Bigretardhead

well, I just don't get it. I've been driving around for a while, and sudden'y my ADD COOLANT light and buzzer come on. crap. so I get home, and park the car to let it cool down. when its totally cooled down, I check the coolant, and its way down. I pull out the plug in the rad, and fill it up till it comes out the hole. I put the plug in, and fill it up the rest of the way. put the cap on, and start it up. drive around for about 30 minutes, come home, its fine. the next day(today) I drive to school. buzzer goes off on the way there a couple times, but if I give it gas or something it goes off. on the way back it just gets worse. its on a lot more, and doesn't go off as easy. I get home, and let sit for a little. I go back out when its a little cooler(around 120) and pull off the cap. its a little low. pull out the plug on the rad, fluid comes out. put the plug back in and fill it up. I don't put the cap on, and start it up. after about 5 minutes, the coolant starts to slowly flow out of the cap (because of normal heat expansion?). there are also some bubbles in it. also, this time, the coolant buzzer is on the whole time, even after I just filled it up.

so, did I blow a coolant seal? or is there just a lot of air in my engine that took like 3 months to finally come up?

also, nothing flowed into the overflow tank, and it doesn't smoke on start up (at all).

car is an 87' TII.

Bukwild

Damn I just lost a coolant seal in my new t2 motor as well. Call Kevin Landers at Rotary Ressurection he built my motor so he is fixing this. Mine is worse than yours. You might be able to fix it. He has some directions on his website to fix little leaks. Mine is so bad that it with the cap off the rad when you try and turn it over it spits out water like a water fountain.

nashman69g

iTrader: (3)

before assuming its a coolant seal (like everyone wants to assume) check all your coolant lines...I am willing to bet you have a leak coming from one of the hoses...especially check the one going to the throttle body- that one is known to fail after a while... look for signs of coolant leak(look very carefully, they are hard to find sometimes!!) Also check the hat hoses! If after a through inspection check to see if you see smoke coming from your exuast--it will also have a sweet smell to it!

SureShot

Another possibility - If the upper gasket on the radiator cap is worn or cracked the Rad will suck air instead of drawing coolant back from the overflow during cool down.
This can be hidden until a small leak (as mentioned above) happens.

Bigretardhead

okay, I'll make sure and check super hard for leaks. I haven't seen any leaks yet, but I haven't looked that hard either.

the cap is pretty new, and the overflow bottle isn't filling up. it was actually pretty low, so I added some and it didn't help. I haven't checked to see if its still there though. but I'll definetly double check that stuff anyway.

damn I hope its just a hose or something like that.

SureShot

If it was an internal O ring seal, you would see much white (odorless) steam from the exhaust, right after starting.
Also, it would get hard to start, then sputter on one rotor, then steam out the back, then run.

The trickiest leak I ever had was an erosion area in the back of the water pump housing.
It was weeks before I finally found it.

Bigretardhead

I had a blown coolant seal before when my car was N/A, and it would only smoke on startups after it had been sitting for a few days. I haven't let mine sit more than a half day so far, so I don't know. but hopefully it is just a leak somewhere... and it probably is.

Amur_

Don't worry about the bubbles. My NA does that, too, and she's 5 x 5.

Also, if you'd blown a seal, the coolant would have gesyered when you started it with the cap off.

I'm also betting it's a leak. Get on it!

Scott 89t2

your're probably just leaking. otherwise you'd must likly be overheating as well

Castrol86GXL

mines probley the worst here period. i crank it over and i take off the rad cap and i see fues come out. and i smell it and its gas. i remove the plugs and coolant pours out. and when i have the cap off when i start it. it will empty itself in 30 seconds or so.

Bigretardhead

yeah thats what I thought. but no problem, I found the leak!!!!!! it finally got big enough that I could actually see it dripping on the ground. all that happened was the hose that (is supposed to) go from the heater core to the engine block developed a small crack. on mine I bypassed the heater core, and run that hose/line in front of the engine... in case you're wondering why I put (is supposed to) in ( ).


but I cut off the cracked end, put it back on, (too late to buy new hose), and I've been driving for like the last 3 hours. up the mountain pass, and on the highway with my friends MR2 turbo. it was ssoooooo much fun. now if I could only figure out why I'm only getting 4 psi.

thanks for all the help.