wooldrb

Here's the situation. Car has been having trouble starting as of late. Just had the new Racing Beat header+exhaust system put on it. It's been a little cold, so I thought nothing of it. Then it started running rough. Thought it was spark plugs, so replaced those with the NGK ones. Still running rough. Fast forward to today. Car wouldn't start, had to get a ride to work. Finally got home and had my friend jump it. Car was running OK, and then all of a sudden my coolant light comes on and I see smoke coming from under my hood. Pull over and immediately shut the engine down (I never overheated it). Saw my radiator was almost bone dry, dumped about half a jug of coolant in it and raced home. As I'm pulling onto my road, the engine dies and wouldn't start again, so I coasted into my parking lot. Get under the hood again and there's coolant EVERYWHERE. The coolant is concentration around the left side of the engine, and it looks like it sprayed the top of my hood. Mind you, the engine, as it is right now still runs strong (it just won't start and I'm not trying to start it until I figure out what this is).

My speculation: coolant jacket? I've read on here of something similar happening to a poster, and the engine needed to be rebuilt. I'm leaning towards that right now, but I'm hoping against hope that it's a water pump or something similar, but I'm not putting too many eggs in that basket. So give me the lowdown 7club, what do I need? And in the worst case scenario, anyone have a donor 13B, or anyone want to pick up this almost mint GSL-SE frame+interior?

mazdaverx713b

iTrader: (91)

i'd buy your SE in a heart beat...but lets help you fix it before you give up on it. when we have coolant leaks we need to be focusing on a few basic areas first.

-water pump. prone to failure and coolant will seep from the weep hole on the bottom. the fan can suck up the coolant and spray it everywhere. same idea if the water pump gasket or the water pump housing gasket has failed.

-radiator hoses. check for obvious signs of leakage, cracks, bulging tightness of clamps etc

-throttle body coolant hoses. there are two. checking for breakage, cracking and clamp tightness

-thermostat gasket. check for leaks at the gasket and if present, replace the thermostat and gasket and wire wheel off the old gasket from the t-stat neck.

-radiator failure. the radiator will leak from the end tanks or the fins either from corrosion or from being punctured. the fan can suck up the coolant and spray it everyehere.

after inspecting those general items fill the system with coolant and water (50/50 mix), clean off any spilled coolant from the filling and any old coolant that was sprayed around previously, and with the hood up, run the engine until you see seepage. keep not of the engien temperature very closely. if you can't tell where the seepage is you can purchase a dye kit that you put into the coolant and when it leaks out, it will show up purple under a u.v. light

Keith13b

iTrader: (6)

You say its concentrated on the left (drivers) side - I'd look into the heater hose for failure as well! Could be blasting coolant into your coils, dist cap, or wire harness.

If the leak was internal - you probably would not see coolant under the hood. The exhaust would smoke (white) and smell like hell. The engine would not run "Strong". You can pull your header/manifold and check for coolant in the housings for piece of mind.

Keith13b

iTrader: (6)

I'm not trying to make lite of your bad situation , but this comment still has me laughing ! I say that in a polite, humerous, way and mean no disrespect.

The coolant all over the engine bay makes me believe that you just have a catastrophic hose failure somewhere. It wouldn't hurt to go to the parts store and just replace all your hoses and get new clamps. Then fill the system and let it sit and look for leaks. If no leaks, start the engine (runs strong; right?) and look for leaks again. I bet the new clamps and hoses fixes the problem. If not, the problem should be more obvious. I've seen water pump gaskets fail and wash the engine compartment by letting loose on the rotating belts. Also seen water pump outlets so corroded that even the best hose still leaks.

Also - you can pull the plugs to look for water jacket failure, too.

Kentetsu

Even a pin-hole leak in the radiator can soak your entire engine bay if it gets sucked into the radiator fan.

I would refill the system, start it up, and then watch to see where the leak is...




.

roondawg

iTrader: (1)

I agree, this is more likely a minor repair, not anything internal.

LongDuck

I think we're probably all agreed that it's not an internal engine issue or water jacket leak.

I also think Keith13b is onto it with the heater core return line. This is the heater hose that runs from the center of the firewall over to the left side of the engine and enters the block just below the oil filter pedestal. What happens frequently is that oil drips down the filter pedestal onto the heater return line, causing it to go soft and start bulging. Once that bulging starts, the hose is bad and will quickly start cutting against the clamp that's on it. One little leak, and the system won't contain pressure.

My $$$ is on that one, but the other guys have great suggestions, as well.

wooldrb

Turns out it was the hose that sits right behind the throttle body. I guess it gets exposed to a lot of heat back there and it had bulged around the clamp that was holding it on and cut right through it. A pain in the rear to get it off (had to borrow someone with tiny hands), but picked up a piece of hose that was close, and it's been running fine for weeks now. At least...on that part of the coolant path. I have a leak somewhere near my radiator hoses, but I haven't been able to get under the car and figure out exactly where it's coming from. I've just been dumping coolant in it. In the next two weeks or so I'll be flushing the whole system and checking all the hoses, so no worry. It's getting warm so I can just dump water in it for now.

LongDuck

Sidenote: these are aluminum engine housings, so you'll want to use some kind of 50/50 aluminum-safe glycol mix in there.

Running straight water is a recipe for corrosion of the aluminum, lower boiling point temperatures for straight water which can lead to overheating and we don't want that.

Antifreeze is cheap; replacement 13b SE engines are not. Good luck,

wooldrb

Thanks for the heads up. I'm running almost straight water in it right now, as it's been leaking from somewhere near the oil pan and I don't have the money to keep dumping antifreeze into it only to have it leak out onto the pavement 3 or 4 days later. What coolant path is near the oil pan? Looks like I should get this fixed sooner rather than later. ~_~

acekid7

iTrader: (1)

the only thing i can think of next to the oil pan is the bolts that's right under the spark plugs that drains the short block of antifreeze. Other than that it could be a coolant seal.

wooldrb

I've been reading up on parts that could leak from that specific spot for the past hour or so, and it seems more likely to me that it's the water pump, just judging from where the coolant is leaking from. It's on the front of the engine block, near the bottom, and it's collecting on the lip of the oil pan and then dripping down. But as I look at the leak, it's dripping down from somewhere higher up. And it is a drip, but it's a steady drip.

RX-7 Chris

iTrader: (19)

yup it's probably either a bad water pump, water pump gasket, or water pump housing gasket.