Kizashi Club

Hi, long time reader first time registering and posting!

I have been maintaining and now driving my wife's kizashi for the last 6 years here in Australia.

Last year I had a weird issue (after a small pin hole in one of the cooling hoses). Cut the hose back a little where it frayed and topped up with coolant.

Since then I noticed the hose was collapsed after shutting the engine off and checking in the morning. Ended up deciding it was the radiator cap. Changed it and a month later the problem reoccured with the overflow tank also letting coolant out from its upper vent. Then I checked the cap and it had fell apart. Purchased a different cap and worked without issue for almost a year.

Now it's happened again with overflow tank and upper hose contracting.

I have just changed the thermostat and the old one looks fine. Seems like it hasn't solved anything.

I might need to buy an OEM radiator cap. But can it be the water pump? How would I test that? I ran the car for 10 minutes today and the heater didn't feel hot. But it was just idling. Lower radiator hose still feels cold. I squeezed it and it did sound like it was pushing water up the radiator. But still unsure a out the water pump.

Not sure what to try?

Thanks I advance for any answers. BTW it has 250,000kms on it. Never actually ever ran out of coolant or ever over heated. I'm pretty good at always checking on that stuff .

I would recommend first checking for hydrocarbons in the cooling system. You could probably do this just by sniffing the coolant reserve bottle and if there’s a sharp smell to it that almost hurts your nose then you probably have a head gasket not sealing well. Does this car happen to be at 2010? This model year has extra troubles with the possibility of blocks cracking and warping. Anyway, next I would do is make sure to get all the air out of the system . There is a bleeder fitting where the intake manifold bolts up (cap with a hose clamp) that you can use . Most don’t know it’s there. Did the jiggle valve on the new thermostat head straight up? I do not think that there’s any possibility of a pump causing your problem. As for the top radiator hose sucking shut your problem has to be either cap or coolant reserve passage clogging.


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Thanks Old tech,

Yes it is a 2010. No smell of petrol in the coolant. Oil and coolant both respectively have always and still look perfect.

I'll check that bleeder valve! Yes thermostat bleeder hole was facing upwards.

Is the bleeder fitting near the intake manifold's fuel rail? I can see a hose clamped, blocked off fitting there. But no idea if that's the one you're taking about? Wish I could easily attach pictures here.

thats it