As above, followed the guidance on here - was about to begin filling the car with coolant as I turned the engine on. Key turned, engines fires and catches but then stops. Did the same again, but kept my foot on the accelerator pedal at about 2k revs, carried on running (although very lumpy and misfiring) and then when I took my foot of the gas, it conked out.
HELP!
It was raining when I was doing the radiator - I had gotten to a stage where I couldn’t really stop easily - could some of the electrics failed due to the damp? Or Have I missed plugging something back in?! I can’t understand why the radiator would have an effect on whether or not the car could idle…
Well the technical document on changing coolant says “Start the engine, let it idle and add coolant slowly until the level is just above the radiator tubes”. This was nmy first ever experience of doing it, so did I misinterpret the instructions? The way my day has gone so far I wouldn’t be suprised!
It turns out the problem was with the crossover pipe; I hadn’t connected one of the hoses properly, i’m guessing the pressure within the pipe was incorrect which caused the engine to stop? Anyway, all fine, now - coolant is all in and after an extremely spirited drive have no more overheating issues. Thank god.
As soon as you can I would recommend that you purchase a copy of Rod Graingers MX-5 Miata Manual as it the ideal read for novices and experts alike. MX5PARTS sell them and it will save you £s in servicing etc .
Seconded - that manual saw me through my first gearbox removal, first clutch change, first turbo installation (refitting of the exhaust system was slightly different to removal), first timing belt, first water pump change and also a radiator swap. Worth ten times more than it sells for, easily.
Which document did you use for the coolant change. The faq quite clearly states
“Put the car up onto ramps or axle stands, and make sure all hoses are re fitted and that the drain plug is in.
Pour
the pre mixed fluid into the top of the radiator until it is full.
Gently squeeze the top hose, this promotes a movement of water around
the block and helps to move any air from the system.
Start the
engine, with the car still on the stands/ramps and let it tick over for
a while until the thermostat opens [you can tell when this happens as
the water starts to move in the radiator filler hole”
It’s from one of mine in the Downloads section, maybe it can be missinterpreted, I’ll re-word it.
Out of interest Fivealive, how did you find the rest of the guide? Seems like the filling procedure worked fine for you the way it is anyway, but there is a danger someone will fill it too slowly and so have their engine running for too long a period with too little coolant in it. It’d be good to get some feedback on those features.
The guide worked fine, the problem I had with not starting the car was unrelated to anything written in the guide, I merely forgot to connect one of the pipes to the crossover pipe.
I interpreted it as saying to start the car and then slowly fill the coolant until it is above the level of the radiator tubes - which is what I did and it worked fine. I then followed the following steps and everything was OK! I may have filled it a little quickly in the end because coolant overflowed slightly from the top of the radiator, but other than my own mistake it went smoothly!
So to clarify:
Guide = perfectly well explained!
me = Idiot for not double checking I had reconnected pipes!
From a training course :- “Any failure in communication is due to the communicator not the communicatee (unless he’s a stroppy ■■■■■■■)”
If an instruction is likely to be used by a person with no prior knowledge and cannot be followed correctly then it’s not clear enough. BUT
I’m not knocking Robbie - his instructions are great. As an ex teacher I found out how time and time again how difficult it is to write perfect instructions (come to think of it, I never managed it!)
I find the FAQs really helpful, keep 'em coming.
And if anybody thinks I’m not trying to be helpful, then this communication has failed…