my 83' 7 still overheats, i cleaned the radiator replaced the sensor on it, put a new thermostat, check the water pump its fine, checked for cloggin nothing, im now checking the sensor next to the thermostat and hopefully that solves the problem (crossing fingers), but if that don work i dont know what it could possibly be!
can anyone help me on this? ive been trying to figure this out and its really frustrating me now!

 

I had a similar problem once several years ago, replaced radiator (twice) and the thermostat several times etc, etc....... and then found I had a bad ground that was apparently causing the gauge to be inaccurate. Fixed the ground and it magically quit "overheating". Get a infared thermometer and check the engine temp to verify that your gauge is accurate.

This is something to be carefull with as the rotary will not tolerate overheating.

How did you check the water pump?

 

Does the car actually overheat. Are you loosing coolant? If it does than replacing the sensor will not solve the problem.

 

^^ I agree with Robert since I had a GSLSE that would creep up on the gauge and the problem got worse at night. I had the switch on one day and the temp gauge went halfway up and the car was stone cold it turned out to be a bad gauge in the cluster I was ready to pull the engine since it didn't do it before the streetporting was done.

 

For overheating , does it spit out any fluid ?and does it get hotter in town? 1 check for a tight fan belt 2 does it have a leak on the intake manifold (puddles on intake) near carb, does it smell of anti freeze,try replacing your clutch fan, they go bad with age (slip to much) or if you still have a full exaust and you have a cat that is old it's plugged or you are loosing water between the waterpump housing and the block , or , the engine may be running lean (not enough fuel) last but most nasty,if you do not have sticking calipers , or a bad rad cap it may be it has blown a water jacket seal in which case it 's Engine rebuild time,do a pressure,and hold test on the cooling system,to see if it can maintain the pressure(with rad still in place) about 18lbs

 

i have to check the groung to the gauge then to see if thats the problem then!
i took out the water pump to see if it had currousion(the car hand been sitting for a while when i bought it) but it was good
no im not loosing coolant i checked for leaks but nothing!
yeah at times itll spit out some fluid not too much, and the water reserve look as it its pumping air in! ill have to check the cat to see if its plugged
also when i start it (cold) it smokes out white smoke, ive read that it can be a cooling seal thats gone, and that radiator sealer can work for awhile! is that true? if so what brand can i use?

 

OK that sounds bad if its puking fluid and combustion gasses into the cooling system sounds like a re-build is in your future.

 

The addative is called Alumaseal (don't make a mistake here, get exactly that).

However, if you are pumping exhaust gases into the radiator then the chances of this working is greatly reduced. It works much better when fluid is going out the exhaust system. But it still may be worth a shot, since it only costs about $4.00

Here's what I would do:

1. Add Alumaseal to radiator
2. Idle in driveway until thermostat opens
3. Continue to idle for another 15 - 20 minutes
4. Shut off the car and leave it alone for 24 hours

The reason for number 4 is because you have gas entering the cooling system. This means that the force is flowing the wrong direction to assist with the bonding of the Alumaseal. Once you shut the car down, that flow should reverse, and hopefully enough of the product will bond to the leak to make this work.

In fact, I would repeat steps 2 - 4 a few times to ensure you give it every chance to work. This would take a few days, but it beats a rebuild if you can't afford one.

You can leave the Alumseal in the system full time, and it is fully compatible with all antifreezes. Like I said, it's probably worth a shot. I've got over 30,000 miles on my motor since I did this...



.

 

The white smoke can also be just a rich choke setting too,but test the cooling system without the rad on(disconnect at engine and cap off if it off (see pineapple racing) then test it to see if it can hold 50 to 60psi of pressure if it leaks down, its done, time to rebuild with a better plate , I know lots of people suggest a sealant but after taking apart a few hundred engines the sealant tends to stay at the back of the engine near the bottom in the cooling system along with anti freeze that has turned to a solid this STUFF plugs up the bottom of the system and prevents the Engine from cooling the back rotor plate properly use any method of repair you want but don't expect to fix it with what we call a( MICKEY MOUSE) repair

 

I had a very similar problem. My was caused by the front iron being too cooreded where the inner rotor housing seal was. The pressure was so bad in the overflow bottle that it would shoot a steam of water 10 feet out of the small pinhole in the overflow bottle cap. It was also pushing water out the exhaust and water was pouring out the muffler. This all happened before the engine even came up to temperature.

 

Well duh! Of course the only right way to fix it is to rebuild it.

Hell, I should have rebuilt mine 30k miles ago but I didn't have the time. In fact, one of these days I may even get around to doing it. I really should...

But in the mean time, I'm racing on the weekends and taking trips to the Mitty in that car. Spent three days cruising through the smokey mountains on my way home too. Never once thought about that rebuild though, not once. I put 3,000 miles on the car that week, so you'd think I'd've thought of it at least once.

Anyway, just playing the Devil's Advocate here...

Best regards,
Mickey

 

im gonna try the alumaseal then! and follow the steps you gave me!
@KansaCity REPU; did you do a rebuild or how did you fix the problem?
is it as difficult as people make it sound or as easy as making a house out of legos?

 

My engine is at Jesse Prather Racing in Topeka right now getting rebuilt. Trochoid on the board rebuilt it but neither of us thought the coorosion was bad enough. This time I'm using a different set of lapped irons and brand new rotor housing I've been holding on to. Jesse is one of the best engine builders in my opionion so I decided to give it the best stuff I had. Also using brand new e-shaft, rotor bearings, and new rotor seals and oil control rings.

I would try Kentetsu suggestion first. You don't have anything to loose. The only thing I would say to keep in mind is that once it does start to overheat, just shut the car down and do not drive it until the engine is rebuilt. Rotaries can't take the heat and it's a fast way to ruin housings and other parts.

 

ok how much are you paying for al of the rebuild?
im going to try that! would you recomend flushing the radiator as well, i cleaned it but not flushed it!
im hoping this fixes the problem till i get enought for a rebuild!

 

flushing a radiator wont do ****. you need a rad out instead. if a newly rebuilt engine overheats, engine builder will ask proof of "rad out."

 

you might think im stupid for asking but what is "rad out"?
im just getting into the tuning world piston and rotary!

 

It is what I call a rOd out. This is where a radiator specialist takes the top off the radiator and takes a rod and pushes it through the flues of the radiator core to remove accumlated corrosion and gunk and then reassembles the radiator, restoring the cooling efficiency. Many engine builders require either this or a new radiator in order for their warrenty to be honored.

 

As to the white smoke; if you are passing coolant out the exhaust, the sweetish smell of anitfreeze is hard to confuse with the bitter smell of burning oil, or the raw-gas smell of unburned fuel. Use your nose.

It also visibly 'behaves' more like steam than smoke in the way it dissipates.

 

check your clutch fan, my car overheated like a boss, but we made it so that the fan is running at its max speed, were keeping like that until i get a new one. My car doesnt event reach halfway now, and if you saw my earlier thread it would reach 1/4 of the way to the top, which makes you want to cry

 

yup, rod-out..wtf was I thinking

 

I was going to say something, but then I was like, who am I to question Wacky?