Hi everyone, i have a 5-speed 91 non-turbo that has a blown coolant seal. The car itself is in awesome condition with next to no rust. I want to try and do a temporary fix by using the block weld, since it is cheap and i only need it to work for a few weeks. After that I would like to rebuild with a good friend of mine, whose dad is a GM Mechanic and has a very nice shop. I would really just like to get the car running well without messing with it too much. Ive read other coolant seal posts and most people just say to rebuild the entire thing, but whats the difference between rebuilding it, and just fixing the seal? Also, if anyone could suggest where to buy rebuild kits/videos that would be great. Any other suggestions would be appriciated.

- Nick

 

http://www.rotaryaviation.com/engine_products.htm

http://www.atkinsrotary.com/store/cu...me.php?cat=437

They both have rebuild videos also

http://www.rotaryaviation.com/Books_videos.htm

http://www.atkinsrotary.com/store/cu...me.php?cat=567

 

I have the same problem...and I don't have the money to buy a full rebuild kit. I was just gonna try and change the coolant seals also. I don't see why it would be a waste if the rest of the engine is fine. and if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

thats what i was thinking and i dont wanna mess up anything that isnt broke, thanks for the links

 

Because the rest of the engine isn't fine and you'll end up opening it again in under 20k miles instead of 100k miles.

 

I had a coolant seal go bad and i opened up the motor just to replace the seals and about 6 months later i had to re open due to a bad apex seal. If your going to open the motor just replace it all. Less hassles in the long run.

 

My coolant seal is bad too, but a thing of stop leak and driving easy on it is keeping me from burning coolant at startup or it pushing coolant to the overflow as it heats up.

My only problem with replacing everything when i do pull the motor is that i have only 58k miles on it, and the only reason i can see going with the full rebuild is if the previous owner had overheated it quite a bit. I'm going to do a compression test and see how it is, though.

 

So if im going to pull the engine i might as well replace all of the gaskets and seals?

 

yes, and expect to have to replace an iron as well.


misconecption is the term "coolant seal"... common failure is a cracked iron not a simple coolant seal.

 

Alright, thanks for the advice. I think im going to first try the temporary fix because the problem doesnt seem to be that severe at this point, but it is putting exaust into the cooling system and im pretty sure that is a tell-tale sign. One thing i was wondering still was which "overhaul package" i would get to rebuild it, or is it dependent on when i take it apart? Since there is a 400 some difference between the master and basic.

 

depends how things look after inspection. Some stuff can be reused