Ok, i've been having lots of smaller problems out of my 87 n/a for a couple months .... but today i realized that i have a bad coolant seal... so, i dont have the money for anything really .. but i need to start saving for something, im looking for some opinions on if i should 1) use this as an excuse to get my engine rebuilt and ported? or 2) swap a jspec?

i cant tear the engine apart myself, where i live i have no place to do that, i can work on the car all i want, but intricate things like engine rebuilds i wouldnt risk by doing it outside.. so i'd have to take it somewhere, and after asking a few people found it out would cost about the same, or a little more to get my engine rebuilt and ported vs TII jspec swap.. but then i think to myself the jspec is a junkyard engine .. how would i know that it's not going to have the same problem... my other option i guess i could just buy another 13b n/a from someone and put it in..

what do you guys think of these options?

 

cheapest method would be to get a used engine off a reputable forum member, it would at least get you some time to save for an upgrade or a full rebuild.



go find a tree and buy a come along, get a case of beer and invite your friends and make a day of it!

 

dude, your engine isnt very heavy. just take that bitch in the house and rebuild it in your living room

 

heh, i've tried that, dad almost shot me ^

 

the weird thing is, my engine was rebuilt 45k miles ago, hasnt had a problem till 2 months ago, now seems like everything is going wrong.. i would prefer to just keep my n/a i like the reliabilty, well i DID like the reliabilty, but i really dont have the money to send it to rotary ressurection at this point... anyone know the cost of just getting coolant seals replaced? or you think i should go ahead with another rebuild, im going to port it when it's out of the car, i'll probably be doing the porting myself, just worried about the reprocutions of the port job on an aparently weak rebuild

 

if it only lasted 45k miles then i would be willing to bet you that an iron seal wall failed, sorry for your luck...

 

im not sure what exactly failed.... i was working on the car after i went for a drive, i had a new oil fill cap laying around i got off a parts car, so i took the old one off, and there was some chocolate milk foam all over it... :/ so then i took the coolant cap off, started the car, it seemed fine, reved it a bit, and coolant started shooting out. :/

i dunno what to do at this point, jspec, rebuld, or used engine

 

i wouldn't say that means the engine is toast, the thermostat could have opened up and sprayed the built up pressure out of the cap. is it using coolant? milky residue on the cap is actually a fairly normal characteristic of our engines.


i think you misinterpreted some other posts on the forum, bad coolant seal tests need to be performed on a cold engine, not a warmed one or during warm up.

 

oh i dont think the engine is toast either, i just think that if i was going to port it i should go ahead and rebuild it again, lol... i always worry about things with my baby.. so you think that it might not even be a bad coolant seal? what can i do to check!?? you're getting me all excited karack

 

it was just the oil cap had so much foam on it, and it had a smell to it, smelled more like gas than coolant, but it had that milky look that coolant usually has.....

could you tell me the proper way to check for a bad coolant seal?

 

if you aren't losing coolant and the car runs fine i wouldn't even worry about it. telltale sign is a loud buzzer going off in your ear(add coolant light) and warmer than normal engine temps.


if you insist on doing a test, remove all your accessory belts, let the engine cool down completely and remove the top filler cap on the thermostat housing and start the engine, inspect for any bubbles floating to the top or large fluctuations in water level, if any then the coolant seals likely have a problem. do not run the engine for more than a few minutes with the drive belts off.

 

how much of a fluctuation will there be with good seals, when i rev mine just a little the collant will rise maybe a 1/2". but this is with the water pump turning

 

so is that the only way to tell if you have bad coolant seals? what would the oil on the dipstick look like? or should i just go ahead and drain it and find out? or would that even tell me anything?

 

well....kevin lives right by u......do a check first to make sure it really is the coolant seals....pulled the egi and fill up the cooling system...leave the cap off and have a friend crank it....if u see bubbles then call kevin....then make another call to ask whos hiring