alright, so cars not overheating or anything but im' getting clouds of smoke at start up, after talking to mazda trix they sugest i hand turn the motor to see if coolant comes out of plugs. question is how do i do this(hand turning the motor)?! with all the belts still on? can i just crank with the open holes and pull the fuses?

 

with most cars you put a socket on the main crank pulley bolt and spin it with a big ratchet or breaker bar

tranny in neutral of course

 

most cars? safe on mine?

 

i cant imagine why it wouldnt be safe

the problem with a 7 is that big *** fan and fan shroud in the way
you'd have to go from under and yank off the undertray i imagine

there are easier ways to check for a blown coolant seal
pull the egi fuse
then crank the motor with the rad cap off and look for bubbles
bubbles are bad

 

Just FYI, you can do the same ^ with the engine on (cold, cap off, running). There's a youtube video with an FD I think with blown water seal(s).

You can also usually turn the engine with a socket and ratchet on the alternator or one of the idler pulley nuts . Spin clockwise (standing in front of the car looking at the engine), and slow down as the engine builds compression. Make sure you're in neutral, and ignition is off.

 

Since you have the sparkplugs out, use the large nut on the alternator to turn the engine, slowly.

You ought to fill the radiator the night before, then warm the engine up fully. Turn it off and let it sit overnight.

Then, in the morning remove the bottom plugs and rotate the engine using the alternators large nut while watching the sparkplug holes.

 

front pulley is 19mm bolt u can turn it by that

 

they sugest that i turn it backwards, the reason why i dont do the bubble test is because i already did it and its not very accurate. i also did a pressure test, with the engine cold with no pressure and see how long it takes to build pressure, and i also pump the system and see if it was leaking and there was no pressure drop... the only thing that concerns me is that during cold start it would smoke like crazy, with lumpy idle for like 1 min... so to turn my motor backwards do i simply spin the pully counter clockwise? and i'm i going to loosen anything by doing so?

 

yes

 

i would think this would only work if the waterseal was VERY bad. i would just pressure test the cooling system with a pressure tester. u can rent them at autozone and you get ur money back when you return it. that way u can see if it loses pressure and if you dont see leaks then you know its leaking inside.

actually after this you should have plenty of coolant in the engine to DEFINITELY see if coolant comes out (turning the motor now). i know thats why you guys say warm up the car to pressurize the system, but it takes alittle longer. dunno, i figure its better to simulate the pressure when cold that way the seals are not swolen, u can relieve the pressure without waiting hours to cool & you get quicker results. either way works i guess.

 

i did pressure the system and didn't lose any pressure well a slow 1/2lbs after like 2 hrs but i'm not if thats just my tester or if its because of a very small lower radiator hose leakage...(i need to tighten the screw a little) . i think i'm going to up the pressure to about 17lbs i been keeping at 13 lbs, and the thing is it doesn't show lost of pressure... but smokes when cold start.... so i think i'm just pull the plugs and see if anything is wet. if i just pull the two fuses ... the egi and the one next to it i shouldn't be getting any sparks or gas right?

 

my civic and my truck smoke on a cold start. southern california has been having cold cold mornings, are you sure its just not condesation/steam?

unless...ive blown my water seals on my boingers too

 

yeah pretty sure when i get on the accel it smokes, for like 30 sec til it warms up a little drives perfect.. (except need new brakes right now =/)

 

Your coolent seals are prolly on their way but not bad enough to need a rebuild, when I start it and its really cold (or sometimes really random) right exhaust pipe will have pure white smoke coming out after a few revs it'll go away and wont return.