Hey guys, i'm a noob to rotaries, i just got an '87 GXL and need some advice. The car doesn't run too great, and overheats ALOT, the upper radiator hose seems to have way too much pressure to me, and every time i drive the car, coolant boils over into the overflow jug, and i can hear coolant boiling in the top of the engine somewhere (Not only the T-stat housing, but elsewhere).

I took a whiff of the coolant that was overflowing into the jug, and it smelled like exhaust. Welp, i'm mainly a Z Car guy, and to me that's the sign of a bad Head Gasket, but with a rotary I have no idea what to think. This usually means an engine rebuild on an internal combustion, but i'm not sure where to even start looking on this 13B.

If it makes a difference, I have a Haynes, and am studying that intensely.

Thanks for ANY help you guys could give me.

 

Let me clarify something when I said overheats ALOT, the temp gauge NEVER reads past half way. But it just seems like it is overheating because coolant is boiling over..

 

it's the coolant seals inside the engine. only way to fix is with a rebuild. if it's been overheated good. alot of the parts will not be reusable...

 

Sorry to tell you this but your engine needs a rebuild. Instead of a bad head gasket its bad coolant seals. This means you need a rebuild. The seals are in between the rotor housings so the engine must be taken apart to inspect or replace them.

Do a search for:
- COOLANT SEALS
- WATER SEALS
- WATER JACKET

and you will get lots of info on them.

Also you can search for PAUL YAW. This should give you a page with a temporary Coolant seal fix.

Welcome to the forum and I hope you enjoy your RX-7!

 

If it smells like exhaust gases, then the engine is pushing exhaust gases into the coolant passages due to water seals -or -worse- due to housing deterioration. If the problem is minor (i.e you can drive for more than a day or two before this problem appears), then maybe you can get away with using a sealant. Otherwise its a full rebuilt (probably need new housings too )

The car does not overheat because you dont let it too. If you keep driving the car for a while after it starts boiling its coolant and sending it over to the overflow tank, then the cooling system will gradually lose its cooling ability, and the car WILL overheat. Its just a matter of time....

 

Or you could have a tiny leak somewhere which is letting air in, which is causing it to boil at a lower temp (i suffered from this) But this isn't going to be the cause of your exhaust smell, let the car idle and pop the overflow cap off and look inside, see bubbles?

 

DAMN. Good responses, and quick too! I love this forum.

Well I have two things to say about a rebuild.

Hell yeah!

and

Damn, that sucks.


I got this car in a good deal, and have wanted to dig deep into it as i am very interested in the Rotary engine, and its outstanding reputation.. I'm quite inclined, mechanically, I've rebuild my fair share of engines (Nissan L6 mainly, also some old school Mopar and one Honda). Can anyone direct me to some books on rebuilding Rotaries, or some good information?

Also, I don't want to start a new thread, i'll search the archives after i'm finished posting this, but where is a good place to get information on Supercharging the 13B? I've heard it's a whole different beast than Turbocharging (Done lots of that on Nissans) and I wanted to maybe give it a whirl.

Thanks guys, you're all awesome. I'm definitely staying here.

 

I had the same problem with coolant boiling in my RX because the system needed to be bled...however the exhaust smell worries me, try topping the coolant off and see what happens. Does the car blow smoke at all?

 

Well I thought racing beat sold a rebuild tape but I couldn't find it on their site. Well for supercharging, check out atkinsrotary.com.