is my engine blown?
 

heard ticking type noise when car started the past 2 days. it seemed to go away when the car got warm.

today took her out, she didn't seem as to have as much power. but ive had an ignition problem since i bought her 9 days ago. car would start normally no problems but miss fire a bunch till she got warm. omw home sudden power lose. i didn't hear anything like the engine ate metal. 10 sec later all lights go on and the coolant gauge is at hot really hot. smoke poring out of hood. like a hose blew or something. the car has never gotten to operating temp since i bought it. only gets to a quarter of the gauge. probably bad thermostat. the engine was rebuild 5000 miles ago by a small local garage.

rip my money and dreams :[:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

what do i do now??

welcome to the board. :)

first, get under the hood! even if you don't know what you're doing right now, it costs nothing to have a look for yourself. see if you popped a hose like you said you suspected. get a copy of the FSM and a Haynes Manual and start looking. also check to see if the overflow tank is still intact and that the cap is still on. be sure to report what you find.

at the end of the day, you can have the engine compression tested and also do a pressure test of the cooling system. those are both quantitative tests that can give you general idea on the state of the engine.

a piece of unsolicited advice ... if you know something is wrong with a car, then fix it before driving it. this goes especially to those who are more toward the novice end of the spectrum.

Sounds like your alt.belt broke and you over heated the motor, causing it to run hot and smoke.

yeah its blown

Around 1/4 of the gauge is where the temperature should hang, maybe a bit hotter. If it overheated enough to start smoking that's definitely not good for the engine and usually if it happens the water seals are shot = rebuild time.

But check everything first like project7s and diabolical said above. Don't jump to conclusions yet. If it still starts fine and doesnt puff white smoke I would replace the thermostat first thing. Definitely one of the easiest to replace out of all the cars I've seen.

ok so i checked her out. belts are fine. all the hose are where they should be. did the ghetto compression check and heard 3 noises for each rotor. i have no idea where the coolant came out of. the lights that are on are add coolant, oil l, and the two next to oil l. all four lights came on right before the car stalled but not when the engine had barley any power. i also checked the oil maybe 5 days ago and it was full. ive only drove the car 300 miles since i bought it.

the car will not start. im getting it towed to my college where im taking my technician program. itll be a week till i can put her on the lift and really get to dig in

The tick tick noise could be a symptom of larger ignition problems. It could be a shorting hi voltage
wire for the coils to dizzy or the dizzy to plugs or some other short but I suspect those two. The
smoke maybe just some burned wire insulation if you are lucky. If there was a short it could have
wasted your battery and then the alternator over time. You probably won't need a lift to see the
problem.

seriously? you need to quit with shit like this.


a) rotaries smoke from the EXHAUST when they're blown
b) rotaries ARE resilient to blowing coolant seals when they have been rebuilt
c) smoke from the engine bay does NOT mean the engine is toast
d) ticking sounds are NOT normal for a blown rotary unless a rotor bearing is completely wasted and your oil looks like bedazzles.

hell, most blown engines just run like ass but are completely silent of all abnormal noises from the block itself.


pressure test the cooling system, check belts and hoses, check the ignition. research and start poking things, usually it is something minor.

well you guys sure made me feel better lol. i really hope its something minor. :)

asking for help isn't asking a stupid question.

your a cool dude :icon_tup: i think you using the wrong forum though.

Ford Mustang News: Review, Preview. Owners, Racing, Wheels, Repairs - MustangForums.com this one suits you better

shoots fired!

joking aside grow up dude.

Just ignore him for now, I think he's a troll.

but.. but... jokes are supposed to be funny, right? its cool man.

Check your wires to the trailing and leading coils. Mine was ticking too and I discovered it was caused by sparking at the coil. This might also explain the loss of power. I Replaced one of the wires and the tick (and spark) went away.

yeah lesson learned.. i was just excited you know, buying my first project car and bein a stupid kid and shit. ahh well, you live, fuck up, and try again.

your jokes suck btw.

ok cool ill take a look at that.

ok so here's my basic game plain

accurately check compression
-if bad? rebuild? idk

-if good
pressure test coolant system
-find leaks and replace hoses (all of them are probably due)
-test thermostat
-test fan

ignition system overhaul
replace all the bad crap.

run engine
hope its dsnt blow smoke? what other signs of engine damage are there?

what do yall think?
what else should i be lookin for?

After all that if it starts, doesn't smoke, doesn't sound like crap, and still has power then every thing should be good.

You could also inspect the block for any cracks or leaks between the housings.

generally speaking, it sounds like a good plan. a compression check is a good idea, but you can go ahead and look at other things while you wait to get that done. my gut tells me the engine is probably alright, but that's neither here not there. until you get more experience under your belt, empirical data is your friend because it will help you as well as help others help you better.

by virtue of the fact that you haven't mentioned a pool of antifreeze on the floor or all over the engine bay, i'm inclined to think your hoses are intact. what the pressure test might reveal is that you have an internal leak (coolant seal), so that would be important to know, right? :) in the meantime, you can pull the exhaust manifold and turn the engine by hand and see if there are any signs of antifreeze in the chambers.

another thing you can do for yourself is checking the ignition system. if you didn't give the car a tuneup when you got it, then it's probably a good idea to do it as soon as you are able. the ignition problems you had mentioned before could be complicated or it could be as simple changing the plugs, cap and rotor. did you get the FSM yet? if not, you should: Foxed.ca, it's free so there's no excuse.

i really appreciate everyone's help, well expect for Fuhnortoner lel. it might sound strange but i really excited to start trouble shooting and really getting my hands dirty. even if the engine got f'ed up a rebuild would be pretty awesome to do. (for my wallet it wont) i bought the car for a learning tool, well and because ive been in love with rotary cars for a very long time.

ima start a new thread in a week or two on what ive found.

again thanks guys :icon_tup:

I did not pay close enough attention to some minor problems, and an unknown problem.

I did have dowel pin O-rings seeping oil on top of the left side of the rotor housings. I also had a coolant leak, which turned out to be a bad radiator. I did not fix the radiator because my temp gauge never went above slightly warm. Turned out the temp sender was bad and I was slightly overheating every time I drove it. Eventually it failed, oil and coolant leaking everywhere. With the help of this place, I learned how to rebuild a 12a. I did buy the Mazdatrix video, viewed videos made by members here, had to buy tools, but eventually I did rebuild it.

Suggested before, get the FSM for your year, all the chapters. You'll need it.
Take pictures from every angle when taking things off and apart. You can never tell how long it will be before you put it back together. Label the hoses and cables, simplifies the reassembly. Don't rush it. If you have a question, post it here and someone will answer.

I actually rebuilt the 12a twice. The first time I rushed the assembly, and paid for it. The first rebuild took some time to complete as I cleaned every part that came off to check for wear and damage. Two weeks after the first rebuild was completed, I did it again, but correctly, in far less time.

Expense: Not having proper tools or a way to get the engine out were expenses. As I want to still be driving the car in 10 years, I replaced many internal parts which were out of spec, but most likely not necessary to get it running again. The second rebuild amounted to the cost of a gasket set from Atkins (about $120).

And I'm still a novice.

did you check the spark plugs? I read the entire thread and didn't see a mention of sparkplugs. You say "smoke", are we talking white smoke or black smoke?

If the engine is blown, the test where you take out the plugs and crank the engine with full throttle, it will sound obviously erratic. And then you have the dreaded blown apex seal and a rebuild is in your future. During the engine crank test, check out the spark plugs firing. It's a pretty little blue spark.

My rx-7 had similar symptoms. Turned out that alumiseal, and fresh plugs,distributor,spark plugs fixed everything right up. Insist on aluma seal, in a prior life prestone leak fixer f'd everything up!!

No problem man. In the future feel free to shoot me a PM.:icon_tup:

Appreciate it. I'm not looking to boot people from the forum :bubrub:

Likewise, I always welcome PMs. Here to help :patriot: