Hello everyone,

Last November, I bought a ‘90 RX-7 Convertible. I had no intentions of working on it myself. I am getting older and just wanted to own the car I could not afford before. I bought a nice low mileage example, 68,000 miles! She ran great for a while. Then the problems started. First my idle became rough. It would be very smooth and then suddenly bounce between 0-1000 rpms. I took it to a rotary mechanic and was charged 700 dollars for the issue to not be fixed and told I had a compression issue. So I kept driving it. A few weeks ago my coolant buzzer started coming on. I took it back to him and he told me he thinks the sensor is bad, because he flushed my coolant and it looks fine. So believe it or not, I drove the damn thing with the sensor buzzing at me. Then, a couple nights ago, she overheated on me. I don’t involve myself much in cars but I do know you should never overheat a rotary engine. So I pulled over and had her towed back to the mechanic. He says he’s starting the car up and there’s pressure in the cooling system immediately upon starting it, and my seals are bad and the car has essentially become a paperweight. Is there seriously nothing I can do besides rebuild the engine? My car only has 70,000 miles on it. I can’t imagine why the engine already has to be rebuilt. I did some research and found that bad coolant seals cause smoke on startup which I never get. Anyways, this is my last ditch effort to salvage my car. Is there anything else I can do?

 

Where are you located in Florida? Any option to take it to another mechanic for a 2nd opinion? Bad coolant seals may not always mean smoke, but yes that is typically a sign. There are further tests that can be done, such as testing the cooling system for exhaust gases, pressurizing to check for leaks, etc.

If the coolant system is really pressurizing due to the coolant seals, and the rest of the internal parts are fine, you could pull it and rebuild it fairly inexpensive compared to all new parts or whatever. With 70,000 miles on the chassis, it sounds like it would be worth saving.

 

Thanks for your comment. I forgot to mention in my original post that I also had an issue with coolant coming out of the overflow tank. Mechanic bled the system a couple of times and I no longer have that problem. Could it possibly be related? I am located in southwest florida just south of St. Petersburg

 

Coolant out of the overflow can be hand in hand with the system over pressurizing due to bad seals. Eventually its gonna fill up and find a way out. Its strange that you say it went away. If you have the car in your possession, a simple test can be done if you search for the champagne test, which is starting the car with the coolant system topped off and watch for bubbles. I would be glad to help but unfortunately im up near Jacksonville. Its hard to tell you what you should do without knowing for sure its been properly troubleshot.

 

I have done the champagne test before. There are definitely bubbles in the overflow as soon as the car is started.

 

Unless your rad cap is leaking, coolant coming out of the overflow is a definite sign that the internal coolant seals are bad. My coolant seals blew this summer, but I never had white smoke coming out. Just the overflow filling up and bubbles during a champagne test. Even if I bled the system and emptied the overflow bottle, the coolant buzzer would come on after about 20 mins of driving.

Your car is not a paperweight but the engine will need to be rebuilt. Coolant seal failures usually aren't catastrophic, so it will most likely need a "refresh" rebuild. Just have your mechanic pull the motor out and send it to a qualified rebuilder. A basic rebuild itself will cost about $2000.

 

Do not let the car sit with a coolant leak. since this can get into the rotor housing causing rust and a much more expensive rebuild.

 

i am afraid that is the case already. Coolant keeps coming back brown even after multiple complete flushes.

 

I doubt that the brown coolant is caused by your blown coolant seal. Coolant has anti-corrosion additives in it so it wouldn't rust the housings/irons that quickly. My guess is that the coolant wasn't changed frequently enough and/or pure water was used in the past. Tearing it down is the only way to know.