mitchberry

when i bought my 85 gsl-se i drove it home, and literally sometime between the time i drove it home and the time i tried to take it to work the next day, it developed a hole in the water hose that went to the heater core, which of COURSE leaked 90% of the water out of the cooling system which made it begin to overheat......

ok you're expecting me to say that my car doesnt work anymore, or makes funny sounds or this or that....

actually i was fortunate.. it still runs, in fact runs better now that i put new injectors on it...

anyway i put a new hose on it, and would still get a coolant light!

after inspecting it, i found that the radiator cap had a notch missing in the gasket which caused it to leak pressure.......

replaced it...

coolant light STILL!!!!!!!!!!

checked the oil repeatedly, no water in the pan......

the water is literally just disappearing out of the system.. no leaks that i can physically see, and short of taking the radiator completely out of the car, i dont notice any steam etc,

any thoughts as to why this is happening besides the obvious? something im overlooking?

thx

also my dang tachometer doesnt work now... when i turn the lights on it flutters like it wants to work, and it jumps when i switch between high and low beam...

of course this is hard to see because the dashboard light that lights the instruments doesnt work ... ................ ....

anyway, thoughts?

lol

thx

mitchberry

p.s. i bought one of those strip led lights (15" ) that you can buy at autozone, its bendable and flexible and has tape on the back, and you can form it to whatever you want... i stuck it inside the dash above the instrument cluster shining into it and wired it to turn on when i turn my fog lights on...

works really well! kind of hard to read the numbers though.... a strip of masking tape makes it not so bright ... anyway i felt a little ghetto rigging that up, but it beat taking the whole dash apart...

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

The brass tube from the heater core that protrudes through the firewall, deforms easily. Check for your leak there. If one hose went, replace the others too.

If the heater core tube is bent, use 2 clamps an turn the 2nd one around so it draws down opposite of the 1st.

FirebirdSlayer666

iTrader: (3)

Try putting in a 50/50 mix and then run the car. Keep and eye on the tailpipe to see if any white smoke comes out. If it does then you have a coolant seal that is gone and the motor needs to be rebuilt

mitchberry

a 50/50 mix of what?

and thanks.. i'll check on the tubes!!

mitchberry

p.s. FirebirdSlayer my daily driver until i get my rx7 where i want it to be is an 02 firebird....

since i bought my 7 i havent stepped on the gas pedal once on the firebird.....

the 7, even in its currently weak state still SMOKES my firebird ..... it handles better in some ways, but in most ways the firebird is better around turns.

i'll repost this oppinion once i put some good tires on the 7... which leads me to another question... i have these bbs rims with caps on them which i havent tried to take off yet, so i have no idea if this is a 4 bolt pattern or 5 bolt pattern car! anyway thanks,

RacerX7fb

While your car is running turn on the heater. Do you hear water gurgling behind the dashboard as you rev the engine?

FirebirdSlayer666

iTrader: (3)

50/50 mix of Coolant and water. Just go buy some, makes things easier LOL. My buddy Steve used to have a 91 Firebird that he thought was hot **** so I smoked him. After that he tried getting an FC but it didn't work out. Very few Firebirds will stand a chance once the 12A Turbo monster is done. Unless the previous owner did a 5 lug conversion it'll be a 4 lug. Since you have the SE you have the 4x114.3 pattern.

mitchberry

Racer, there is no gurgeling when the heater is turned on. ironically i just turned it on yesterday to see if it worked... even though its still summer in texas..

i bird slayer, thanks for that info.. i pulled off one of the lugs and found that it was 4 bolt while i still had sme daylight left.... i wa pretty sure that it was.. the thing that pisses me off i any site you go to that has rims, when you look up mazda rx 7 gsl-se, they show 5 bolt rims!!!! ive even called a few places and they have said " oh they should fit" i was pretty sure it was 4 bolt up until maybe the 3rd person who told me a 5 bolt wheel would fit on it....

i should make a list and post it on here of all the people who had NO idea what they were talking aboutwhen i have tried to order parts...

like the guy at japanese engine something or other who told me to bring it by to have them look at it, and quoted me something like 250 bucks to put injectors on it...

when i called back and talked to another sales person, they said " uh.... i dont know who you talked to but ... we dont do ANY kind of mechanic work here! "

its been one thing after the other with this car......... too bad i like it so much, or i'd drive it up the previous owners @$$... or... rather PUSH IT very fast, since i cant get it to start now....

i put some of that marvel mystery oil in the tank and in the oil pan... maybe 6 oz in the tank opn 1/8th a tank.... and less than that in the oil, but since the oil leaks out as fast as i pour it in, i guess that doesnt make a difference.....

now it wont start at all.... i got a 5 gallon can of gas and put it in to dilute it more, and pulled the plugs out and cranked it over to try to get some of the exess crap out of it assuming it was flooded, put the plugs back in, still nothing... killed the battery 5 times over cranking it while jumping it off with my slower but... more healthy firebird

could the mystery oil crap have done something to the fuel injection system??????

i think if this keeps up i'll be tearing it apart and selling it for scrap.. maybe that way i'll make my money back on it....

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Have a little more patience. Are you pulling the inj/eng fuse in the engine bay when deflooding and your plugs will need a thorough cleaning.

mitchberry

im not pulling the fuse, but i assume that is to shut off the fuel pump so its not actually putting more gas into the engine as its spewing out ?

the guy who i bought it from had a lot of trouble with flooding "due to fuel injectors" so he said, so he actually installed a fuel pump on and off switch in the dash where something else that had broken off had been, so i can flip it to off before i crank on it.

during warm starts the switch helps.... or.. helped.... im hoping it wont be needed now that there are new injectors....

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Fresh injectors can make a world of difference with cold/warm starts and fuel mileage.