Uh oh?
 

So I noticed today that for whatever retarded reason I had, that my coolant didn't swish when I wiggled the tank. I opened it to see it was nearly completely dry, and that a black mark had stained to the plastic, giving the illusion that it was full. Anyways, I just drained e coolant from the radiator and filled it up with water from the spicket. Now my heater only blows cool air, where as before it only blew hot air...... Did I mess something up by filling my radiator with water? Engine was cold when I did this, let it sit for ten mins and then idled car for 7 mins with the heater on full and hot, still cold like ac....... There's no ac in my car anymore.....

Did you burp the coolent system? fill the radiator and then let the car run. while its running keep the radiator cap off and wait for the thermostat to open. When it does you'll be able to add more coolent.

Also, I'd sugest using radiator fluid. Just because it has rust prohibitors in it, if nothing else.

Thanks, can you explain why my heater worked after I did this venting step? Thanks a lot.

Curtis

No fluid in the core means no heat.

The heater core is just a tinny radiator inside the cabin. If there isn't coolent running in the heater core no heat will sink from the engine to the cabin.

Never run a rotary on water only, especially TAP water which is full of minerals and usually slightly chlorinated as well.

Water will rust your cast-iron housings.

Minerals will clog your radiator core passages & lower the boiling temperature of the water.

Chlorine will attack the radiator core and any other brass or copper components in the cooling system. It's also not good for hoses.

Always use a 50/50 mix of DISTILLED water and antifreeze, or premixed antifreeze.

Plus, in Alaska, your cooling system will freeze in the winter (maybe even the summer depending on where you are...) and wreak havoc on the entire system. cracked block. burst radiator. burst heater core. burst hoses. Not fun. Get some 50/50 pre-mixed and be done with it.

you can just run water kinda! like at certain dragstrips you cant run if you use coolant, but if you do just run water, than you can run water wetter with it (if they sell that up there, but do use distilled with it!) it will lubricate the pump. nothin removes heat like just water. but come winter it will freeze!

:scratch: Orly?

Once water boils, what happens to its heat-transfer capability?

water boils at 212 degrees! thermostat is rated at at 180 in my seven(i hope for the sake of yours and every one else motor, theirs is too!) and my drag vega is at 160!( the one i run water wetter in) Thats why we also have rated radiator caps. pressurising any system brings up the boiling point. i also run pure water in my gsxr all the time.(gsxr during traffic goes to abou 195 when not moving but a 100 miles an hour my temperature is 140-135F and is super responsive)

antifreeze actually lowers heat transfer capabilities! but does raise the boiling point and lowers the freezing point of water

you dont know much about thermodynamics do you?

and if you do then please correct me! ive only been doin this as a living for 8 years!

please point out where my statements contradict your thermodynamics! lol

At 1 bar relative (2 bar absolute), it boils at around 230f.

Pure deionized water that is, at sea-level pressure.

Impure water, depends on the impurities.

Thermostat does nothing to keep the engine cool; it helps the engine warm up. Once it opens, it's job is pretty much done unless you're in the arctic.

How long does the drag car have to stay running at any time?

See the above regarding relative pressure. Stock replacement cap is rated for just less than 1 bar, ( 13-14PSI depending on year) so even pressurized, pure-water cooling system in a car is only good to about 220-ish before the cap will let go.

& of course, with a rotary, once you actually boil it over you're on borrowed time before you have expensive problems.

Motorcycle is not a car. Very different thermal situation, from lower masses on down. Is the engine all-aluminum, by any chance?

It's true; antifreeze does lower the heat-transfer capability of water a little (about 10-15% depending on mixture) but it makes up for that by preventing boil-over and the resulting over-pressure and loss of coolant (Which can ruin a wankel in a few minutes if you can't shut it down), and also by preventing corrosion, which is a serious problem for our cast-iron endplates.

For a drag or race car where you're never more than a short distance from a place to stop, the story's different. Reliability can take a back seat to performance.

But for a street car that has to be reliable in terms of years and tens of thousands of miles, there's simply no reason NOT to use antifreeze, and many good reasons to do so.

yes distilled is more at 227. 212 is for general referance at our earthly pressure of 14.7 not talking about distilled water .im aware that under pressure it will raise the boiling temp! thermostat does indirectly help keep car cool in that it will keep water temp relativelyt close to its opening point and not below the minuimum operating temp. the vega runs on the street when i use the street tires. she will get hot at a stand still (seen it go up to 220 but not much over) but runs perfect at 160-165 on the track i keep her at that temp always shuting off in between runs. i put her at about 150 when i stage and by the time i leave the tree shes at 160 again id say about3 min warm up from cold start.

yes the 750 has an aluminium engine .

quote;At 1 bar relative (2 bar absolute), it boils at around 230f.

See the above regarding relative pressure. Stock replacement cap is rated for just less than 1 bar, ( 13-14PSI depending on year) so even pressurized, pure-water cooling system in a car is only good to about 220-ish before the cap will let go.

& of course, with a rotary, once you actually boil it over you're on borrowed time before you have expensive problems.;quote





yes im aware about the rad cap as i just stated that.(1.1bar) i dont think ANY of us let our temps get above 200 hence it will blow the cap before it boils under pressure hence still able to keep its transfer capabilities!

i agree im just sayin that it is possible and the reason i said KINDA. i use it to raise boiling point and lubrication in an every day hot runnin vehicle. i only use water for the track and the bike that is never at a standstill. and as long as you use distilled and a ground strap you wont get aluminium oxide pellets or corossion. but you do need some form of a lubricant especially at the higher rpms.

:icon_tup:

:icon_tup:

Uuuuuhhhhhhhh
 

Back to the post.
New questions.... My e fan won't turn off and I dont know why. I put the hose onto the t of my radiator with plug removed and I started the car. It ran for about three mins and I shut it off, drained and added antifreeze/coolant and distiller water. Please tell me I didn't break something. My battery is dead and my alternator won't charge it. I'm gonna sand my terminals and connectors and see if that helps,vand then I'm gonna buy a new battery if that doesn't work. Why won't my fan turn off? My engine is COLD.It's 2 am!

Put in 50/50 and if your fan stays on check the temp at the probe!!!! It should turn on at around 190. Make sure the black relay for said item did not get stuck!!!

^ (not sure how you have it wired) but look at relay like he said,

if not the relay then check for a short to ground on the wire of the low amperage side of the relay before temp switch.( if youve got it wired on the ground side)( if its on the powerside than check the temp switch that its not stuck)

as for the battery check it with a volt meter,if it did start the car and died after your 3 min than try a battery out of another car before spending 50 bucks. check that the alternator gives a full 14v with it running. (again i take it that your fan stays on with the ign. on but when the keys are out, it turns off? or even with the keys out, its still on?)
p.s. sorry for thread jacking earlier. just trying to show these "scientists" how they repeat their own contradictory statements over and over.everything is semantics in here.

So. I don't know this lingo you guys are speaking. Please bears in mind I don't know how to do any of this. My battery is good, but it was damaged. It's notmat 14 volts anymore it's under 13 w altntr on. Tell me how to check this shit. Pics or vies will come with people's questions. Help me please?

if you can, post a pic of engine bay, radiator, e-fan, wiring, ect. i think itll help us a little better diagnosing your fan.

With all the accessories OFF you shuld see close to 14 volts. with them ON it shuld be no less than around 13. if its below that than its time for another alternator

Pics galore later. It's midnight now so yeah. Thanks man. And the alt was checked like 3 months ago. Could it have failed since then? The bearings are going out anyways I guess.

Thanks for your help!

As an update to anyone who cares, I've found that when I "reset" my fan, unhook the positive from battery for a second, then re connect, it makes a click noise but does not come on, when my dad jiggled some wires it came on and would not shut off. I have a little black dial that I turned today thinking that at this point all it would do is help. Tha must be the part that chooses what temp the fan kicks on at. Pics later. Maybe a grounding or a wire spliced through tape or something. Anyways

To get off topic, I'm buying a new rx7 soon. 600 bucks. Posted somewhere else that I was checking it outnfor a grand, he called me back with a lower offer, and I low balled my low ball like a baller. Hehehehe.. Pics of at soon also. Stay tuned.

sounds like the variable temp sensor failed...

the bearing in the alt. you mean? yeah sometimes they just get weaker and weaker with use and before you know it they dont put out enough voltage. you can take it to an auto parts store if you have one(i know you do live in the artic) and they can put the alternator on theyr testing machine to see the amperage output. dont try checking amperage with a multi meter as it will destroy the meter( too high of an amperage). but if the voltage is around 12 with the car running, it is time to replace

Lol I live in a city. Anyways I took it in a few months ago but I guess it's time again. I GOT THE 7 today! 600 bucks and it runs like a dream! (a nightmare), anyways I got an 83, and I love the layout of the dash compared to the 84. I'm tryin to figure out how to upload pics from the iPad but once I figure it out they will be plentiful.

Seeing if this will work. If it does ima be happy.

Here's my photo bucket?

Pictures by curtisharrington - Photobucket

I have this white bladder thing, and I have another in my 84.... What are they?

Please identify the things on my photo bucket while I wAit for daylight so I can take pics. Thanks.

Btw i got a nice glass sunroof...moonroof? Whatevs.

Cman-

I think it works! Sweet! Takes me like 3 seconds to upload pics now!

White bladder thing = washer fluid reservoir for rear window washer, I think.

First pic is the rear window washer reservoir I think.

The second pic is the fuel pump/sender for a GSL-SE maybe.

Picture time!

And is there a link hat breaks down what packages have what so that I can know what package my cars are? There was one on FAQ but it 404d

Uploaded pics of the fan radiator and what I believe to be the temp sensor, as there is a metal prod that sticks into my radiator and goes to a box with a black dial. I didn't set this fan up so I don't knw what's what. Anyways bottom right you'll see sub albums. 84 is the car this threads about. 83 is muh new baby. :)


Ugly baby

those are good pics! but you kinda gotta get one that shows the wiring to the switch(that little grey box with the knob on it) from there you can tell if one of those wires goes directly to the positive side of the battery. of if one goes to the negative side of the battery(or ground somewhere). Can you trace that click you hear(when reset) to that little black box below it(relay with the 4 wires goin to it)?

if you can check this then carefully "wiggle" the wires one by one. you can pinpoint IF you have a short. and bieng that your wires dont look like theyve been on fire i think it be safe to say your switch is on the ground side of the relay [but check that the switch isnt stuck and that its wiring isnt corroded, i would doubt this tho, as thats two problems that would have to happen at once]

nice job on the 83 tho! what color you gunna go with?

i dunno. there was no title for the car. 7's are hard to come by up here. im not sure how to get a title for a vehicle but it sounds hard. this may just be a donor, im not sure yet. so far ive scavenged the rear hatch latch. mine was broken. had to take my key and push the little pin out of the way and then close the hatch really fast. not sure whats wrong with it yet... and i got the glass roof and im not sure yet but i may create my own custom dash. the 84 dash is boring in my opinion, but its more luxorious than the 83... my own opionion. anyways not sure what im doin with the 83. my main focus is getting my fan going on my 84 though... will do pics sometime soon. doin a double shift tomorrow 6a-10p and i dont get home till near 11 tonight so its already gonna be too dark to take pics of wiring.

define "stuck." failed? destroyed?
anyway to test them?
and yes the clicking is coming from that little box in the pics

the temp switch has 2 positions, open or closed. (think of it like a light switch in a house, its job is to complete a circuit). with an ohm meter check to see of it says o.L. (outa limits, no continuity which means open, or 0.0 which means theres no resistance but the "latch" is closed) it shuld close at the temperature its set to. if its closed while the engine is cold than it is stuck.

wierd that you say that the relay is clicking as soon as you reset it! if that IS the relay that goes to the fan,(check where the wires go to) it shuld only "click" when that temperature switch closes. that means its getting power when its not supposed to.

check all connections to the low amperage side of the relay! you will find the problem!

okay, thanks. ill check it out tomorrow. i work till ten tonight, and its raining like its going out of style.