WonkoTheSane

iTrader: (2)

Alright, Long story short, I was having a problem overheating, after replacing every part of my cooling system, I ended up tearing apart my engine. Some background of the engine: It's (afaik) the original engine, 223,5xx miles. It was rebuilt ~6,500 miles ago.. everything was within spec when I rebuilt it, I used all new hard seals and soft seals.

Good news is that my hard seals from Rotary Aviation look great. I mean, they look REALLY good, so they're apparently still happy.

1st question (easy): Is it possible to lap the irons (plates?) I noticed that there was a very small groove forming on the rotor path, it was sorta there when I rebuilt it the first time, but I think it's tad worse nwo, and I have a bit more time. what's the allowable tolerance to lap the plates, and where would I get this done? I know there's a place sorta locally that laps heads and engine blocks for boingers people..

Question 2 (medium): there's a lot more carbon on my rotors than I remember last time, does this mean i'm running pig rich (as I suspect?)? I'm sending my fuel injectors out to be cleaned by cruzinproformance. Do you think this would solve this? (see picture 1 for example).

Questioon 3 (Hard): The whole reason for this rebuild was that my car would start to overheat, pressurize the system, and dump all the coolant into the overflow.. My idea: There's a (slight) problem with one of the coolant seals, enough to allow exhaust gasses to get out of it (pressurize the system), and a SLIGHT bit of coolant in, but not enough to show up on the dipstick.. just enough to create a bit of condensation at the top of the oil fill cap... I have a picture of where I think the problem lies.. unfortunately, it's hard to zoom in on that area with my camera, so I used my magic photoshop to zoom it in.. See picture two.. Could this be root of my problem?

Thanks for looking, and offering advice/suggestions/ideas

pics:

WAYNE88N/A

223K on the housings, they're probably due for a lapping, lol...

You running OMP? Because if you're just premix, and telling us that you've got a shitload of carbon buildup, I'm going back to OMP, lol...

I can't see **** in that picture. You're going to have to pull the seals for a good cleanup anyway, so take a better look at it after that. Use a magnifier or 52mm camera lens and eyeball the grooves really good...

88IntegraLS

Which pink O rings are those? If they are the rotary aviation ones, they have been known to let go before 10k miles. I've used them a few times and after 7.5k miles on my engine, they had multiple creases along the inside edge and a few ruptured creases. My motor was not overheating but the seals looked unacceptable. They were not pinched upon assembly. All teflon encapsulated silicone O rings I've used (3 sets so far) come out looking creased along the inside edge. I would assemble ur motor with stock Mazda combustion O rings. Take out ur pink O rings and if u find creases along the inside edge and / or ruptures in the teflon, consider this one likely reason ur motor was overheating.

88IntegraLS

Another thing: I've used housings with visible stepped wear and used them in my motor that propelled my FC NA to 14.7 @96mph, the wear was plainly visible on my side housings like in ur picture but not to the point where I could catch a fingernail on it. Close, but not quite literally "stepped", just the wear lines showing all over it.

88IntegraLS

And another thing, I used premix all 7.5k miles on my rebuild using TCW3 rated stuff in 200:1 and had massive carbon build up all over my trailing faces of my rotors. Either my trailing plugs weren't firing or I need to re-evaluate using premix. I was using cheap Wal Mart super tech brand outboard oil.

ddub

Then there are the people that tear down engines using premix and see some of the cleanest, best condition (for the mileage) engines they've seen.

jacobcartmill

iTrader: (6)

wow 200:1? i run 100:1... (100:1 is one oz per gallon right?)

ddub

I run 12oz per 10-11 gallons.

WAYNE88N/A

All right, let's not get into another 10 page premix thread...

That looks more like sooty carbon than the hard crusty baked-on crap I saw on my 186K rebuild. This carbon buildup you guys are talking about-is it just a layer, or is it actual buildup (like flaky chunks)?

That's really gonna suck if premix isn't any better at keeping the internals clean- that was one of the main reasons I switched from the MOP...

Get back to us on the RA seals (if that's what you got) after a good visual inspection, too, if they're selling **** that won't last on a fairly stock engine, this forum's members are gonna go apeshit on 'em, and I'll be the lead monkey

With that said, I'm over 8K now with the RA seals and have had zero problems. Just gotta find my mini-hesitation gremlin, lol...

RXciting

maybe your foot twiches??

WonkoTheSane

iTrader: (2)

Alright, to answer all questions:

Yes, those are the RA soft seals, also. I forget the name, but I think they're Viotron? Voletron? maybe 5 seals go together and form Voltron? whatever...

No, I do not premix. . I did have a problem with the vacuum lines coming off my oil injectors, though.. that was less than 200 miles ago, would that cause buildup? I don't remember my rotors being this dirty at last teardown, and that had no vacuum leaks

The seals looked fine, other than the area I zoomed in on, (Which I will get a better picture of!) I'm going to give Tracy and Laura a call some time maybe friday, maybe early next week.. I emailed them on monday, and they said they were basically without power and can't get to the shop, as both roads in are flooded.. Take a guess which southern state they're in.. . give you a hint: Old People and Hurricanes...

Other than that, in response to 88integra's post, There was no stepping or other deformation around these seals... I dunno what's going on there?

And yes, I think i'm going to get them lapped.. there's no harm to doing this, right?

Thanks for all the help guys.

PS - Wayne - Maybe you should tear apart your engine.. . I don't know how that would help you fix the gremlin, but it's about the only thing you haven't done, right?

RotaryWeaponSE7EN

iTrader: (6)

Dont use that cheap walmart stuff. I use Mercury brand 2-cycle oil, used in there outboard motors. I've torn a couple of those apart and they come out clean. Seems like it burns cleaner, not sure why though.

DerangedHermit

It's your grounds Wayne . Get one of those kits that doubles the amount of grounds you have .

WAYNE88N/A

You bastards, lol... It's NOT the grounds, Ive checked. I'm still thinking about bonding my alt to the rear housing with a cable, though, because of all the halomar I used to keep the damn RA seals in place as I was stacking the housings (that **** was squeezing out all over the place, lol).

And- I'm not tearing the engine back down, Wonko- you just want someone to share your pain, don't you, lol...I understand

And I d-d-d-don't have a twitchy f-f-f-foot, RXciting (I've actually wondered about that, though)

Back on topic- so you're not seeing any of the damage that '88 Integra was talking about on the seals? That's a good sign

And how many guys have had problems with the Wal-mart stuff on teardowns?

WonkoTheSane

iTrader: (2)

Was I that obvious? damn.. I'll have to work on being a bit more subtle when you're around...