wthdidusay82

iTrader: (15)

I just went for a trip in my car to get some food, after leaving the drive through i am about to get on the main road and the coolant buzzer goes off. I was on a slight uphill but nothing very steep.

I have also had this problem in the past before when I went up a very steep uphill to meet with another rx7 owner about 6 months ago, usually I'm never on steep uphills so I guess it never goes off otherwise.

I dont think this problem is normal though is it ? I have a rebuilt engine and I woudlnt think my coolant seals are going at least I would hope not...Ive had to deal with the coolant seal thing several times already worrying if it was the problem.

I'm wondering if its possible that I didnt bleed the system correctly when filling the coolant would cause the problem ?

I stopped on the way home and attempted to fill it and bleed it while the car was running, but the top hose didnt even seem to get pressurized after I got back home from driving. When I opened the bleeder screw no air even came out, it was almost as if nothing was flowing by that hole because I took it completely out and no coolant was flowing out of it...so I think I really need fill and bleed the coolant system properly, if its not a problem because of how I bled and filled it then Im going to be worried about the coolant seals.

It's just really frustrating , I've put quite alot of money and time into this car and I hate having problems.

edit - the car has never overheated since replacing a bad clutch fan, but it has several times before (but it only overheated to about the 1/2 way mark on my s4 gauge)

I've driven it for miles and miles since never had problems with it overheating, nor did i seem to have problems with the coolant buzzer going off..but its went off once 6 months ago on that steep uphill, then another time today.

Everytime I've checked the coolant it appeared to be full (I checked when the car is cold on the filler neck )

hanman

If no coolant came out of the bleed screw, then obviously you are low on coolant. Add coolant, and then close the system. Squeeze the top hose, as if you are trying to squeeze any air to the top by the filler cap (because that is exactly what you are doing). Open the cap and see if the level has gone down a bit. Add more coolant, repeat.
Check your overflow and make sure there are no tiny leaks/slits in the hose that runs from the radiator to the overflow tank. Replace the hose if you have any doubt.
See how that works.

wthdidusay82

iTrader: (15)

I want to do this while the car is running obviously right ? When you say to squeeze the top hose , this would be with the cap on right ? I assume that doing that will bring all the air under the cap so it can be release when I take off the cap to fill more and also will lower the coolant level so I can add more (the space the air was taking up will be gone and will be replaced with coolant)

After I do all this and know its filled , is this when I use that bleeder screw and let out the rest of the air or when do you do this ?

I dont think that hose has any leaks in it that goes from the rad to overflow, but I will double check tommorow as well as fill/bleed the coolant.

As for anyone else, if you feel like telling me to goto the FSM procedure thats no help to me , I need real solutions because adding coolant/bleeding it has been quite a problem for me to do, I dont know if its just me or the car.

Edit - Oh and on top of all this, I had a large milkshake sitting between the passenger seat and the middle console thing and 1/3 of it went all over the floor and underneat the passenger seat, and I noticed when I pulled over to fill the coolant. I cleaned some of it but not all of it, i have no rugs in my car so it cant soak into that..I'm going to have to take the seat out completely tommorow to clean it.

FCKing1995

iTrader: (3)

I didnt see if you meantioned the light going off. It was just the buzzer right? If so it might actually be the low oil. My idiot lights only work some of the time, and a while back mine was doing it. I thought it was coolant when it was actually oil.

wthdidusay82

iTrader: (15)

Nope its add coolant buzzer, I know it is the light went off on the idiot gauges.

BrettLinton7

iTrader: (33)

something like this happened to me...

the coolant light and buzzer would go off even if my radiator was filled up.
So, I took the sensor wire and grounded it beside the air-box.

I've gotta check my coolant often to be on top of it,
but it's better than driving around with that buzzer whining all the time...

wthdidusay82

iTrader: (15)

But I dont think my car should be having this problem. I think maybe I filled and bled the system improperly which left some air in the system that all collected together to lower the overall level of fluid going through because all the air therefore making the level through the radiator lower and making the buzzer go off because the level is so low the sensor isnt getting touched by any coolant ( this is when it goes off)

Also the last few times I topped it off I didnt even bleed it , I wonder if that has anything to do with my problem. It just seems weird how this problem keeps coming back like as if I didnt bleed it properly, I was wondering how everyone on here bleeds the system, because I think I am doing something wrong to where the system still has air in it.

I would highly doubt my coolant seals are bad, because the engine is rebuilt and I havent overheated it that badly, sure I have a several times initially but it was never taking the stock gauge past the half way mark.

Can someone please help ? I'd appreciate it greatly and would be very happy to get someones help. Someone has already told me his way to bleed it but it seems like he was missing out a few things, like when to use the bleeder screw, how long you should be having the car running bleeding it or not etc...this has just been a big hurdle for me to get over because I have been having problems with it that I cant seem to fix, so thats why I assume I bled/filled it improperly.

Anyone please help, thanks.


Also , the car is stopped and not in motion on the uphill when it's gone off...I dont know if this variable has any significance.

TehMonkay

iTrader: (-1)

Turn the car off. Park on an incline if possible. Open the filler cap on the thermostat housing, open the bleed screw, fill until coolant comes out, continue to top of with bleed screw slowly, after if overflows with just a small amount of coolant being poured in, screw the bleed screw back in. Top off the coolant, make sure the resivoir is properly filled. Also, make sure the pressure cap is good, there is a good line going to the overflow bottle, and there are no blockages in the overflow bottle line. Park on cardboard or a clean surface, let the car warm up with the cap on, accelerate the engine. Check for ANY leaks, check the carpet for dampness from the heater core leaking. Make sure nothing is leaking from the rear iron. Check for any leaks anywhere on the engine at all, and smell your exhaust. If you still have issues after doing all of this, pressure check your coolant system to see if you have coolant seal failure.

Icemark

probably low oil, not low coolant

wthdidusay82

iTrader: (15)

Are you sure ? Because its done this before, I cant say I'm 100% that it was the coolant light because I have ADD (attention deficit disorder) ..basically means my short term memory sucks.

I am 99% sure that it was the coolant light, my oil change was only 300 or so miles ago and I always check the oil pretty often and its always full.

Also the last time this happened, the mechanic that I was with (the rx7 owner i met) , he bleed the air out of the system by just taking off the cap and the system was low on coolant this was obvious. I filled it that day and that was about 4-6 months ago.

tooslow7

would it be low oil if the coolant light and buzzer is going off???

wthdidusay82

iTrader: (15)

Well I would doubt the coolant seals are bad, the engine only has 2500+ miles on rebuild.

When you say to top off the with bleed screw out, do you mean completely out or just loosened out enough to where coolant will come out ?

I dont have my heater core even hooked up to any coolant sources, its bypassed and no coolant will even be going through the heater core.

TehMonkay

iTrader: (-1)

Take it all the way off and slowly add coolant until it drizzles out.Then add it on loosley if you want and fill it up a little more and screw it all the way in. It sounds like a bad radiator cap or coolant recovery system. You DID check your oil just to double check right?

wthdidusay82

iTrader: (15)

I have brand new radiator cap and filler cap, whats the coolant recovery system , is that the overflow ?

I havent checked the oil but I will check it right now just so everyone knows my oil isnt low. I did the oil change only 300+ miles ago.

Oil is full , actually even maybe more than full it was higher than the full mark and actually past it.

I can tell the coolant is low , the top hose to the radiator looked deflated.

I'm going to fill and bleed the system tommorow, its too late and too cold right now.

TehMonkay

iTrader: (-1)

Yeah check the hose going to the overflow, it could be leaking if it is old or not letting the coolant get sucked back in when it cools down.

IF it was never properly bled though that is probably the problemo.

wthdidusay82

iTrader: (15)

Well i'm gonna work on it tommorow, how would i know if the hose is bad going to the overflow ? it appears to be all good from what i know. I can take pics though if needed, I'll describe how it looks though after tommorow, I'm all set with working on the car at 3am.

Ive actually bled it before but I may not have done it right I donno, how long does bleeding it normally take to get out all the air ?

I want to get it all out and have nothing but coolant, i know you need to have the car up to operating temp so the thermostat opens but how many times does it need to open before you know youre finished ?

I wish there was someone around here that could help me out doing this, its been a headache for me.

TehMonkay

iTrader: (-1)

It took about 5 minutes for me, ive done it quite a few times. You could take the hose off and pinch one side shut and blow in the other side real hard. Not enough coolant in there to hurt you if you got a little in your mouth.

Icemark

If it is coolant you typically hear bubbles when you squeeze the upper radiator line when the engine is cold.

Did you check the oil, just to make sure???

How about the sensor for the coolant if the oil is high enough??? If you unplug the sensor the light should come on and the buzzer should sound... also the wire hooked up to the sensor will have ground on it.

wthdidusay82

iTrader: (15)

Engine oil is full i checked when the engine was cold, so whats the significance of disconnecting the sensor?(just confused as to what the point of this would be)

I will check and make sure everything is all hooked up properly and grounded but im pretty sure everything is good, maybe I will take pics if i can.

wthdidusay82

iTrader: (15)

Youre talking about the hose going to the overflow bottle right ? Maybe i will try this, but i'll obviously test that before i do the fill and bleed procedures, although I am pretty sure the hose is good ... but if I am wrong then it could be the cause to my problem

I dont know if any of this is relevant but heres some history about the car/engine-

Coincidentally when I bought the car it had already engine suffered a blown waterjacket/bad coolant seals and had a messed up side housing due to overheating. I dont know what the causes of it were, but the car did have the clutch fan rigged so it spun at constant engine rpm because it had a stud going through it to hold it all together making it spin at constant engine rpm, with that fan the car actually ran cooler than it should (165 degree) and was really loud.

I originally had a fan on the car from my parts car but that fan was actually bad and I had found out the fan was the cause of the overheating after swapping it with the fan with the bolt going through it. With the bad fan it was overheating to about 200 degrees within a very short time of driving , then after installing the one with the bolt in it the temp only reached 165. (ive since replaced the fan with a used one and now temps are usually 175-180, they will go up though sometimes when I floor it into the 180-190+ range.

Before the coolant buzzer went off the last time 4-6 months ago it seemed like sometimes the temps would go higher than they should , past 180+ when i wasnt driving hard on it I assume the coolant was low then too, hopefully all this is due to a bad hose or improper fill/bleed procedure.

Do all the symptoms sound like something that would be caused by improper fill/bleeding procedure or a bad hose ? I hope i can fix it , because I dont want to think my coolant seals are bad, thats the last thing i want.

Sorry for writing so much, its 3am and i have nothing else to do but worry about my car , its my baby.

Dont know if the coolant seals/waterjacket caused the damage before the guy put the bolt through the fan or after, I was just thinking if the damage wasnt caused until afterwords the problem that caused it may be that overflow hose being bad because I've replaced pretty much every hose on the car except for the one that connects to a metal tube on the left side of the engine.

TehMonkay

iTrader: (-1)

Take off the little hose going to the overflow bottle.Pinch one end and blow in the other, if any air goes through its busted.

Also he was talking about grounding because i do believe the sensor goes off when it isnt grounded, the water acts as a ground i do believe so when its not full enough the ground is removed and the buzzer goes off.

wthdidusay82

iTrader: (15)

I'll check the ground to it , hopefully i can find it but I dont understand how this ground works by water acting as a ground to it but I'll look at it tommorow its too cold now and too late

You mean if any air comes out the sides of the hose (id prolly hear the air hissing out), not air going through right ? Well now i think i get what youre saying , no air should go through no matter how hard i blow into it because it should be sealed.

I assume i have to completely remove the hose from the car and pinch one side and blow through the other to see if i hear air coming out.

wthdidusay82

iTrader: (15)

Something was inside the piece on the cap where the hose connect to the overflow clogging it, would this have been my problem ? The hose itself has no leaks