Grizzly

The story starts. I was at work (in the middle of no where) when i felt like go into town to get some food, there was no problems until half way back (Aprox 2 miles away from work) a red light came on, to be honist i was watching the road so it could have been on for a minute or so. As soon as i saw it i pulled over to find my fan belt had gone and the engine was geting very hot.

I then had to run back to work as i was very late by this stage. I spent all day thinking i'v killed my car so decided to get a new belt walk back and fit it then drive it home (thinking along the lines the damage is done the things dead) to my suprise the car started first time, i drove it back there was no water used and it ran ok.

Do you think i may have got away with it or does it go over a period of time?

rico05

Sounds you you were lucky. Get that belt on there, and watch your coolant for the next few days.

Roy James

i think you should be fine man, i have overheated a few cars several times and they were fine, i agree with Rico05 in saying just monitor things very closely for the next few days or so.

Grizzly

I realy thought if the thing got hot it was dead, It's an experiance i dont recomend.

So the things i check are the same as a Piston engine? Water levels, Bubbles in the filler,water in the oil & oil in the water etc.

Thanks.

rico05

Yep. Overheating is very bad, but it can be done w/o killin the engine. Just make sure the coolant seals are ok, (i.e. no sweet smell or white smoke in the exhaust) and check to make sure the coolant overflow bottle isn't boiling over, ana you should be fine.

Grizzly

Well fingers crossed.

Samps

RX-7s don't have fan belts. You must mean the water pump belt.

Samps

O.k. I guess the water pump belt is the fan belt too. hehehe

peejay

edit: okay nevermind

gotorx7

First sign of damage done (in my experience) is blowing lots of white smoke, and losing coolant into the combustion chambers.

Happened to me once on a first-gen, 12A.

If I pulled the bottom plug on the rear rotor and topped up the radiator, it just ran straight out the plug hole!

I drove it around for about 3 years with a radiator stop-leak in it!

Cheers,
Dave

Grizzly

Ok it seems though i have done some damage. It uses a little bit of water and the system does'nt realy presurise. Is this a sign of a blown water seal?

sublime529

Make sure you keep an eye on the radiator as well!! My car did the same thing. After a while, it started running borderline overheat. Then one day the **** hit the fan and my radiator blew completely. Talk about panic!! It was about 95 degrees outside and I am driving an 86 GXL with leather seats and the heat on full blast just so I could make the five minutes back to my house. That sucked!!!

rico05

Sounds bad. What color is the exhaust? How does the engine pull? Keep us posted, and sacrifice a virgin to the Rotary Gods.

Grizzly

The Engine is low on comp anyway so its just brought forward my plans for the rebuild.

I can tell you this when its done and back on the road it will have a Dubble Pulley,Alloy rad,new hoses,Thermostat and pump. i dont plan to have this happen again, I dont like overheating cars as its the best way to kill a rotary engine.

gotorx7

Sounds like it could e only a radiator cap (which possibly caused the over-heating in the first place)..

Go to a radiator shop and get them to pressure test it...

Cheers,
Dave

Grizzly

Man i hope so! i will check Thanks