Tucker Johnson

I am looking to purchase an 86 N/A Rx7 and it seems like a good buy except the car is burning coolant (seller says it gets more added every week or so). The car is daily driven and smells like its burning coolant while warming up (and smokes white) but once warm this all goes away. As someone who is new to the rotary world are there any common detrimental engine problems that could cause this?

Tucker Johnson

I should also add that I plan on rebuilding the engine and replacing coolant seals and such so I am more asking about cracked housings or something

WJM ROTARIES

Welcome to forum. Could also be a leaking inlet gasket

Chris Prestia

I had the same issue with my 86 GXL from what I understand the coolant seals in my engine are done it didn’t stop me from dailying it for the next year I just put coolant in every once and a while and I eventually bought a Koyo singlepass radiator which really helped and I replaced water pump and seals to make sure nothing else was leaking because the back of water pump housing was leaking but I’d fill the radiator with coolant every couple of days and in the summer when it would get 80-90F I’d fill it everyday I tried putting it in the fill above the thermostat but I’ve found that it would push the coolant out of the overflow tank from the exhaust gasses getting into the cooling system so I ran the car ususally low on coolant but if your on top of it and watch temps it was fine for me but I spoke to Goopy when talking about an engine rebuild and he recommended pulling the headercore hoses off the engine and plugging them and running some sort of radiator sealant so it wouldn’t clog the heater core I never got to try it because I eventually got a daily but I’m pulling my engine out hopefully soon it’s ready just waiting for a nice day so I can’t tell you about the condition of the housing warping or chipping or anything due to overheating but I hope both of ours are in good enough condition to reuse