Hello Veeky Forums

Hello Veeky Forums
I'm kind of a newbie to cars but here's my issue; I have a 2005 Mazda 3 2.3 and lately I have been having issues with the radiator overheating to the max, but at the same time I have also been noticing leaks from my car whenever I park somewhere and leave the vehicles dormant, also another thing I might add is that I live in arizona where the average temperature during the summer is around 110°. Could this be just an overheating cus of the temp outside? Or is it a mixture of a coolant leak and the radiator overheating in conjunction with each other? What advice would you give to a car newb like me? What do??

Oh shit AZ bro waddup
>480 here

Once I fix this goddamn piece of shit let's grab a drink or two m9

>I have also been noticing leaks from my car whenever I park somewhere and leave the vehicles dormant
How long have you been leaving it for?

Like overnight/the daytime when I get home from work

Start with the basics. Pop the hood. Now look at the coolant reserve tank. Read your owner's manual if you have trouble figuring out what it looks like. Is the fluid level between the min and max lines? If not, get some coolant from your favorite auto parts place and fill it up.

As far as the leaks go, well, what kind of fluid is leaking? Considering your car is getting into shitbox territory, you might consider putting stop leak shit in the coolant or oil treatment in the engine.

Otherwise, you're going to have to take it to someone who knows how to actually track down and fix the leaks.

Your water pump or fan clutch may be going. Fix the leak but if your are in range on coolant there should still be enough circulating to keep your cool

Post a photo of the leak area on the engine.

My gut tells me its coolant or something of that nature because it also started leaking more when I turned the ac on full blast but I can't confirm 100% and it smells funky and looks thick

...

Area where it's leaking the most when hood is popped

Now pop the hood and find the leaking part. Then post photo.

sorry bro
its totalled

Remove the plastic cover lower left.

You blew the welds on the intake

Don't have access to the car rn. It's getting a free assessment from goodyear as we speak.

>smells funky and looks thick

that sounds like AC system oil. Take a look at the compressor.

How does that apply to the faulty radiator tho? Could it be because the ac is over running it?

>goodyear
Getting some tires, bro?

I know. Like I said earlier I'm a newfag to cars n that kind of shit. My dad was never really adept either, but my friends who've had similar issues say they can at least take a look and see if there's anything concerning

Well a way to tell the difference - take the cap off the coolant reserve tank and take a nice big whiff. Got what it smells like? Now put your nose down to where it's leaking and give that a sniff. Do they smell the same of different?

The A/C condenser coils are usually placed right in front of the radiator. So when you have your A/C on, it will heat up the radiator too and if your radiator is clogged or your water pump isn't pumping or you're leaking coolant, having it on will heat things up.

He lives in AZ so his sense of smell might be partially fucked due to the temperature outside

I also heard on various other forums that if you turn on the heat it will re direct the heat beating on the radiator to the ac system, do you find this claim to be valid?

Did you not take driver's ed at all? What do they teach kids these days? Heater core is essentially a smaller copy of the radiator that's sitting out front. It heats the car by diverting some of that hot coolant into that smaller radiator and then blowing air over it into the cabin. And just like the bigger cousin out front, it can get clogged, and it can leak, although you generally only see that with crap cars from Chrysler.

So if your car is overheating, you can turn on the heater to help keep the car engine cool.

Get on Yelp and use that to find a decent independent mechanic.

Currently contacting a mechanic that has actually worked on this car before. It was passed down thru my dad so he's had experience with this particular model

>contacting a mechanic
You made of money?