Saturday night I learned the hard way that the p.o. of my 86 gxl had plugged up one of the coolant lines off of the rear iron. The plug popped and it started to heat up, so I shut it down and parked it and found the plug. So now, what's the best way to plug it again? Some fuel line, with a bolt at one end a wormgear and some permatex? Any advice?

 

same thing happened to me but was on the waterpump housing. i just ran a line from the rear iron to the waterpump housing. i dont know if there is suck a thing on a NA though. i would look for any other blocked coolant nipple and run them together.

 

There is. Run it from the back of the block to the water pump. Look to see if your bac has the coolant hoses on it. I am thinking it doesn't.

 

Find out why it is plugged. Which coolant line are we talking about here? The heater line or the nipple for the BAC/thermowax?

If you never plan on using that connection again, then the best way to plug it is to drill and tap for an NPT plug.

If that's not an option, a bit of hose plugged in one end with a bolt and then all secured with hose clamps does work. It's ugly though.

 

Yup, there is a plugged nipple off the water pump as well. Unfortunatelt the guy tried to fill the nipples (lol) with gasket sealant.....grrr. so for now it's the line and bolt method till I can tap it. Thanks for the quick replies guys!

 

Ok, so further developments... after blocking the nipple, I took it for a spin, after getting some water in it of course. It still heats up, bad. So after some thinking I gathered that the system wasn't pressurizing due to some previous work that may have compromised the gaskets on the waterpump. Long story short, the long bolt fastening the pump and the alt bracket sheared while attempting to remove it.

This is my DD at the moment, so last night I removed the waterpump to replace all gaskets and sheared bolt and found an oil leak. It was coming from the hole where the sheared bolt was located.... I can't tell from the diagrams in the FSM, but should I be concerned about an oil seal? It seems that bolt should just screw into the iron... not an oil passage! Any ideas?

 

Haha... I'm retarded. It wasn't oil, just some leaking coolant mixed with grime from destroyed belts. Replaced all the gaskets, waiting for the sealant to set and hopefully it should be all good! Its freakin cold outside!

 

Still getting too hot. Wtf. No leaks. Champagne test ok. Thermostat tests ok. This is pissin me off now.

 

May still have some air in the system. It's easily trapped in the heater core...

 

How old is the pressure cap? It may not be allowing the system to build pressure.

How does it overheat? Sitting in traffic or driving?

Loads of cooling system troubleshooting: http://www.aaroncake.net/rx-7/cooling.htm

 

While idling it was ok initially. I let it warm to normal op temp and let it set there for a good ten minutes. It stayed right under a quarter on the temp guage. I drove it and it started heating up after maybe two minutes, then shuddered and died when I stopped. The radiator cap was cool, but the block was hot... maybe the thermostat is opening too late? I dunno. It started right back up after letting cool for a bit though. There was minimal if any loss of coolant. ill order a new thermstat and see if that does it.

Thanks for the help as usual guys!