto-exe or on a track. Are you sure you didn't just see foaming in the fluid? If not and it was boiling under normal use, it sounds like you have too much air in the system, which also could have introduced excess moisture and you should have it looked at for leaks. Your PS fluid should not boil during normal driving with a normal vehicle.

As for the coolant boiling, you watched it boiling in the reservoir? Again, were you tracking the car, towing something or just under normal driving conditions?

[Gizzmo_jr]

Were you tracking the car at the time? I

after a short drive from my school to my home, roughly 20 mins I notice my engine bay becomes really hot.

~*~

I'm going to guess that there's just alot of heat kept down with the fiber mat under the hood, in conjunction of stop and go traffic on a short drive.

If you wanna know warm, do a 70sec autox course on a 30c day. Pop the hood right afterwards. Mine is roasting warm (boiled over my coolant before) and I don't even have a turbo....

[kjb86]

Were you tracking the car at the time? I know people who have boiled their PS fluid during auto-exe or on a track. Are you sure you didn't just see foaming in the fluid? If not and it was boiling under normal use, it sounds like you have too much air in the system, which also could have introduced excess moisture and you should have it looked at for leaks. Your PS fluid should not boil during normal driving with a normal vehicle.

As for the coolant boiling, you watched it boiling in the reservoir? Again, were you tracking the car, towing something or just under normal driving conditions?

This was normal driving.

When I saw the power steering fluid boil, it was actually when my pump failed. When popped the hood, both coolant and P/S fluid were boiling. This was stop and go traffic, hot day, in the Windsor tunnel to the US.

I haven't ever looked after that, but on my drive home today when I get home i'll pop the hood and see if it is boiling

[kjb86]

This was normal driving.

When I saw the power steering fluid boil, it was actually when my pump failed. When popped the hood, both coolant and P/S fluid were boiling. This was stop and go traffic, hot day, in the Windsor tunnel to the US.

I haven't ever looked after that, but on my drive home today when I get home i'll pop the hood and see if it is boiling

no boiling today
thou it's not at all hot out, or even sunny atm

[SuDD3N5HiFT]

speaking of the cooling fan, i havent heard it turn in b4, but then again im not by my engine bay all the time, more time spent drivin. does it turn on when my key is taken out of the ignition?

thanks for the kind advice everyone, it a sign of relief to hear its normal.

[YepYep]

Maybe Scarborough is not hot enough, I never seen the fan inside my cars turned-on before in these years. Although every manual book saying even you didn't turn on your car, the fan will turn on by itself at ANY time except the battery is disconnected. OH... I remember I saw my fan turned on just once in my last car while the temp. gauge showed over heating on a test drive after I just replaced a broke coolant hose and the coolant in the refilled reservoir not yet going through the engine body.