So my coolant seal went out a few weeks ago. I finally got around to pulling the intake manifold and exhaust manifolds off. When I crank the car over it pours coolant out both the front and rear rotor. I find this strange that more than one coolant seal would go bad. Any ideas of what may of happened? I am just curious and confused and won't get the chance to crack the engine open for a month or more.

 

My first guess would be an overheated motor.

 

it was slightly overheated this summer when my fan broke. Climbed to 225 degrees. It has never seen more than 200 degrees since. The last drive was around the block in 30 degree weather.

I still find it strange 2 rotors are filled with water

 

the intake and exhaust Are connected you know, but tear it apart and you'll see if coolant flowed from one side to the other.

 

What? And secondly he removed the intake and exhaust manifolds so its not flowing from one side to the other through the manifolds.

 

Overheating is bad because its iron side housings and aluminum rotor housings, they expand and contract at different rates. If you overheat the motor you can warp the housings, thus both coolant seals go bad.

 

yea no doubt overheating is bad. It is strange that the coolant seals don't go until 6 months down the road thought. I hope at the very least the housings are good, it was rebuilt 3 years ago with brand new FD housings. Not cheap

 

if you warp the housings then the seals are compromised. were all the irons and housings checked for warpage before assembly?

if the motor has enough rust in it to lose a seal groove in one place, then it certainly has enough rust to lose it on another part of the motor.

overheat + rust....well then you increase the odds of compromising more than one combustion chamber...

what's the lesson here? don't overheat and regular coolant maintenance. rotary isn't immune to neglect, just like a piston engine.

 

why do you find it strange? i have seen it happen many times even on motors that were never overheated.

 

Who said that I neglected the coolant system? I change the coolant and flush every year on every car. also it is not like the overheat to 225 was intentional, I keep constant eye on it through both my haltech and water gauge.

I think it is weird because is it went from nothing to both rotors at once.

 

well these cars are 20+ years old now. the center iron has 2 failure points and the whole engine has 10.

iron water seal lands(4)
rotor housing exhaust port area(2)
rotor housing spark plug area(4)



i have seen some engines with all 3 irons cracked and leaking, quite a few have multiple cracked irons.