Blown Coolant Seal Symptoms?
#1
Blown Coolant Seal Symptoms?
S4 GXL, 207k miles on engine, original engine as far as we can tell.
Last night on our way to a Flyers game I redlined it getting onto the highway and about 30 seconds later the add coolant buzzer came on. It went away after about 5 seconds and then came back on. I pulled over to look things over, no obvious leaks in the engine bay. Coolant reservoir was full and I didnt remember it ever being that full. To be safe, we got off at the next exit and turned around to head home. I gawked at the coolant gauge trying to see if it was moving up, however it did not seem to go up even though the add coolant buzzer was on. This seemed fine to me as maybe it was just a tiny air pocket. It wasnt until we got off the highway that the needle seemed to have budged upwards, at that time I turned the engine off to try and stop building up heat. We sat at the 2/3 lights with the engine off. I noticed I heard some bubbling from under the hood. When I pulled away there was a small puddle on the ground. I coasted it through a neighborhood until we hit ours and thats when the gauge had obviously gone up, but not gone up super high, no where near the top of the range. I had someone tell me that sometimes the rad cap neck warps overtime causing a pinhole air leak to where the coolant will expand and push into the overflow, but allows air back in instead of sucking the coolant back in. This is best case scenario...Worst case and my fear is that its a coolant seal.
Any ideas? Where to start?
Last night on our way to a Flyers game I redlined it getting onto the highway and about 30 seconds later the add coolant buzzer came on. It went away after about 5 seconds and then came back on. I pulled over to look things over, no obvious leaks in the engine bay. Coolant reservoir was full and I didnt remember it ever being that full. To be safe, we got off at the next exit and turned around to head home. I gawked at the coolant gauge trying to see if it was moving up, however it did not seem to go up even though the add coolant buzzer was on. This seemed fine to me as maybe it was just a tiny air pocket. It wasnt until we got off the highway that the needle seemed to have budged upwards, at that time I turned the engine off to try and stop building up heat. We sat at the 2/3 lights with the engine off. I noticed I heard some bubbling from under the hood. When I pulled away there was a small puddle on the ground. I coasted it through a neighborhood until we hit ours and thats when the gauge had obviously gone up, but not gone up super high, no where near the top of the range. I had someone tell me that sometimes the rad cap neck warps overtime causing a pinhole air leak to where the coolant will expand and push into the overflow, but allows air back in instead of sucking the coolant back in. This is best case scenario...Worst case and my fear is that its a coolant seal.
Any ideas? Where to start?
#6
Ban Peak
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If you're going to let it sit, drain the coolant out, start it for a minute, then shut it down after its running on both rotors. You don't want it sitting in the engine to get rusty!!!
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#10
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Thats a real shame, but of all the ways this engine could fail is this really the worst? Unless the wall holding the water seal has failed or you leave the engine for a few years to rust away theres a good chance this will be a quick rebuild
#14
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Soft seal rebuilds are generally cheap and easy rebuilds in comparison. Think of it as a head gasket replacement, as that's essentially what it is. Also, not sure what would cause you to also damage an apex seal, people drive with broken coolant seals for months without damaging apex seals. The hard starts are typically because the water is diluting the fuel during combustion which is why it runs so rough while it's smoking off all that coolant.
#15
Apex seals arent damaged, just the springs. When the engine overheats the apex springs lose their springy-ness and flatten out from what I've read.
You are probably correct about the iron's groove breaking. Still a lot easier to find an NA iron than a housing + matching weight rotor
No coolant on the sensor is a possibility..who knows.
I'll update this in a few months when I get the engine taken apart!
You are probably correct about the iron's groove breaking. Still a lot easier to find an NA iron than a housing + matching weight rotor
No coolant on the sensor is a possibility..who knows.
I'll update this in a few months when I get the engine taken apart!
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Apex seals arent damaged, just the springs. When the engine overheats the apex springs lose their springy-ness and flatten out from what I've read.
You are probably correct about the iron's groove breaking. Still a lot easier to find an NA iron than a housing + matching weight rotor
No coolant on the sensor is a possibility..who knows.
I'll update this in a few months when I get the engine taken apart!
You are probably correct about the iron's groove breaking. Still a lot easier to find an NA iron than a housing + matching weight rotor
No coolant on the sensor is a possibility..who knows.
I'll update this in a few months when I get the engine taken apart!
#18
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On any case, the circumstances suck, specially when the engine had a healthy compression
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