I have a slight problem. My car is overheating like crazy and leaking coolant. What could this be caused by? My guess would be rebuild and new apex seals, but 'm hoping i am wrong. anyone have this problem? if so, what did you do, beacuse if i have to rebuild the motor, i might as well look for a turbo motor and do a swap, even though im poor.

 

well where is it leaking from? It may be just something as simple as a new water pump.

 

Wow, Wow Wow, Settle down, Try a new radiator cap...I opened mine today to add fluid and there was NO SPRING??!! So I had to get a new one because my over flow was vomitting all over Checker's Parking Lot.....

=)

 

The apex seals and side seals help form compression, they don't have anything to do with the coolant. Its ok to replace them during a rebuild, but unless they are broken or damaged, causing low compression, there isn't a need to tear down and rebuild the engine. Over heating is usually caused by a faulty thermostat, waterpump, or clogged radiator. If you still have the stock fan, check to see if it is spinning when your engine gets up to normal temp. When the temp gets to the normal range, look in the overflow bottle and see if it is bubbling. If it is, then the water seals in the block are allowing compression from the rotor to get into the coolant system. This will require a rebuild due to the faulty water seal, not apex seal. It is not unheard of to put stop leak in the coolant to plug up the leaky water seal, but this is considered a temp fix. Good luck.

 

Squeeze the upper radiator hose. If it's blown up like a balloon that's a sign of a blown coolant seal. So is lots of white smoke out of the exhaust on startup.

 

hhhmm....ordered a new water pump, just to know, could anyone break down how to change a coolant seal? I know it would be a beast to explain, but hey it would help, even if it is a summary

 

Buddy, before you go crying about a blown coolant seal, you better start with the typical diagnostics, which is pretty much the same as checking a piston engine. Nothing really rotary specific. Download the FSM from here. It could be something as simple as a $20 thermostat, the clutch on your fan, etc. Also, Aaron Cake has a pretty good cooling system diagnostic procedure on his website. Just search for any of his posts and look at his signature.

 

yes, i know that it could be a thermostat, so when i said i ordered a water pump, i also meant thermostat and radiator cap...but since they were mentioned earlier, i thought it would be given

 

I told you what to do yesterday when we talked. Did you change the thermostat yet? Turn on your AOL so we can talk about this. You should have ordered the thermostat before you ordered a water pump.

 

yeah I should have mentioned a thermostat, I usually replace that one without thinking about it.

But a new water pump never hurt anyone, and if you still have the origional one, its bound to have problems sooner or later. Now you know it wont be causing problems for many years to come.

 

There is a method to trouble shooting though. Why not just order a whole new engine?[