How to fix a coolant seal leak??
 

Ok, so the car failed the "champagne" test. Tons of bubbles in the radiator when the car is started. Short of an inevitable strip down and rebuild, what are the options available to extend the life of the engine?
To get some context here; we're dealing with an FC that I'm thinking of picking up for a steal of a deal due to the blown coolant seal/seals. I just need someway to get the car from point A to B since I don't own a trailer.

wrong section, an FC is a 2nd generation RX7.

for the temporary fix you could use block sealant but it's never a guarantee to work for 1 second let alone hundreds of miles. block sealant also requires additional cleaning during the overhaul when it comes to that.

but it also begs the question, if you can't trailer it then perhaps a project isn't the best idea. the 1st/2nd gens might be cheap as dirt right now but they definitely are NOT cheap to fix, most require thousands of dollars of investment to even be considered what i call the beginning of "roadworthy". if the car was next to free, local and you have a place to store it indefinitely that's one thing but it's rare to find cars that i wouldn't consider to be restoration projects these days.

Block sealant sucks, but Alumaseal (a radiator sealant) works great. On 12a engines, that is. If your 13B is shooting water out of the radiator, forget it because it won't work. But if it's shooting white clouds of smoke out of the exhaust, then you may be in luck.

Seems to work about 15% of the times on 13Bs. 12As are more like 90%.

Best of luck. :)




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just about any sort of block, radiator or cooling system sealer works temporarily if the conditions allow it to. but the FC in iron coolant seals only give it a 50/50 chance most of the time, if it's pushing coolant into the engine and you do the sealing procedure properly. if it's not ingesting coolant into the engine i usually would say not to bother.

Thanks Kentetsu and Rotary Evolution for the advice and info. Sorry I posted in the 1st gen section about an FC, I'm an FB owner as you must realize and I automatically go to the 1st gen section with all my questions.
I'm going to look at the car this afternoon and make a final decision on whether I'm buying it or not. The whole thing came about because I was planning on doing a TII swap into my FB, the complexity and need for custom fabrication of a driveshaft and to some extent the shifter housing etc. has led me to start exploring the FC route.
The project car in question is a GXL in pretty good shape and with the 5 lug,TII brakes and rear end already installed.

the GXL already had 5 lugs, heavy duty brakes(4 pot) and suspension(electronically adjustable) standard, so it probably still has the 7" non turbo differential. if it is a series 4 then the differential is a clutch type non turbo LSD.

it was basically the luxury coupe so it had all the options except turbo drivetrain. it was also the heaviest n/a car aside from the convertible.

Just drive it with the bad coolant seals.Removing the thermostat helps keep the temp down. As long as the temp stays below 1\2 way there should be no need to worry. Just travel with a few gallon jugs of water in case. Rebuild it when you get it home.