Overheated again, this time with thermostat im seriously beginning to hate my car
 

ok i dont know what the deal is but the car was gargling and spitting steam out of the overflow hose when i shut it off after a 30 min drive

the gauges was up to a little over a 1/4 , id say it was up 1/3 but if its not overheating then why is it doing this shit when i shut it off ?

Im beginning to worry if my coolant seals are bad, i thought i fixed this problem but i guess not i dont know what the hell is going on with it. I topped it all off , used the bleeder valve (could using this the wrong way affect anything ?) , and i also reinstalled my thermostat which is rated at 180

this car is just giving me a headache, i dont know what the problem is and it seems like what im doing isnt helping...all im doing is just overheating it again and again ... and i know this isnt good


my tach also isnt working anymore it just shuts off like after 30 secs of driving , but its not like i was beating on my car i take it to 4000 rpms thats about it granted i barely ever even floor it at all if even once during the ride

i also burnt the clutch somewhat coming to a quick stop when i grinded a gear i could smell it, stupid i know but i had to stop and downshifting was the only way to stop quickly

aside from that i dont even drive the car fast, i prolly taken it to a max of 4500 rpm i doubt i ever took it higher unless i did today when the tach wasnt working... but i am more concerned with this overheating...i just want a car to drive and reliability is a concern at this point

edit/update - the top radiator hose also seems like it lost its pressure after i shut the car off and the bottom too prolly (i could squeeze the hose together), i donno if thats fromt the coolant going into the overflow...but the overflow filled so much that the overflow was overflowing

your radiator cap simply could be faulty, have you tried changing it?

no havent tried changing it, how would i know if mine is bad and how would just something stupid like that cause such a huge problem?

If you are boiling without too much heat (not high on the gauge), then it's because you're not building pressure in the system or there's air getting in. Your cap could very well be the issue. At this point I'd just rent a pressure tester from a car store and check it out with that.

take the cap to a local auto parts store, chances are they have a tester they can test it with and you can pick up a new one while you are there if it is faulty.

could this cause my coolant seals to go bad from this happening ? or could coolant seals be at fault ?

i hope its not that but i am not sure what it could be , i am trying everything i can to get this thing to be normal but everytime i drive it seems fine...its only when i take it out for an extended period of time that it does this when i shut it off...i dont know if that helps to diagnose the problem

also this may help but i didnt think it would make a difference but maybe i thought wrong

the cap for the filler neck is messed up, the rubber diaphram that goes underneath is ripped but the rubber hasnt fallen off ( still all on there but just has a rip in it...wish i had a cam to show u), could this be the culprit or at least part of the problem ?

basically the rip is like this say this is circle is the rubber under the cap O , there is arip in it so the O is more like a C so its not all together but its still all on there just if u pull the rip thats basically what it would look like i can look at it again to be sure and give better detail

edit/update - upon taking it off the filler cap that was ripped it the ripped part just came off when i took it out so now i need to get a new one anyways

just buy a new cap, if its not the problem then you only wasted like 6$, its not expensive, and even if that doesnt fix the problem, you got a new one, then you can work it out from there.

Yes, if it was ripped that would cause your problem. It would leak air/pressure out, which would flow into your overflow, and since water boils faster when not under pressure, that causes it to boil over and into the overflow. I think you just found your own problem.

Good luck!

nothing ever leaked out and i couldnt hear pressure leaking out when i squeezed the hoses so i thought i was ok but maybe i was wrong

where could i find a higher pressure rated cap ? i heard higher pressure makes the boiling point higher up which would probably help me out alot too

ill probbably replace both caps the one on the filler neck that was ripped and the one on the radiator

i called advanced and there rad cap is rated at 13lbs of pressure

don't bother checking the cap if that gasket is ripped, just replace it and i bet your problem goes away.

stick with the 13psi pressure cap, the system was designed for that pressure so increasing the rating of the cap will only cause problems down the road.

if you want a higher pressure cap go to www.corksport.com

they sell Apex'i, R-Magic, Mazdaspeed and another high pressure cap, i believe their 15 or 16lbs.

My irrelevant opinion is as follows:
I am of the opinion that the rx7 is not just "a car to drive". My white '88 was my first car when I was 17 and I learned *VERY* quickly that it's not a car you can put to the back of your mind. The day I bought it I had to replace the slave cylinder in the clutch. Rx7's are a nice way to burn off all that extra cash lying around. ;) Basically my advice to you is that you should consider selling it and getting something less needy. My gen2 made me feel like I had a kid.

like i said, stick with the stock pressure cap...


want to prematurely blow the coolant seals? listen to the guys who say to "upgrade" your pressure cap.

i never said to upgrade, you dont read very well karack, i told him where he could get them because HE asked about it.

http://yarchive.net/car/radiator_diagnosis.html

everything you need to know to fix this is documented in that link.

for the record I have had no problems running greater than stock rated caps, but I in no way support switching to a higher pressure cap to fix your current problem.

Try replacing the current cap with an equivalent known good one, find the problem before you start upgrading things.

ive never had big problems with my FC's, i guess im lucky, and ive had like 8 of em.

Karack never named you, guilty conscience?

Speaking of people not reading very well...

he had said earlier on he didnt think it was a good idea to use a high pressure one, then he posted it again right after i told him where to get them, use some common sense.

i was trying to reiterate that upgrading the pressure cap to cure a problem is not the smartest thing to do.

i agree, but he asked, if thats what he wants to do, so be it, no one is going to convince him otherwise if he really wants a higher pressure cap.

although an article i was reading said a higher pressure cap only raises the boiling point by a mere 20 or 30 degrees

Common sense?

wtfdidusay said this before you mentioned where he could get a high pressure cap:
Which suggests, someone or something put him on the track of getting a higher pressure cap. At this point in the thread, there is nothing indicating that person is you, Agent_d. Considering it's pretty widely known that increasing the pressure increases the boiling point, I would say it's more likely he heard it somewhere else and Karack was not directing his statement towards you.

im probably just going to get a stock cap for both, but they didnt list a cap for the coolant filler neck on the waterpump, they said they have to compare it to other ones they have or something like that...i dont know how trusting i am on that 1

where would i be able to get a cap for my filler neck that is the right one ? i was hoping advanced auto or autozone would have it but i dont know about the whole compare the cap and use whatever looks good idea

You want the 13lb pressure cap on the one that has the overflow line running to it. The other, just get a standard cap that doesn't open under pressure.

ok so 13lb for my 13b , funny how they are the same thing

so ill get that 13lb pres cap for my radiator then the other one is a standard cap with no pressure rating ( basically then any cap that fits would work? )