jjwalker

My last engine was stock and had 164k miles on it and was worn out like a town *****, but it still ran. The front iron cracked and the coolants seals said "bye". When that happened the radiator basically exploded and so did the thermostat neck. The overflow tank would overflow and it was a nightmare.

Had the engine rebuilt, and it has lasted for years, 30k miles but now it seams a water seal has popped. What is interesting about the issue is thatI only noticed it a few days ago when the car sputtered during start up. Went three days with that but the car runs like a top. Slow day at work so I popped the overflow tank top and sniffed and it smelled like gas, uh oh...

Thing is, the tank isn't over flowing, the cooling system works fine, but the tank will bubble when warm and running. After shut down the overflow tank gets sucked right back in as normal as the engine cools. WTF?

I let the engine sit with the overflow hose out to give me some room for alumiseal. Did that and the next day she fires right up, had to go do some mobile jobs yesterday and she fires right up.

The symptoms are there but the complications are not and that is what has me confused.

RXSpeed16

iTrader: (41)

Bubbling into the overflow tank is very concerning.
I had a situation where a small external coolant leak would let air into the system, but sealed well enough on cooldown to pull coolant back into the system. The missing link was that there was an air pocket slowly forming at the high point of the radiator.
Throw a pressure tester on the system. It will either hold pressure, leak onto the floor or leak into the combustion chamber.

Nitrometano

or into your oil pan

jjwalker

I have checked for external leaks and there isn't any. I talked to Chris at Rotary Performance yesterday and he also said the situation is bizarre. I was getting coolant into the combustion chamber, as i noted in my original post. The alumaseal seems to be working but i need to do more tests. Later today I am going to do the bubble test again, but since i added the alumaseal, it seems fine.

It's funny, Rotary Performance knows me and my car, so anytime I call them (not very often) they encourage me to fix it myself. I can be like "TAKE MY MONEY!" and Chris or Dave will give me advice and tell me to fix it myself, not in a bad way, but in an encouraging way. Great guys there.

jjwalker

It went boom today on my way to the grocerie store (less than a block). I limped it home and said **** it and bought an R-spec veloster.

I am done. Although I'll be selling the car, I'll still be around to help.