GSL-SE

This is starting to agrravate me everytime i fix something on the car something else goes wrong.

Now the 7 is over heating after 5 minutes of use.
yes only 5 minutes, maybe less. When i start the car it makes a puff a smoke but i think this is normal(and irrelavant). Also i think the car is running rich cause i can smell gas comming from the exaust.Will running rich caused me car to over heat???
Also the rad is in mediorce/poor shape but not leaking.

this what i have done so far to try to solve this problem

new coolant+water in rad and a new thermostat, i order a o2 sensor a couple days ago hope it gets in soon.

P.O.S. Racing

I can feel your pain! See https://www.rx7club.com/vforums/show...threadid=16327

Are you loosing antifreeze? Is the weep hole in the bottom of the water pump leaking?

GSL-SE

Im not loosing any coolant and my pumps working, i think.(how can u tell if its working.)

I talked to a mechanic today he said to run the car with no rad cap to see if there air bubbles and he said if there is it might be my cylinder heads.I told em it has a rotary and it had no heads he sais ya it does all car engines have cylinder heads.i said you see my engne does event have an engine block it has 2 triangle spinning inside.But i gave up trying to convince him after that.

P.O.S. Racing

To verify my water pump was working, I disconnected the upper radiator hose, (while it was cool) and then started the car, there was a little hole in the thermostat that blew a small stream of coolant. So I figured the pump was working. Another tell tale that you have a bad H2O pump is if the water pump is leaking out of the weep hole.

What does it do when it overheats? The POS Racer was blowing antifreeze out of the overflow tank.

JIMMY54

iTrader: (2)

It might be also your radiator, before i replaced mine my -se was running hot and once i installed a new one it ran cool and was fine ever since. Try running without a thermostat to see if it runs any cooler.

Johnny_84_GSL

NOOO jimmy don't tell him to do that, if he runs it without a t-stat he'll overheat in 2 minutes instead of 5, its not like a piston engine where having no t stat the engine never warms up, on rotaries its vice versa since they have that little bypass, if you wanna run a rotary without a stat you gotta plug the bypass......whats up with you guys in the gsl-se's overheating so much lately??

GSL-SE

mine overheats @ the overflow bottle too i can see the steam go throught the cracks between the head lights and the hood. then i pop the hood and see overflow bottle overflowing.(my air filter aint liking that)
I tried running without a thermostat last week made no diff.
I got a new anyways so its not the thermostat.
and theres absolutly no coolant leaks on the car.

I think i might have to do with the car running rich, can this cause it to overheat???i hope its that cause my o2 sensor should be in anytime now.

P.O.S. Racing

Well I replaced the hose from the back of the water pump to the dynamic chamber tonight. Which I initially thought was my problem, filled her with water and let her run for about 20 minutes, temp gauge showed at just a hair over ½, although I don’t really trust it! Then it blew coolant out the overflow again! Any ideals on what I should look at next? Replaced the radiator cap, Sunday and the thermostat is only a couple months old, and I don’t appear to have any hoses leaking currently. Plan to put a new thermostat in it tomorrow, just in case.

Any ideals on what could be causing GSL-SE’s and my overheating problems? Anyone had similar symptoms?

GSL-SE

It might be my rad is a POS but is not leaking, im getting a new one next week, if the o2 sensor doesnt fix it.

BTW i gotta new(not really but a used one that i think works) clutch fan .

Another thing ( I can never get the car up too highway speeds by the time i get to an highway it starts puffing collant from the cracks between the hood and the headlights.)

in all my posts is pretty much all the info on my problem, hope u guys can help decipher whats is causing this

P.O.S. Racing

GSL-SE, I put an O2 sensor in mine a couple of weeks ago, made a big difference on how the POS Racer ran. I am hoping this overheating problem is not directly related to my new O2 sensor!

If the Radiator is bad, could the over heat or over pressure problem be caused by some sort of blockage in the cooling system? I’m assuming it’s an over pressure problem, since it is blowing coolant into the overflow, then out of the car. Where did you get the fan clutch, how do you tell if ones bad?

Anyone ever experience this problem before? It’s kind of weird there is two of us on the forum with what sounds like the exact same problem.

Pittdp

You radiator will boil over when your car over heats. Your radiator is probly blocked. It happened to me, the center of most of my coils were clogged. If you can feel behind the fan you should be able to notice warm or hot air comming off your Radiator. If it is really hot your radiator is fine but if you car is overheating and the air is not that hot, it is clogged.

P.O.S. Racing

Well Pitt can’t quite get to the radiator, but the upper hose is hot (darn hot) I can’t keep my finger on it for more than a few seconds, the lower radiator hose isn’t as hot, I can keep my hands on it indefinitely. Tried feeling through the fan, couldn’t really make a determination, and didn’t seem that hot. Just went back out, the top of the radiator is really hot, can’t touch it the bottom of the radiator I can keep my hand on. What do you think Dr. Pitt?

The POS had been running great, it just decided on Sunday to blow coolant? Weird.

Pittdp

give me a call at 817-658-3785 and I can go into some deatails with you.
I am up till 12:30AM

P.O.S. Racing

I’ll give you a call in just a second! Thanks!

great white north

You can't really test a water pump. The pulley could be slipping on the shaft, maybe the impeller fins have corroded off and there is nothing left to circulate the coolant.

You may also have a weak fan clutch. Your fan should barely spin when engine cold and be fully spinning as it warms up.

A plugged radiator will also feel cold at the bottom as coolant can't circulate.

Ah, I can hear the swoosh of a VISA card maxing out now.

speckamp

not to sound like the bearer of bad news, but when the water seal goes in the motor, the exhaust can force it's way into the cooling system and pressurize it (blowing coolant out the over-flow, ect.) I wouldn't worry about this unless you see oil in the coolant, or vice-versa. Hopefully your radiator is just clogged or something. you can take it to a rad. shop and get it cleaned out if it's not too bad, tho a 200$ radiators.com radiator might be a better bet.

--matt

treceb

Had a problem with my SE too about a month ago. It was running fine, then I parked and turned it of for like 10 mins. When I started it up again the buzzer for over heat or low coolant i forget what it says was going off. Open the hood nothing. Open up the radiator, it looked empty, the reservoir was filled all the way to the top, so i squezed the top hose to see if I could get some coolant in the radiator, done. Started up again drove to my friends house like 2 blocks fine. when started the car to go to my house the buzzer was going off again, luckily it was like 5 blocks to my house. The radiator again looked empty, wtf. There was no sign of coolant leaking anywhere and the reservoir was filled to the top. Finally, my father looked at the radiator cap and it had a very small crack on the seal, replaced the cap and the car ran fine. Now I need a new fan, cause the clutch is bad.

Another thing, is the car charging properly, maybe the belt is slipping.
pAcO

P.O.S. Racing

Well Pitt was nice enough to talk to me last night about the POS Racers problem. Am leaning heavily toward the plugged up radiator theory. I really appreciate Pitts help!

Greatwhitenorth, if you pull the upper radiator hose at the thermostat housing you can start the car up and see if it’s pumping fluid. You can’t determine flow rates, but you can tell if it’s pumping. How do you test a fan clutch? I think it’s O.K. but I’m not sure, I had my garage box fan blowing into the radiator, when I made my 20 minute run last night, figured it would help get some air thought the radiator, as well as get the gasses out of the garage.

Speckamp, I was fearful of an internal seal failure, but am not having H2) in the Oil or vies versa, so hopefully I didn’t blow an internal seal. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Treceb – I got it an new cap on Sunday (The first time it did this trick), and I put all new belts in it about two or three weeks ago. How did you determine the fan clutch was bad?

I greatly appreciate all you help! Keep it coming!

RXcetera

The fan should not spin freely when the engine is warmed up. Try to physicaly spin it by hand... if it doesnt stop as soon as you let go, the clutch is bad. Another way to check is to go for a drive... wait till your engine is thoroughly warmed up. Stop the car, pop the hood, and while looking at the fan, turn the engine off. A good fan will simply stop turning as soon as the engine stops. A bad one while will keep spinning for 1 full turn or more.

JIMMY54

iTrader: (2)

On my old 13b i had the problem of it blowing out the coolant from the bottle, it was the engine seal BUT no oil was found in the coolant or vice-versa. The engine still lasted a long time with this problem but then t of course kept gettin worse. What i did to not get any coolant on my paint was i used LOTS of plastic ties holding the cap down so it wouldn't blow out.
Hopefully it will only be your rad.

treceb

Exactly how RXcetera explained. Mines turns like 3 times before it stops, when i spin it by hand. I got an extra fan, but I'm leaning towards an electric one. Any ideas.
How do you guys post quotes from other members???

P.O.S. Racing

I have no ideal, actually just hit Quote on the post you want to quote! Then you can add a quote! Thanks for the info on the fan clutch, think I'll take a hard look at it when I get home!

GSL-SE

are u trying to say my overflow resevoir is suposed to be full.
cause i always empty it every time it overheats. OOPS

GSL-SE

i guesse my new used fan clutch is not working afterall when i shut off the engine i spins for a few seconds