Paradox

iTrader: (1)

my add coolant light keeps coming on every few days now and i have to keep adding about 1/4 litre of water. this is putting on roughly 100 kilometers a day.

here's a little info:

- car never blows any smoke even after sitting awhile.

- radiator has no cracks, its practically in mint condition.

- radiator hoses have no cracks so far that i can tell.

- no steam or anything i can see coming from the engine.

- the car runs at normal operating temps always. (never above the 2nd needle on stock gauge)

- car still has all the power this 13b has always had.

if it was a seal or water jacket i should be pushing atleast a little smoke out the tailpipe. so i'm wondering if i'm using roughly 80% water, 20% coolant in the radiator, will it evaporate? i have been doing quite a bit of driving lately compared to normal and the weather has been a lot hotter lately.

any idea's?

nick1

sometimes it leaks past the radiator cap, in such a small amount that you can't notice (its the steam that leaks), and you don't see any residu or anything. i say replace the rad cap and then if that doesn't work, do a pressure test

vipernicus42

iTrader: (4)

I had a leak at the intake manifold gasket. It would leak out onto the surface of the intake manifold where it mates to the engine. Down there if you have your rat's nest in place or even just the airbox on the carb you can't see it at all where it pools, and it evaporates from there pretty quickly with the engine running. The same leak also leaks it down onto the exhaust manifold where it burns off very rapidly.

It's very common source of coolant loss.

Other than that, you might have a very small coolant control ring leak. It leaks into the engine in such small amounts that it doesn't make noticable smoke.

For a long time I've had the same problem. I'm hoping that the freeze plugs I installed in my intake will solve it.

Jon

Nicholas P.

iTrader: (1)

coolant evaporate....

i can understand it burning off quickly.

do check your intake manifold

Paradox

iTrader: (1)

its a holley manifold, but i've just also realized i havent checked my overflow bottle in a long *** time, it could have been empty and sucking in air. eek

thanks for the input so far, good ideas guys

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Unless you plugged the cooling ports in the housings, it can still leak at the intake.

Paradox

iTrader: (1)

after looking back at your freeze plug thread im wondering if i'm not leaking there, i really didnt torque the intake manifold down properly (atleast no to spec) i just tightened it down to sit tight, since my only torque wrench is 1/2". i do however have a extra intake gasket if that is where the leak is. i'll have to check later on and see if that is infact the problem. could be a mix of the two.

damn i need sleep. thanks trochoid, you are always full of good idea's.

i'm really doubting using this entire holley setup in general, its been nothing but trouble since the start. even though this isnt related i may be in the market for a new carb.

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

If you didn't plug the holes, or install new o-rings, it will leak. I make my own gaskets for the carbed engines out of gasket paper. No need to buy new ones, takes 10-15 minutes to make one.

Paradox

iTrader: (1)

after much searching its looking like the heater core, i just ran some hose side to side of the engine to bypass it and i'm not building up massive air pressure like i was before.

it was getting so bad yesterday that the overflow bottle syphon was actually shooting out when i shut off the car. hehe

time to pull the dash. rock'n'roll

Kentetsu

I can't see a heater core causing pressure like that in the system. That would be exhaust gasses getting blown into the coolant, or your gauge is wrong and your car is overheating.

Also, if it was the core then you probably would have smelled it and found wetness on the passenger side floor.

Paradox

iTrader: (1)

well something in the dash is letting air in, thats as far as i've figured it so far. i have noticed wetness before on the drivers side but it was below the floor mat..

seems like the car will work fine after the t-stat is open, but even then ive replaced the t-stat twice now and even run without one for awhile since i always end up with this buildup of pressure..

Kentetsu

I really don't think that anything under your dash is going to be putting air into the system. The coolant system is pressurized, so the only way that air could get into it is if that air was at a higher pressure than the coolant. The only source for air that meets those requirements is the engine itself (combustion/exhaust gasses). There's a way to confirm this to:

Remove all of the belts that run across the water pump pulley. Remove the radiator cap (make sure it's cool first, of course). Start the car and watch your coolant in the radiator. If you start seeing bubbles forming in the radiator, then yeah you've got combustion gasses leaking in. Just make sure you don't run the motor for more than a couple of minutes with the water pump disabled.

Hopefully that's not the problem, but it sure does sound like it to me based on what you've described. Good luck.

Paradox

iTrader: (1)

time for engine swap number 4 on the black car? hehe

84gsNC

so what was it? cracked housing? Ive seen air being put into the radiator when one of the housings is bad, they would overheat though

Manntis

It doesn't have to go in at the leak source - the coolant leaks out at the heater core, air goes in via the overflow bottle.

Paradox

iTrader: (1)

i still dont know, the car never overheats, the cooling system just seems over pressurized and then spews out a bunch of coolant into the overflow bottle when i turn it off, so i have to keep topping the rad up and burping the system.

mr_ouija

Take the car down to napa or autozone. IIRC they have a tool to sniff for exhaust fumes in your coolant. I believe Napa even has coolant test strips to do the same. It's possible your car is doing the same as my FD. I've got a blown coolant seal and when I turn the car off and it cools, the pressure is venting into the cooling system, causing a similar trend of constant refilling of coolant.

Paradox

iTrader: (1)

ya it seems like a blown coolant seal, sucks since noone on the island rebuilds rotaries.

i hate to say it but i may be going to a boinger here, im just sick of the constant BS of this engine.

Hyper4mance2k

iTrader: (40)

Most likely a blown coolant seal. If they blow in the exhuast stroke or power stroke ares it won't smoke, but it wil over pressureize the cooling system cause its pushing exhaust into the coolant. Not sucking coolant like they normally do when they blow in the intake side. Know what I'm getting at?

bliffle

I fixed that problem once by replacing a bubble pack radiator cap from the autostore with an OEM cap from mazdatrix. Most often the fix with colloidallly suspended copper is the answer.

Paradox

iTrader: (1)

i get it, but whats the pic for?


also i've tried two diff rad caps, no change. i think its time to swap engines..... again.

Paradox

iTrader: (1)

copper whaa ? i've heard of a ghetto fix for this before but i guess i might have to research a bit more.

Kentetsu

I'm not sure exactly where it is (maybe the archive), but there is a well documented process that can be used to seal this type of leak. I'm not sure of the success rate, but have read that it works at least some of the time. Check the archive, and if that doesn't do it then maybe a search will turn something up...

Also, why a new motor? I believe that a seal kit is like 100 bucks, and I don't think you need to tear down the entire motor. Maybe I'm wrong, but it might be worth checking into.