hey Fc Kid,

yea my coolent alarm always goes off when the coolent level in the radiator goes below the norm. I went ahead and unplugged the sensor located on top of the radiator. If i don't do this the alarm will go off like maybe ten minutes after starting the car. I hope you're not having the same problem.

good luck dude

 

OK, if the coolant overflows, then you have the exact same symptoms as me. Of course the Low Coolant buzzer will go off, because the coolant is leaving the radiator and going to the overflow tank, thus creating a vacuum in the radiator....

Somehow air (or exhaust gases ) is introduced in the cooling system. That happens for any of the reasons mentioned above. This does NOT happen if you still have air in the system. If you have not bled the system properly, you will get the Low Coolant buzzer once every 2 minutes or so, whenever the air bubble reaches the coolant sensor (after it has circulated the system).

The above symptoms indicate a leak somewhere. If it is outside of the engine, then you are in luck because you can easily find it and fix it, using my method(s) above. If it is inside the engine, then tough luck You'll need to test the coolant for gases, because probably you have lost (or are about to lose) a water seal....

 

K.. .might sound like a stupid question.. but should there be liquid in my heater hose. The one right below the oil filter doesn't have liquid in it. But there is liquid on the block right in front of it... but it's not oil or gas.

Fikshun

 

Wickedkin6s44 let me be frank with you and welcome you to the BCSCA..... blown coolant seal club of america Im the president but im also a client.....3 motors 2 years all bcs'..... im sorry man i know what it feels like if your car doesnt overheat that much i would say to not overrev your car that only makes it worse i.e. the exhaust gases are being forced faster the higher your revs are....so although that is the most annoying crap in the world (buzzer) if you can ride that engine than ride it man mine only lasted a week after i blew it and that was because i put all that stop leak crap and gunked my water passages in the rotor housings....so i wouldnt suggest using that crap....once again sorry to hear- Gabe

 

Damn Rotorific,

Sorry to hear that you've been through this **** already. I guess I'll just have to check everything carefully this weekend when I actually have time and see what the hell this problem is? I'll give you guys updates on the situation later. Once again, Thanks for all the good input.

Hey Ace, how come you know so much about all of this ****? Thanks for the info.

 

First do a pressure test on the system. That will let know if you have a leak (leaking in the rotor housing or externally but you should see that) if the pressure drops and you don’t see coolant on the ground and if you see white smoke from the exhaust when starting then your motor is screwed. That's where I would start first.

 

any water in the tail pipes at all? I had the cracked water seal land problem in my S4 also. rebuild time. think of it as the chance to get the bridgeport motor you've always wanted. Sorry to hear though. I had a thumb width chunk of metal cracked off the block in mine. No temp fix could even begin to fix it. every 20 miles she'd be out of coolant. (from being pissed out, and then boiled out from lack of pressure)

Start looking for a new motor or assembling the parts.

 

Jimmy325i

There's no water at all in the tail pipes I've checked that already.

 

It SHOULD overflow in SOME situations. If not why would there be a tank for it there? BUt I have had the same thing twice, but it overflowed into the tank then overflowed out of the tank. Once it was air in the system, and once it was a blown water seal that block sealer "fixed" for 6 months

 

Pull the plugs and check for coolant smell.

 

K... I figured out why mine kept filling my overflow bottle and overheating VERY easily.

The seal on my water pump is shot. You can't see where the coolant is coming from, until you have the engine torn apart.

At least it wasn't a water seal. Woohoo! This will also give me a chance to change all my belts, hoses, etc under there while I'm fixing that seal.

Fikshun

 

Mine had coolant in the exhaust untill the first treatment with the block seal. (BTW K&W block seal is the same **** as Gunk block seal only 3 times more expensive. go with the Gunk brand) After that attempt at getting a season out of my toasted motor, it didn't leak out the exhaust any more but still had the blowby from the compression and power stroke side of the motor.

I was curious because that is the likely result of overheating the motor. It was shot when I got mine so I had no idea of the history. I know I got her a little warm a couple times trying to diagnose it.

Chemical strip headgasket tester is the cheapest way to tell if there's combustion gasses in the coolant. I can see the potential for some fuel in the oil, but there's NO reason for exhaust in the coolant.

Best of luck to ya. I enjoyed porting my motor when I finally cracked her open.

 

Any last thoughts on this engine for me...if all of this don't work?

Will take a look at it on Thursday when I'm off from work...

 

yeah my coolant alarm is always bothering me, but sometimes it gives me a little break.... last 4 times i drove the car it hasn't gone off... but i think i will eventually be rebuilding soon.... the chance to port the engine is very enticing, i want more power

 

yea but do u have the money and time to do it? Here in mobile, al there is not a place that I can do this work on my engine. I wish I knew what I was doin u know what i mean? haha maybe u can help? or we can do it together haha

 

I'm kinda clueless on what's goin on now with my engine/radiator now? Today I took the car apart basically and worked on it.

Installing a new thermostat, spark plugs, fuel filter, spark plug wires, flushed out the radiator fluid, and still the coolent light comes on.

Strange thing that i've notice is? You know how I've mention in the above thread that the coolent would be flushed into the external reservior? Well, I've notice that it only occurs when I leave the car running while its parked??? A/C on or off :-\ But when I drive the car for like 10-30 mile/minutes or longer the coolent light does come on and off but when I check the external tank the coolent level looks normal. I even marked the spot where it was. :-\ the add coolent light still comes on and off then also...hmm...I'm kinda stuck on this one.

Anyone knows or have and thoughts on this? PM me or email me at: wickedkin6s44@netzero.net

wickedkin6s44

 

Its not such a mystery as you would think. The cooling system is a pretty basic one, and it has some simple rules. The mechanism is also very simple, so you can diagnose whats going on pretty easily. I have said it before, but I'll say it again:

1) If the coolant light goes on and off, then two things could be happening: either there is air in the system (so, as the air bubbles circulate, they "pass" at the spot where the sensor is, and this triggers it), or the sensor is malfuctioning. Fill up the radiator using the proper technique (top it off, then start engine with rad cap off, and fill it up completely, go for a drive, repeat at least one more time). If the quantity of the coolant stays the same, and you dont overflow, its almost certainly an air bubble or a malfuctioning sensor.

2) If you are overflowing all the time, then this means that air is produced inside the cooling system. This "air" could be just air (i.e leak in the cooling system, like a torn hose, cracked thermostat housing, bad seal), or it could be exhaust gases, which is almost always a water seal, but sometimes its even worse (corroded housing). This is also easy to diagnose, provided you can test the coolant for exhaust gas. You can perform the simple test of leaving the rad cap off and checking the coolant for bubbles after the thermostat opens, and see what you get.

Any other symptoms are also easily diagnosed.