i have a quick ?. i was running straight water in my 1982 mazda rx-7. its somewhat cold here and the little water i didnt drainout froze in the hoses etc... it is a very little amount of water. neways i took off my intake, radiator (to replace it) and i fired up my car and its runnin very sluggish. i also havent started the car in 2 weeks or so. basically i need to know if its runnin sluggish due to its cold n no intake on etc... or possibly the little ice in there cracked the block? also signs of a cracked block can help. any info appreciated. thanks, tim

 

you're running it with no intake on?...

 

ya its gettin painted right now. im just really worried that since i started the car with a little ice in there. i might have put a hole in the block or crack. im a little paranoid lol. n after i started it. there was a steady stream of water dripping out the back side of the oil pan

 

How in the hell do you run it without an intake on it? Inless it's fuel injected and you repositioned the injectors to the intake ports in the irons??

 

yeah man you're gonna have to clear this up a bit, i don't know how you can run an engine w/out any intake, unless you're constantly pouring gas down the ports but that's kinda....dumb and dangerous haha please enlighten me. if by "no intake" you mean you took off the radiator and ran your car like that..... ..please clarify what you did, now as far as the water, it's very possible that the engine is cracked because water expands when it freezes even if it was a small amount that's all it takes, why do you think roads crack all the time?....and most likely the culprit hence the water leak behind the oil pan

so, i know there is a way to do it, but i don't know how to, but you need to check for more leaks, i believe i've seen a similar thread, but not sure, maybe some of the experts can tell you how to do it... from the sounds of it tho...it's bad hopefully i'm wrong but i don't think that dripping water can be good.

and just re-read your second post...do you mean your breather is getting repainted? if so, the breather does not have anything to do as to how sluggish your car runs, the breather's only there to keep dirt out.

 

i'm thinking he's referring the stock snorkel as "the intake".

assuming you went ahead put antifreeze in the cooling system when you replaced the radiator, it would be apparent in a few minutes if you cracked the block. antifreeze would bleed somewhere (inside, outside or both).

 

Short answer: DON'T RUN STRAIGHT WATER- irons will rust ferociously!! as will cast iron water pump assy. Get coolant in it ASAP, cause even a DRAINED block with fresh water used in it WILL SPLIT THE CENTER HOUSING on freeze-up. Don't ask me how I found this out..
;p
Stu Aull
80GS