So I recently had my engine rebuilt by Garage Life in El Monte about 6-7 months ago. 1991 rx7 N/a. They did a port and used FD housings. During the first 500miles I never pushed it beyond 3k RPM. After the first 500 miles I raised it to 4k. Now the highest I have taken it is 6k RPM. Flash forward to now, Tried to start the car and nothing. I smelled gas and I knew it was flooded. I had it towed to my regualr repair shop in west la. They pulled the plugs and found coolant on them. They unflooded it and the car still took a while to start but when it did, lost of white smoke. once the car was warmed up, No more smoke.

So my question is, are the coolant seals blown and is that why the car is flooding and for coolant being on the plugs? And has anyone had this problem with engines from Garage life?

 

Compression check it, and /or use the jegs coolant fill funnel and see if carbon flows in your coolant. Fresh build may or may not have blown, however, they may have had an accident or messed something up for the build.

 

call them about warranty repairs.

coolant doesn't magically appear inside the engine then go away just as suddenly. an iron may have cracked or a coolant seal was pinched, either can happen even by a competent shop and the prior is simply a design flaw in the engine. a highly experienced rotary builder can spot weak iron walls, but i wouldn't say every shop will find them(i had one break once within a year of building an engine so you can never find all the weak spots).

 

@RotaryEvolution: I called them and they stated that they do NOT offer warranties on rebuilds that they do. Once it drives off the lot it is no longer their problem. After more back and forth talking with the owner he said that he will do the labor on the rebuild for free and that I only need to pay for parts. But for me, as I started working at a shop myself not too long ago, I can easily do that here at the shop. And he wants me to take out the motor myself, take it to him, and drop it back in. I haven't pulled the plugs today to check what is going on but I will later on tonight.

I am also going to do a compression test hopefully tonight.

But I did start the car today around 12pm and it fired up after a few cranks, Little bit of smoke but still noticeable. And yes, it does smell sweet.

 

I wouldn't go back. A shop that doesn't warranty their workmanship is a waste of time and money.

 

in this case it very well could be a faulty iron, it happens and i can't blame any shop for not wanting to warranty that particular failure. but offering no warranty at all is no good, since it is possible it could be a pinched seal and could very well be their fault.

if you have the tools and the ability it might just be best to try and dig into it yourself, since everything should be relatively clean it shouldn't be too bad.

 

@RotaryeVOLUTION: I have all the tools in the world here at the shop. And I left pressure on the radiator at 110PSI. I came back later and it dropped to 90psi. I did leave the spark plugs out to see if coolant was going to come out. And there it was....coming out. So what I am going to do is rip that motor out, swap my black vert motor (that one is actually good) and rebuild the blown one. But I am not taking it back to them.

 

i think your cooling system pressure readings are a little off..

 

@ROTARYEVOLUTION: Lol. Maybe But just seeing the coolant coming out of the spark plug holes just made me sad.

 

 

i wasn't questioning the coolant in the engine, just the pressure figures in the cooling system. 20psi is usually enough to blow up a radiator.

 

Lol i was reading it wrong. I was reading the other numbers on the gauge now i feel dumb.