Draxin

so yeah, topped off the collent, the oil, and a full tank of gas this morning around 6:30am on my way to work.

noticed last night the temp was running a little hotter then normal.

on the 118 west to get to work, everything normal.
then all of a sudden the temp spikes to red.
i start to pull over from the fast lane to the shoulder and before i cleared two lanes of traffic my radiator blows.


any one got any idea as to what would have caused this?
collent = 50/50 mix

any clue as to what i need to do??

this is my first car and i havent had it that long.
69.4K factory engien.

im working 7 days a week and need to get my car running again as soon as posable, cheap would be good too as im tapped out at the moment.

RX7 1985 GS, 12A, 5speed man. trany, 69.4K miles, 50/50 coolent mix, coolent just topped off, oil just topped off.

the add coolent light has been on for a while even though it has had "full" coolent, could this point to the problem.

thanks all

cdrad51

Look at your PMs. I'm in the neighborhood, and might be able to come see it, FWIW.

RX7Rox

Questions that may help us on here. Did the radiator actually blow as in split a seam or a radiator hose? Regardless which blew..it would of had to be at a pretty high pressure. Maybe a faulty radiator cap or the wrong cap at a too high of relief. I believe they should only be 12-13lb cap. With the low coolant light on, did you top off the plastic over flow reservoir or the radiator? If you just topped off the reservoir...maybe the coolant wasn't reaching the radiator from a crimped hose or broken hose and the level is way too low allowing the light to stay on. With the sudden temp spike...did the w/pump belt break?
Another possibility would be a stuck closed thermostat...but normally with that...they will overheat faster and it's not a quick spike.

smnc

Question... You live in CA?
Unless you have A/C, and use it, you don't need any 'coolant'.
Coolant doesn't actually cool the car, it's really just anti-freeze.
Sure it has some anti-rust properties, but I have a better soloution.

Redline Water Wetter help keep the engine cool, and has the same anti-rust properties as the anti-freeze.

If you do have A/C, you won't really need more than 25% Anti-Freeze to keep things safe.

Also, make sure you use only pure de-ionized/destilled water with no mineral content... Minerals in your rad water are bad for the engine.

Might help a bit.

Also, I would highly reccomend getting the coolant system professionally flushed at a rad shop. (If you're cheap, you can get everything you need to flush it yourself at an auto parts shop, but check your local area for drainage laws first). Good chance there's a lot of buildup in the system.
Also, themostat and of course the crappy engine fan are also things to check.
Make sure your water pump belt is in good shape too...

Rx-7Doctor

iTrader: (13)

Coolant/antifreeze not only has anticorrosion properties, but anti foaming and lubricant to keep the water pump lubed. It also raises the boiling point to 244 deg, versus standard of
212 degrees. The minimum safe mixture for these vehicles is 50/50. This is especially critical
for out engines because of the extreme heat they produce. It sounds like either your radiator cap dint release like rx7rox said or the radiator was just shot and it was time. Remember to replace the t-stat, radiator cap and if the hoses have more than 50k on them, now is the time. Water wetter is a very good idea as smnc said, but when used in conjunction with your proper amount a a/freeze/coolant. It helps the antifreeze carry away the heat more efficently. I use it in my se and have noticied about an 15 degree drop in temp under hard loads and hot days. It runs in the triple digits during the summer months here. rx7doctor

Misthael

So 50/50 ratio of anti-freeze and distilled water?

cdrad51

Or buy it premixed. That's what I do, so I don't have to worry about getting the right kind of water etc.

Draxin

you guys are great, thank you so much for the advice.
unfortunently work has just ramped up my schedule to 7days 10hours a day so im not left with much time to swap out a rad.

i ended up taking it to a mechanic.

as for flushing the RAD I just had it done when i had my fluids changed (all of them oil, trany, etc.)

the car sat for about 8 - 9 years without being driven so im think it had some build up in it, and when it got flushed a few weeks ago it might have knocked some of it loose and cloged it up, but i dont know like i said this my first car. god i love that car.

bliffle

These are some things to check: radiator cap (I had this problem with an after-market rad cap), bad radiator hose, bad heater hose (oil can drip on the hose that runs from the firewall to the driver side of the engine, and it's much easier to fit a pre-shaped hose from Mazdatrix than a length of hose, although I've done that too), bad water pump, and the worst nuisance: leaky internal water seal. The leaky internal seal can be 'temporarily' fixed by a method that's documented someplace in the archive. If need be, we can find the citation for you, or you can look for my account of this back around jan-feb 2004 under author 'bliffle' with keyword 'prestone' in the title. I found this useful enough to put it on my palm pilot.

Oh yeah, make sure you 'burp' the cooling system.

B

bliffle

Look here:

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/ultimate-tool-burping-cooling-system-113822/

B

Draxin

so i called my mechanic today on break, he left me a message the other day to call him.

he says my engine is cooked. says i need to either rebuild it or get a new one.
is this guy trying to rip me off?

he says that when the cap blew the engine sucked in alot of water and now the compresion is so high it wont turn over.
i mean come on it only has 69K on it, its always had full collent, full oil.

i cant afford a new engine
lowest iv seen for a 12a is $1895.
and thats just the engine, then id have to get it droped in and i dont want to think about how much thats going to cost.

so i need your opinions.
is this guy trying to rip me off?
is there anyway to fix it without a rebuild or new engine?

Siraniko

iTrader: (13)

if you can wait until after Sevenstock, I can stop by during my weekend junkyard run. ur not too far from me.