Rx7carl

double post

The_7

so I should just get the 13psi replacement cap?

when i do the degreaser flush/block sealer, should i leave the tstat in?

also, like i mentioned before, the higher the pressure for the same temp and volume, means a higher density because more coolant stays in the system instead of going into the overflow tank. the higher density allows it to cool more quickly.

hopefully the degreaser flush will get all the **** out of there. theres no way after all that if its not losing coolant that it would still overheat....is there?

i bought the CRC block sealer today, i dont think im gonna find purple power, so i have to buy some other degreaser (no luck at autozone). im gonna get a new rad cap too. if i can get a good deal on a good electric fan at a junk yard ill toss that in there too. ill let you guys know how it goes.

AdrenalifeRX7

Post a pic of your engine bay for us "The 7" if you can. I'd like to see what it looks like at the moment.

Rx7carl

I guess follow Marks advice and remove the tstat. I've never done the block seal on a rotary, only boingers. Autozone carries that purple cleaner. I forget the name of it. Also if you cant find it, Castrol Super clean is the same stuff.

bliffle

I drove all over town in the heat yesterday with no problem. Must have been that lousy rad cap. Maybe that will solve the coolant loss problem I've had the past few weeks.

B

MarkPerez

Yes remove the thermostat, and right down the radiator
the system must be closed. Do it the way i posted. Without the thermostat in, the PP flush reaches all parts
of the cooling system. It's important that when you reach the point of adding the water and CRC sealer that no thermostat is installed. After adding those two, drive or let the engine reach as high as temp. as you can go.
Don't go to far from home . As soon as it hits the temp mark, leave everything alone under the hood and park the car, don't screw around and re-start the engine just park the car and walk away. leave it OVERNIGHT. I can't say it enought ! leave it alone. next day,,,,pull the top radiator hose and install the thermostat, add coolant to top off the system, start the engine and pray to the coolant gods.. Also :: may the coolant gods smile upon you !! my friend. BTW,, i use a 13 lb stant, lever presure release radiator cap on all of my rx7's .

MarkPerez

OH !!! When you flush the system make sure the heater is on full blast.

The_7

alright mark p, I just need to find some PP and then i can do it. I went to my autozone and found the CRC block sealer but they didnt have PP or the Castrol stuff. i'm gonna check out the other couple auto stores around.

AdrenalifeRX7, why do u want to see my engine compartment? My digital camera isnt very good but i could get a decent picture in direct sunlight.

The_7

i still need to get the purple power and a few other things but i was bored, so i took out the tstat to prepare it for the PP/CRC treatment. after that i filled it up with water and ran it a little bit as a little pre cleaning. i noticed even after a long time the temp guage wouldnt go up very high - below the 1/4 mark. this is with no tstat and and 100 percent water. i took it for a drive - no crazy driving, just normal, but i drove it for a while and i couldnt get it to get hotter than 1/4! what the hell it up with that?! i had a 75/25 mix in before and it overheated so that leaves the tstat, but it was a brand new 180 degree one from VB......and yes i installed it right lol .........so with a 75/25 mix and tstat it overheats but with a 100/0 mix and no tstat it wont even get to op temp........im so confused

MarkPerez

REALLY ??? here it comes....... So you either dis-lodged
whatever ,in the engine, or,,, guess what you've been doing wrong ???? The way you think it goes in ,,but now flip it 180' now try that. yes thermostat. no biggie.
got-it ??

The_7

which way does the larger end face, into the water pump housing or the other way into the top radiator hose?

MarkPerez

REALLY ??? here it comes....... So you either dis-lodged
whatever ,in the engine, or,,, guess what you've been doing wrong ???? The way you think it goes in ,,but now flip it 180' now try that. yes thermostat. no biggie.
got-it ??

AdrenalifeRX7

The larger end of the thermostat usually faces the waterpump.

MarkPerez

Look at the thermostat itself, close. now do you see an arrow and the word radiator. ?? In just about everything
there is a right way and a wrong way to do it. Do it one way and the 'thing' acts funny. pull the piece and install it the other way and see what happens. Now put that sucker together right, no runs,no drips, no errors. Saved yourself some money, as long as you saved the sales slip. not to mention you may have saved yourself
an engine,You DO want to have a thermostat inline on the cooling system. Don't feel bad : that it took you 3 pages to realize your thermostat was in up-side down. Let me know how things turn out. I kept a bottle of that CRC block weld because i like the way it looks in the bottle moving around, kinda cool. IMO

Rx7carl

Or you just got a bad tstat.

The_7

well my VB tstat doesnt have any arrow markings so i looked at the autozone one and the arrow that said "to rad" was pointing the big end that way. so it was installed the correct way. i couldnt see how it could be the other way because its obvious that the smaller circle with the weaker spring fits perfect over the bypass hole which means the big end has to be facing the rad, just like the autozone one says. but Adrenalife, you said the big end goes toward the pump....???

MarkPerez

You know how to test a thermostat ??.... Pan with water on the stove, place part in the water, bring up the heat to a boil... not crazy boiling. and watch.
The large end goes towards the radiator, the small end goes down in the water neck. or the large end keeps it from falling inside the water neck,,,is that right,,,yeah

To make sure a thermostat is acurate you'll need a thermometer or a meter with a probe. One of those thermometers mom uses on thanksgiving for the turkey
will work. use a coat hanger and suspend the thermometer so the end is in the water. BTW when you drove the car around without a thermostat did the engine run fine ?? smell hot ??

Glad to hear of a success, rather then a failure, about time,,,,Huh >?

AdrenalifeRX7

I meant that the end with the spring always goes facing the water pump.

The_7

oh ok.

i will test it today, ill let u know the results.

yea it ran normal. the only smell was my retarded clutch . the cooling system kept it so cool that right after i got home i could put my hand directly on the rad or engine and not get burned.

F*ck yea! i just hope there is only more success ahead with this problem.

The_7

I found some PP at a small local store and did the PP/CRC treatment last night around 6-7PM. Do you think I should wait the full 24 hours to run it or can I do it now?

Rx7carl

Follow his directions.

The_7

ok, I flushed it a few times with water and did some test runs. WITHOUT the tstat it runs very cool - WITH the tstat it overheats. However, I know the thermostat opens because I tested it in a pot of water on the stove. So immediatly after I shut it off (tstat overheating run) I took off the top radiator hose, water neck, and tstat. All the water around the tstat wasnt hot AT ALL, it was barely warm. So when the tstat is installed, for some reason the water in that area doesnt get hot enough to open the tstat, but the water after it that is circulating through the engine gets extremely hot. WTF......ever heard of this problem before? In the first run without the tsat I drove all over town and just like before it wouldnt go above 1/4, but when I installed the tstat, it overheated just idling in my garage. How much coolant is the system supposed to hold? - It seems mine isnt taking in enough. I can't get it to take much more than 1.5 gallons.

inittab

are you positive that t-stat isn't installed upside down?

The_7

YES! like I said for some reason the water around the t-stat wont get hot enough for it to open.

inittab

when you run it without the t-stat does the water at the rad-cap get hot?