I've come to a coolant on my spark plugs issue recently. I've read about plugging the intake ports with 20mm core plugs and about replacing the o-rings and intake gasket. I've noticed that core plugs seem to be the common fix for my rx7 but I plan to road race my car as well as make a daily driver out of it. So my question here is, if I've only got coolant on the T1 spark plug then would it just be an o-ring replacement? With me wanting to race my car, cooling the intake manifold may be necessary at high rpm to keep from vapor locking. Or am I over thinking this whole thing? Any help is appreciated.

 

ACV port must also be blocked if you block the coolant ports.

 

Not sure what "coolant on my spark plugs" means. Are you seeing it on the plugs when you remove them
or on the outside of the plugs as you look at them? </cornfused>

As far as blocking off the coolant passages to the intake, that coolant is really only affecting cold start
and cold runnning. Otherwise its keeping the manifold warm all the time. Blocking it off will no hurt and
makes removing the intake easier because you don't have to drain the coolant each time. A big
consideration when competing on the track.

 

Yes, I'm seeing it on both trail plugs. They're soaked on the firing points. So blocking off the ports would actually be better for track use than running coolant. I'll do that then. 12x20mm plugs should be the right size to block off the ports then? What can I use to block the acv?
also, on another topic, the timing is advanced to 30 degrees. Is this correct? When I bought the car, the fellow told me it had been bridge ported. 30 degrees seems a bit much to me.

 

So you are seeing a lot of white smoke on startup? I don't see how the intake coolant leaking would
get into the combustion and only on the trailing plugs. How do you know its coolant?

Ah now we see its a bridge port. It could be the coolant seals on the housings are leaking and a rebuild
is in order. You need to be more precise in your descriptions or take pics and load em up. I'm sure
we can help you out.

30 deg advance is pretty high but its bridged so it may be whats needed.

 

I know its coolant because I'm not an idiot. Listen, this isn't the first time I've owned an RX7 but this is the first time I've had this issue. Right now you're not being helpful and you're not actually answering the questions I have. So, I'm going to give up asking them and just do it myself and figure it out just like I did with the SA and FB I owned previously. Thanks

 

Do a Coolant leak down test.(pressurize the system and then look at spark plugs).

And Listen up Adam.. it is more beneficial to take the Good with the bad when it comes to posting for help.
If you are going to be nasty then you will end up with less advice..just go with the flow..Take any advice you can get and pick what pertains to your problem.

In my opinion I think you are looking at a Bad coolant seal.

 

Apparently its the first time you have interacted with humans. I'm done.

 

Adam,

When my 12a failed (overheating due to a leaking radiator & faulty temp sender) I had white
sweet smelling smoke out the tailpipe when running. Pulled the intake manifold and the gasket was 90% gone. Replaced the gasket and coolant O-rings. I still had white smoke, but it was oil. Absolutely required a rebuild.

So the question of "white smoke" is relevant as is it oil burning or coolant (sweet smell)?


Note: My intake manifold no longer fit flat as the iron and housing were no longer aligned. If anyone remembers, I also found I had a broken dowel pin upon tear-down. I blowed it up real good.

 

So I got arounf to taking the intake manifold off today and found that one of the coolant ports had already been plugged with a 20mm core plug. The rear port had been plugged with JB weld and a quarter over top of that. Yes, you read that correctly, a U.S. of A 25 cent piece. The JB weld didn't hold too well which sent coolant into the intake ports. On top of that, the manifold bolts weren't even torqued down to create a proper seal. Needless to say, the existing intake gasket was soaked in fuel and coolant.
When I replace this gasket and plug the rear coolant port, what can i use to plug up the little rectangle port under the 2 center intake ports? It wasn't plugged up previously but it's obvious that whoever put on this new manifold didn't know what they were doing or at least had a half *** idea I suppose.

i also apologize for my lack of restraint earlier in the thread. I felt as though I wasn't being helped and was getting smartass questions to answer my own.
thanks for any help

 

I've used JB weld putty to block that port. The other option is to find the right intake.

 

what exactly is that port used for? Is it part the air intake for air cooling around the housing or is it just a dry port for ventilation?

 

If the ACV port for emissions. There is also some tips in the is thread that explain what it does and some diagrams. Also how to fill it.

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-generati...-valve-948978/

 

I just plugged mine with QuickSteel putty.

 

@kansascityREPU thanks for that thread. Seems plugging this port has had mixed results. Which leads me to this thought....
what if I can find a piece of thin metal that's a little bigger than this port and JB weld or quick seal over it? Since the port has basically a low temp in it I'm fairly sure I could use plate aluminum and it won't get super hot.
but what happens if I don't plug it at all since it wasn't plugged up before? Will exhaust gases leak backwards to the intake manifold?

 

I'm not sure it would hold. Leaving the port open makes for a loud exhaust. It's like having an exhaust leak.

 

Alright. I'll go with that and I'll update again. Thanks for all the help so far

 

Alright so I finally found a core plug to fix my original issue. I put it in, put on the new gasket and bolted everything down. When I tried to start it it just turned over and wouldn't start.

so, I checked the spark plugs and they were wet with fuel, which is fine. I cleaned everything up and adjusted the carb and tried again. Still no start.

so, I pulled the spark plugs out again and, sure enough, theres coolant again on both the L1 and T1 plugs. So now I have to rebuild my engine and I need a kit to rebuild it. So my questions here are...

can I get a kit to replace the seals inside that won't require me to replace almost everything else?
with the apex seals being made for bridge port, do I need to replace them again? (I'm assuming the porting is correct and I haven't been lied to)
is there anything specific I need to make sure I have in my rebuild kit?

 

It's always advisable to tear the engine down to asses what is needed first. You will need to replace all the soft seals and gaskets with new. As far as the apex seals, they very well could be usable again.

 

what about the bearings, should I just asses those when I pull it apart and decide if I should replace them or not?
as far as the apex seals, right now I still have very good compression so I'm guessing that's a good sign

 

The rotor bearings are usually good but just need to be checked after opening it up.