Long story -
Car got low on coolant, so I added a bit of water to the overflow resovoir only...temps dropped below freezing overnight, and i didn't think about the fact that the water would freeze...will it did, and the added pressure from the coolant not being able to flow there (plugged with ice!) burst my upper radiator hose...engine was so hot i heard the oil boiling.

Replaced hose, refilled coolant....temps spiked...at this point i was thinking there must be frozen **** somewhere in the lines because of the fact the coolant had now been exposed to open air for quite some time. towed car home, put a space heater on engine bay for a few hours, came back out and added a bit more coolant. car started and ran fine for 15 mins, no more spiking temps. came home, decided i'd let it cool overnight and top off coolant in the morning.

Woke up, put in coolant, started car and it ran fine....turned it back off, got ready for work. go to start car again, won't start....if i floor the gas and crank it for 5-6 secs it will start and run, but dies at idle. basically can't take my foot off the gas. smoke EVERYWHERE (white).

If i OVER-filled the coolant, would it be leaking somewhere that causes the car to not run right? or did i break something else? woud letting some coolant out correct this? I thought maybe the mass air got dirty from all my smoke, so i cleaned it with carb cleaner but the car still doesn't like me.

Any ideas are good.

 

You overheated it and blew the coolant seals... What it sounds like to me...

 

yupers he's right

 

You overheated it and fried the motor, time to rebuild.

 

Thanks. Alright, so where are they on the motor, and how easy to replace? I'd assume intake manifold? Also, where can I buy 'em?

 

If the motor was trashed, in my head it shouldn't have run like normal for the 15 mins the night before it stopped starting...no?

 

take our bottom spark plugs, any liquids? white smoke = coolant seals popped.

unlike our piston counter parts, the water seal or similar to a head gasket. its not anywhere on the outside of our motor, but inside. You'll have to do a full tear down to change it.

 

no coolant seal "in" the motor... the only way to replace them is to rebuild the motor. colant flows 360 degrees around the block. like a sandwitch. a coolant sandwitch and the walls of the engine are the bread like this... l0l... let "l" be outer engine wall, "0" be colant, and the other "l" to be the inner wall... 360 degrees... i dunno hard to explain, but you have to rebuild if thats the case. does your exhuast smoke and smell sweet?

 

Man... Thats a HARD lesson to learn dude.....

I actually feel bad for ya! (your new here, so, you don't know that I'm a crotchety old fart yet, and, normally, feel bad for no-one!!!!)

But... those symptoms are common for blown coolant seals.. it starts up and runs, but when you shut 'er off and let 'er sit 15 minutes, it chokes. Why?? a cold engine has no pressure in the water system. When you start it up, you add heat to the water, heat adds pressure, when you shut it off, the collan HAS to go somewhere, sadly, thats usually INTO the rotor housings.

Depending on the location of the break in the coolant seal, you may only get a slight "Smell" of coolant when the motor is running, OR, you could get a HUGE cloud of white smoke.....

Its time for a re-build or a motor swap.

 

Read above.... you would THINK that, but thats not the way it usaully plays out.

 

these are plate housings (we usually call them "Irons" Cause they are made of cast iron) I'm just using this pic for reference

the one on the left is the mid-plate that sits between the two rotor housings and the on on the right is the rear plate (you can tell because of the oil filter pedestal on it.

See the two grooves that run around the edges of the housings with holes in between....

the holes are the coolant passages, the grooves are where the seals sit. The engine is put together by the front plate, the front rotor housing, the mid palt, the rear rotor housing and the rear plate. there are two seals between each mating surface.. Its kinda like a Big Mac with the bread being the plates and the beef? patties being the rotors and rotor housings. Once you get everthying together, you "Clench" it together with tension bolts that run from the back of the engine and screw into tapped holes in the front iron... (the bolt holes are the perfectly round holes you see inside the water jacket (space between the o-ring grooves)

I hope this clears up why people are saying that you need to tear the whole motor apart!!

Sit down and search for a few hours... I think there is a LOT of info about rotary engines that you need to absorb before you make a decision about what you are going to do with your car.

 

lol how long will the motor last if i just stand on the gas? might as well , eh?

 

No, because you run the risk of damaging things that you will otherwise be able to re-use.. Irons, housings, etc..

 

But those are aluminum haha just giving you a hard time

 

Alright now that we've got the problem squared away, working on a solution - Anyone have a S4 N/A layin around?