Hey everyone...
I've been having problems with the cooling system on my 1991 NA ever since I changed the coolant. At first it was overheating and filling up the overflow tank with coolant. That was last week. All this week, i've been driving the car in the morning and at night and it hasn't given me problems until tonight when...

I started up the car and let it idle for about 5-10 minutes -- everything was OK except for another puff of whitish smoke when it started. Then when I went to drive it down the driveway, I noticed that the heat was way up near the H! Holy crapoli! I shut the engine off, rolled it to the other side of the street, and poped open the hood. I noticed that the coolant hose from the engine was REALLY hot, but the radiator wasnt! Also, there was air leaking from around the temperature sensor. I tightened it up and that seemed to stop the leak. After doing that, I started up the car again (another puff of smoke), turned on the heater, and let it idle. It made it about 2 minutes before the needle (which had been sitting still a the 'normal' mark) SHOT up almost to the H before I shut the car off. I waited a few minutes, and tried it again after making sure there was coolant in the overflow tank. It started up (once more with a bit of smoke) with the temp gauge reading normal, and remained that way. I let it idle for about 10 minutes, and everything seemed OK except that there was lots of bubbling in the overflow tank. I then drove it a couple blocks before coming back to my house to check things out. When I popped the hood (still idling), the level in the overflow tank was up a bit and there were bubbles & coolant coming out of the overflow hose (the one that empties into the tank -- I pulled it off for a second and coolant was spurting out occasionally). The car also smelled pretty bad.

Now that I've written the RX-7 equivalent of the Odyssey...

Each time the car was started up (even when it was warm), there was a puff of whitish (maybe a bit blue) smoke from the exhaust. The exhaust also smells terrible. The bubbles in the overflow tank do not seem to stop no matter how long it idles (I let it go for about 20 mins). The engine seemed to be flooded the other day (didn't drive it for about 3 days), and when I pulled the plugs / cranked it, it spat out fuel and a puddle of watery stuff (almost a gell).

Are my coolant seals screwed?! That's the only thing i can think of that would make it smoke everytime it's started and make that puddle and make the ever-present bubbles in the overflow tank...

HELP!

Thanks!,
Andrew

 

8 Views... somebody's got to have an answer!

This damned thing was supposed to last until summer...
(then, and only then does it get a new motor...)

 

The test:

with car cool enough to open the cap, fill it up as far as it will hold. leave cap off. Crank car over and watch for gushes of coolant. IF you get a guyser, the engine is shot. IF it stays stable, either a) it has already eaten enough water that the level went way down or b) the seals are pretty much intact.

IT sounda bad for you right now.

 

Bad thermostat?



-Ted

 

Well, there's good news and bad news. It could have been the themostat like ted says. Since its a 91, the heat gage is not very sensitive, there are 3 stages: cold, normal, and rebuild. IF you got it to the H, you know what time it is. Once a rotary overheats one good time, teh water seals are crushed from then on. You might take out the thermostat and see how it does then, even if the seals are bad this will help you for a little while.

 

I had taken out the thermostat and tested it before it overheated this time. It seemed to open up properly, but I actually might be able to grab the thermostat out of my friends inactive '90 NA and try that.

Well, my motor is most likely buggared, goodie. It sorta makes sense because after the first time it overheated, there was a little bit of bubbling in the overflow tank, and now after the second time, there is noticably more.

Whats weird is that it has only overheated twice, but it has run fine other times. I dont really understand how it overheats only once a week (at night, on the weekend, with the same 4 people in the car...maybe I can blame them!) . Is the coolant sitting in the motor getting super-heated before the thermostat opens or something? But then why would it go back to not overheating the next day?

Thanks,
Andrew

 

you probably have a pressure leak. clamp every coolant hose down. i had the same problem. i had everything new except radiator and i tightened everything and no more overheat. also make sure that the fan clutch is good. also i had a problem with the overflow tank itself it was losing pressure so i just cut the hose and put some high temp silicone and a screw and took out the tank. held pressure fine after that.

 

try evans coolant it doesn't need pressure.. good stuff trust me..

 

Evans coolant is great stuff - but I wouldn't use it in an engine that has a water leak, internal or external it costs too much .

 

yeah if it is internal that wouldn't work. but if it was exturnal it mite fix the problem becuase it has no pressure.

 

Well, you checked your thermostat, so thats out. I would double check the Fan Clutch, I had a very similar problem, my fan clutch was shot and the radiator was clogged.

 

Hrm fan clutch eh? Ill definately check that out. The other idea we came up with was taking it down to a smog place that has one of those hydro-carbon detecting devices and seeing if the bubbles inthe overflow tank are gasoline or exhuast gas (in which case I am completly fucked becasue my coolant seal is blown to hell and my rotor housing is warped to ****. yay!).