Ignoramus

Bear with me! So I went to start up my car today, let it idle for a little while, and then my coolant buzzer started to go off. Checked coolant levels and topped it off, and the buzzer still kept going. I just bought the car about a week and a half ago, it's an 87 turbo II, and this is the first time I've heard the buzzer. I remembered seeing a wire in the glove box, which turned out to be a water level sensor. I figured since there is a new one in the glove box then i'll replace it and see if that solves the problem. Looked up where the sensor was at in one of the online service manuals and became immediately confused.



^^This is my car. In the FSM the radiator cap is on the radiator, and on my car it's right next to the coolant reservoir (bottom left). There is a single hose going to the cap which then continues out of the bottom of the cap to a nipple that is screwed in at the top of the radiator(you can see the nipple and the hose connected right by the hole in the middle of the radiator^^). I found pictures of other turbo II engine bays, and there set up is definitely different from mine.



^^A little bit closer view of the hose and the nipple that was screwed in to the top of the radiator.



^^Water level sensor and the hole to which i believe it goes. Mind you this is the same hole that the hose and nipple was screwed into.



^^I believe this is the wire for the sensor, this is how i found it. It was dangling with the tip of the old sensor still inside of it.

So all in all I'm confused because the hose coming from the coolant reservoir was fed into the hole which I believe belongs to the water level sensor. I would like to get the sensor in the proper place, and if on top of the radiator it is, what do I need to do with the hose coming from the reservoir? This set up seems super odd to me and has been giving me a headache all day lol. Any help is much appreciated!

P.S. This car has a reconstructed title due to front end damage, could the radiator have been swapped from a different model and then whoever fixed it came up with this set up? f*** idk maybe I'm just retarded.

turboIIrotary

iTrader: (9)

wow i would return it back to normal.

HAILERS2

Just in case........................see the attached jpg and the RED ARROW pointing to a screw located in that bung.

Taking the cap off the filler and pouring water into the neck til the water tops off DOES NOT mean the radiator is full. There will still be a very large bubble of air at the top of the radiator tank where the sensor is.

To fill the radiator..............remove the screw the RED ARROW points to . Then fill the filler neck til water pours out the opening where the red arrow shows in the jpg. Now reinstall the plug there AS the water pours out and once the plug is installed keep filling til the neck is full. DONE.

Ignoramus

Yeah I'm thinking that's what I want to do. Probably just need a radiator with a cap on it i'm guessing.

Money is slim though, so I want to figure out a way to make this work until I can afford it.

HAILERS2

Install the sensor in the hole in the top of the radiator and connect that BROWN wire to the sensor.

The water reservoir has two rubber hose. One comes from the filler neck where the pressure cap is. The other just hangs over the side as shown in the picture.

No, you do not need another radiator with a cap on it.

Take a picture of your filler neck where the pressure cap is. I assume there is a pressure cap there. Please.

The stk 86-87 cars have a filler neck near/part of the water pump housing. This filler neck also has a NIPPLE on it's side which takes a rubber hose that terminates at the water reservoir top cap. That help?

The attached jpg shows the way the hose to the water reservoir should follow. It routes a bit different than my red arrow but that shows point to point for the hose on the right side of the water tank cap.

Ignoramus

Yeah at first i didn't try that, then noticed it was a bleeder screw, re-tried it and to no avail.

HAILERS2

I made additions to my post number five above. Please read and look at the attachment

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

what you need is to find the plastic pressure cap housing on top of the engine which has a coolant hose port on it and hook that hose up to the filler neck on the engine. the current configuration won't allow the cooling system to hold pressure and will constantly be running low, as you pour water into the filler neck it will immediately be going into the reservoir and then onto the ground as it is fills.. the pressure cap is where that hose is supposed to be connected, so as the pressure rises it can be pushed out through that hose.

can't really tell from the picture you provided if your filler neck has a nipple on it or not. from how crusty looking that thermostat housing is it is quite possible it does and it is just open to the atmosphere. gotta love redneck tech.

Ignoramus

There is no hose that connects to the filler cap, no nipple for a hose either. The hose on the right side of the reservoir is the hose that hangs off, and the other hose was flowing into the top of the radiator. Here is my filler neck...

HAILERS2

The fitting on top of the water pump housing should look like the one in the attached jpg. That's from MAZDATRIX's site online. All 87 stk turbo cars should look like that.

Take note of the NIPPLE on the housing. It takest the hose going from there to the water reservoir tanks cap.

HAILERS2

You have the wrong filler cap/fitting. Order one from Mazdatrix this evening and get it by Friday.

Ignoramus

Ok sweet, I got it now. Thanks a lot for your help Hailers and Karack.

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

http://mazdatrix.com/getprice.asp?partnum=15-17YA-N326

may want to pick up a thermostat as well since you'll be there. all that silicone has me weary that the t-stat is probably not working properly either with all that crap packed into it and perhaps a new pressure cap also, they seem to only really last about 2-3 years max on rotaries..

np

HAILERS2

The parts with a red arrow are not stk parts. Well the hose might be if long enough. I labled this attached jpg BRAINDEAD after whoever did that.

Ignoramus

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll go ahead and get that too

Ignoramus

Yeah thats why it confused the hell out of me, made no sense what so ever haha.

bumpstart

dude you have the ORIGINAL cooling setup that was in the s4 NA
i have a late 85 manufacture FC, exactly like this when stock
this is on all the 86 auto NA's

this is NORMAL to have the smart filler cap on the remote hose and the dumb filler on top of the filler neck
( with the plastic overflow nipple on the thermo /filler neck cast as blocked )
and you must undo the burp/bleed screw on the radiator top hose when filling

==============

the turbo ones have the overflow from the plastic fitting on the filler neck ( and have the smart pressure cap there ) with a different overflow bottle location

later s4 around the update get a filler cap on the radiator
( but still use the plastic fitting with overflow, and smart pressure cap on the filler neck )

s5 gets the long filler spout added to the radiator,, with overflow and pressure cap from there

=========================

put it all back together as you found it ,,, it was not wrong or bodged
the alarm goes off cause the system was not burped,, has exhaust gas in the cooling system
or was a faulty sender
or the wire is broken
( when the wire sees earth the alarm stops )

when you fill these older systems up you remove the bleed screw and top it till it comes out there
you replace the bleed screw and then half fill the overflow bottle
you may have to repeat the procedure after a small drive ( and cool down )

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

those actually are stock parts, some FCs had this wierd configuration that you just posted and i have seen it also but it is a VERY rare configuration. rare enough that i can't find that pressure cap housing located on any parts fische anywhere but i know for a fact that some FCs were manufactured that way and this was a LHD USDM car. i was curious where to get those optional pressure cap housings to utilize in FDs to omit the surge tank. maybe you will note that it bolts perfectly to that inner headlight housing, because it WAS meant to go there.

i didn't notice that pressure cap at first on the front because its rare enough that i forgot this configuration even existed. so it is actually correct but i have no idea where the level sender plugs into, i believe it was supposed to thread into the bleeder screw spot at the radiator upper radiator hose neck. the ONLY other car i saw with that setup was in a wrecking yard so i stole the pressure cap from the front of the car for whatever purpose i felt like using it for, didn't pay much attention to the rest as it was numerous years ago before i knew it was so strange of a stock setup, it was also on an n/a and not a turbo car.

if you look at it again and think about it hard enough you'll realize that i'm right, that a very short run of cars did have this wierd setup. if it was ghetto rigged it was actually well planned and thought out and i can't imagine that after the years i have seen two cars with exactly the same ghetto rigging with parts that fit perfectly, there's even nuts on the backside of where that housing is mounted up front for it to bolt directly to. if it does happen to be some sort of mod that a few people did off a writeup i would like to know what vehicle that pressure cap relocation assembly came from as it has various uses such as in v-mounts as the radiator lays down low.

bumpstart

there is my stock rad,, and you can see the overflow arrangement is the same as yours
( overflow bottle is long gone,, but was same as yours )

the wire is normally soldered to the overflow pipe and i suspect its sees continuity to earth when the coolant earths the brass pipe with the rest of the radiator core ( when full )
so its a very primitive switch unlike the replacement one you have
( for the later radiator revision on the turbo )

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

ah i think i remember seeing another pic somewhere on the forum with that tube with the wire soldered on. it doesn't need much continuity to trip the level light off. i'm pretty sure the upper radiator neck air bleed screw location would work too for the stock sensor, it's just more prone to seeing small air bubbles than the top of the radiator.

satch

iTrader: (1)

It's nice to have knowledgeable posters chime in and then you have folks much like myself. Anyway, Bumpstart is correct as I have an 86 auto and it looks just like yours with the exception of the sensor wire that yours is missing, which has been snipped from the coolant level sensor.

Pele

iTrader: (28)

And I thought my setup was weird... It's got the overflow over by the leading coil, just in front of the fuse block.

turboIIrotary

iTrader: (9)

Thats the only other one i have seen the OP setup is just weird.

Ignoramus

Wow, interesting. My car is an original turbo II, so the previous owner must've yanked it off a car in the junk yard, because it does have the water level sensor wire that fits perfectly to the sensor. Anyway I ordered the radiator cap neck and thermostat, should be here quickly. I'll put those on, re-route the reservoir hose to the filler neck, and put my sensor on top of the radiator...correct?

bumpstart

you dont really need the new cap and plastic part !

you can unbolt the remote plastic overflow part and bolt that to the filler neck and route a longer overflow hose
( and put sender in radiator )