| SilverFire |
Hey guys anyone who was at the last meet knows about my cooling issues (silver 2nd gen with the antenna on the roof). I still have to get ahold of the previous owner and see if he but a bottle of stop-leak in, but I'm pretty much sure it's the engine rather than the rad, so I'm gonna have to rebuild it... Just wondering how hard it is to rebuild the engine. I've never done that kind of thing before, but my step-brother's a mechanic so he'd be able to keep me from doing something stupid and I'm pretty mechanically inclined not to mention a puzzle fiend. Conroy says he wouldn't be able to get to it until Aug. at best and I don't want to wait that long. I really want it for the club event in July. He also says I shouldn't need much for parts (if anything) as long as the housings aren't cooked, so I should be able to do it for a lot cheaper myself.
On that note. How do I tell if the housings are cooked? I don't think they are, but the heat guage did make it all the way up when I found out I had the problem. I didn't know about heat being such an issue then.
I hope there's no limit as to the number of questions I can ask in a single post... If the housings are cooked, what options do I have? I'd kind of like to put a turbo on it, but from what I can find on the 'net, the entire drivetrain would have to be changed and I don't have enough money for that. Replacing the engine would be a stretch too. I've read about getting new housings, but I really have no idea how that would compare to a "new" engine.
One last thing. I've heard there are other people who rebuild engines, Who are they and how would I get ahold of them? |
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| now |
rebuilding it yourself is a possibility depending on what you
find once you are in there it can cost big money.
new housings for the 2nd gen cars are now around the 800 mark
so if you find they are bad 1600 for a pair can be a real shock.
putting the thing back together and missing even something small
can result in bad things happening.
I would still bet its a rad problem, pull the rad for the time it takes
and get it flushed at very least.
matt |
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| Transporter |
yeah ben go with first checking the rad and checking that fluid flows through it well unless you are burning coolant through the engine i don't see it being the reason for over heating second you could also check if your your water pump is functioning properly or your fan even and the belt is not sliping those two things will be considerably cheaper to do than doing rebuilt if you like you can pull your motor out and see if all the collant passages are clear something you could get build up in there
New RAD all Aluminium rads are only 490 CAD and they are 40% more efficient
40% more oh yeah much cheaper than rebuild and u will need taht for turboing later on as well turbo make more heat |
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| ozzmodan |
I have a 13B rotary rebuild video & a R&R video by Bruce Turrentine available if you choose to rebuild your motor, just let me know and I'll bring it to the social this Friday.
Before you indeed rebuild your motor I'd be sure that indeed is what it needs, running lean, faulty thermostat, bad waterpump, clogged radiator fins & an improperly bled cooling system will also cause the engine to overheat. I'm not so sure on rotary engines but I know on piston engines ignition timing can also affect overheating.
The first step to take is to pressure check your cooling system, if there is no pressure drop you rule out cooling system leaks. If there is and you can't see any coolant on the ground, that raises a red flag as to the interity of the cooling passages, and a rebuild & probable a housing is needed. ** BE SURE THE RAD CAP HOLDS SYSTEM PRESSURE ** (often overlooked)
If it passes the pressure check, then the next step I would take is to inspect the radiator fins, making sure they are clean, use a multi-purpose cleaner to remove all grease.
As a third step if the first two reveal nothing, is to replace the thermostat (they're cheap) & thouroughly bleed the system of air.
Next thing to do would be to flush the cooling system, a trick one of the instructors at NAIT said he did, was to dissolve Electasol, yes Electrasol, in water & replace some of the coolant in the Rad. Drive it for a week, drain & refill the coolant. Apparently this works extremely well.
This should narrow your search hopefully.
All that being said there was a problem with a cooling passage in, I believe the intermediate housing cracking into the combustion chamber, if that's the case you'll smell a sweet smell out of the exhaust especially on start-up.
Also if you go be Mazda's specs of measuring housings, all of them are bad, but this is usually not the case in practice (all this is covered in the video)
Kyle |
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| SilverFire |
Thanks everyone!
I didn't even think of oil on the rad being an issue, but it makes sense... I've got a fairly bad oil leak out of the oil cooler. I bet that's a source of trouble. I'm gonna clean that up tomorrow and see if that helps...
The reason I was thinking it's the engine rather than the rad is that I am losing coolant. I can't find a leak, and it doesn't look like it's coming out the rad caps. I can't smell any burnt coolant in the exhaust either, but it's gotta be going somewhere. I've been putting in about 2L a month. I'm topping it up probably every other day. Other thing is that it seems to get worse out on the highway. I can drive pretty much anywhere in town as long as it's not rush hour. The stop and go dumps the heat in really bad. High RPMs are worse though.
I already have a new thermostat and the belt tension is good. The fan clutch isn't quite perfect, but it's plenty good. From what I can find on the 'net, water pumps either work or don't and mine does. I can see it moving in the lines when I run the car cold with the rad cap off. I can't tell if it's restricted at all, but I have no idea how to find out for sure. I'll have to get the rad cleaned out soon too, just to make sure.
Oh yeah, ozzmodan, Don't worry about the videos. I'll try this stuff first. Besides, my dad's getting re-married this Saturday, so I'll be too busy to go to the social.
Let you all know what happens after the weekend...
Ben |
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| zerro |
| hey guys i was wondering if you could hook me up with that video, just let me kno how much where and when |
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| ozzmodan |
If you are losing coolant I would strongly suggest a cooling system pressure test. Most shops do it for cheap because its a segway to more work. If you want to do it yourself I'm sure you can borrow a pressure tester off your brother in-law or rent one.
If the pressure in the system & cap hold indefinately while your car is in the shop, you may need to do a florecent dye test, where basically they add a dye to your coolant, you drive it around for awhile & come back. They'll then shine a black light around with yellow filter glasses to see what's "highlighted". If they can't see anything you may indeed need an engine rebuild. |
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| Al36rx7 |
Since you say you had a bad oil leak near your oil cooler, I would also ensure the oil cooler is clean. I can't remember the exact number, but I believe it to be around 25% of the cooling is through the oil. Thus the oil cooler is one of nescessary items that needs to be functioning well.
Always check the cheap and easy to confirm fixes first...engine do-overs should always be left as a last fix.
Good Luck. |
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