kleach18

Ok,
When I got off work today my car was almost impossible to start. When it did a hudge puff of white smoke came from my new custom exhaust. About half way home the ADD COOLANT light and buzzer came on so I shut the car off and came to a stop. At that time all the antifreeze/water came pouring out of the over-fill res.
So I think that the water seals(whatever you call them) are toast. But I thought that it just leaks into the engine not push all the coolant into the over-flow tank. I searched and found the thread about a temporary fix for this. Would this work on my car?????
Please help me

kleach

kleach18

Someone please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DC350

man, i feel bad for you. I can't help much, not to much of an engine guy. But i think it sounds toast to me. Needs rebuilding. contact Kevin Landers on the forum. i really hope all works out for you

Best of luck
Evan

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

well, despite the drama of all of the antifreeze pouring out of the overflow tank, did the car ACTUALLY overheat?

it could easily be something as simple as the cooling system is not pressurizing. check or change the radiator cap.

from what you said, the only thing that worries me is the "hard to start" part of your description and white smoke ... that's definitely not good! check the exhaust for the smell of burning antifreeze, check the plugs, check the oil for traces of water/coolant (it would look like pigeon **** ) and then last, but not least ... start the car and let it run to normal temp, then carefully, BLEED the pressure of the cooling system (okay ... let me repeat ... SLOWLY AND CAREFULLY BLEED THE PRESSURE FROM THE COOLING SYSTEM) ... then open the cap and start the engine again ...

if it bubbles over violently ... then go to your room and cry and kiss your savings goodbye ...

kleach18

Nope it didn't overheat, I turned it off and coasted into a parking lot. I could smell burning antifreeze when I came to a stop. I already tried bleeding all the air out of the system and it ran for about 30 min. no problem until I started to smell antifreeze again so I pulled over and just as I did the add coolant buzzer came on again, but it still didn't overheat. Again all the antifreeze came pouring out of the overflow tank.

You think I can try the temp fix for this problem in the thread I mentioned?
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...ht=water+rings

kleach

kleach18

And I think it was only hard to start b/c there was some antifreeze in the motor.

kleach

kleach18

I looked at my car this morning and the over fill tank was empty so I put water in and drive it with no proplems home. When I get home the buzzer turns back on and I look at the overflow tank and its full of antifreeze and water. What I'm thinking (and I have no idea) is that since the O rings or water seal (whatever their called) are gone that the pressure from the engine is pushing all the antifreeze into the over fill tank. And then when I turn it off some leaks into the internals of the motor. Would this be anywhere close to what might be happening?


Somebody please help!!!!!!!!!!!
kleach

diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

how many miles do you have on the motor?

well, your thoughts are exactly how it works. as long as the water O-rings are compromised, you'll be sending combustion pressure into your cooling system. there are many ways to check this (CO in the coolant, the spark plugs, the exhaust ports, etc.) but the easiest way is just to let the car idle with the radiator cap off (after it has reached normal operating temp) if it bubbles over VIOLENTLY, then you know for sure that the water O-rings are shot!

my concern is really about how they broke. i mean, they can go with time, but i'd say 7 times out of 10, they break because of temp-related issues.