- My model of MX-5 is: 2007 2.0 sport
- I’m based near: Guildford/Farnham
- I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: coolant temperature
Happy Sunday everyone
Now I’m not sure if I’m just paranoid from my past car troubles. This will be a long one sorry.
Replaced the lower radiator hose, thermostat and coolant the other week. Getting up to temp nice and quickly and blowers are uncomfortably hot which is nice. However I’m getting a strong “warm” smell from the engine bay after driving. Plugged in my scanner at idle and it’s reading in the mid 90s. This seems a bit high. Can’t check it when driving annoyingly as it isn’t an app but rather an actual scanner.
I did have a fair amount of coolant drop onto (what I think is the gearbox however please correct me if I’m wrong, I’ve attached a picture) when I changed it so wondered if it could just be burning off now. I can’t really describe the smell it just smells hot, know that isn’t very useful.
Also attached a pic of my reservoir. Thought I got all the air out of the system but can someone just confirm if this is normal from the picture.
Cheers everyone
Isn’t mid 90’s where you would expect the coolant temperature in the block to be?
If it’s been running cold for years (is that the case, with the old thermostat removed or stuck open?) then raising the operating temperature could well make it smell for a while.
Is the fan stopping and starting as it should?
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I use an ELM327 bluetooth obd dongle and the torque app on my 2006 car.
Coolant stays around the 85c to 90cmark when driving.
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The coolant will circulate in/out of the expansion tank, just keep the level to the upper mark, check when cool.
Heaters hot and seems working as they should you’ve no worries. If the temp gauge is showing just below halfway than that’s fine, normal happenings.
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This is where my lack of experience will show as I had it my mind that mid 90s was too high! You google the ideal temp and some people say mid 80s some say 90s up to 105 Celsius so wasn’t 100% sure.
I picked it up at the end of Jan and it was definitely stuck open. Taking what felt like forever to get up to temp and only ever getting halfway there.
It sort of smells like the new hose getting warm if I had to try and describe it. I guess it could potentially just be the engine actually getting to temperature now and the hose getting nice and hot?
I can’t personally hear the fan kicking in when driving but then again I’ve never really paid proper attention to that. I’ll take it for a good drive and have a listen next time.
Thanks for taking the time to reply 
Might be worth getting a Bluetooth one then, can just drive along and get the girlfriend to keep an eye on live temps for me.
Thanks for the reply!
Yeah everything seems to work as it should be and I’m not losing any coolant from what I can see. I just did some reading over on the miata forum with people saying the temp gauge in the NC isn’t the most accurate.
As CBRDEANO said I’ll have to get myself a Bluetooth reader to make sure. Won’t hurt I guess!
Being my absolute dream car whenever something is slightly off I just tend to get a bit worried about it. Plus I’ve just started working on it myself. Good to know it sounds okay though for a bit of peace of mind though.
Cheers for the reply and help, appreciate i!
Don’t go paying a fortune for one.
I use this one - only £5.49 but it does the job
Every time I look at mine on my 2014 2.0 it’s sitting between 85 and 90. Obviously a little hotter rid say in traffic etc but soon drops back down once moving. Using a Lund NGauge which is an expensive method but I had it left over from a previous car.
It quite possibly won’t kick it while there is airflow over the radiator but if you let it stand and tick over it should start after a few minutes and you’ll find it much easier to observe:)
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