sunburn

87 NA 65,000 on the clock, bone stock.
I overheated a few months back when the Alt belt broke and the other belt jumped... ever since I'm putting coolant in frequently, at first I thought this was simply air in the system -now I'm starting to thing the seals are history, mind you I have not driven it much since said overheat, still has good power -but drinking coolant... I get the coolant buzzer when cold then it turns off when warmed up, I let it cool a bit and add fluid. I have gone through this cycle about 3 times and any air should be out by now..

This sucks.

I plan on swapping the engine anyway.

sunburn

I'm new to rotaries can anyone confirm?

beefhole

iTrader: (29)

Yes, the seals are shot. You are burning coolant. The exhaust will smell sweet. You would need a rebuild, but you're swapping... so you can sell for parts.

solareon

iTrader: (1)

do you have smoke out your exhaust continuously?

do you have known good caps on your radiator and filler neck?

if you fill the overflow to the very top and start with the caps on do you get bubbles in the overflow?

if you have a leaky cap it will push coolant out while you are running and you won't be able to find it.

sunburn

no

Just bought the car in July -but they seem to be fine. Stock ones on there -I'll have to check them out.

not that I noticed -but I'll try this.

hrrrmm... I'll have to investigate. Thanks for your help.

sunburn

what does this indicate? blown seals I'm guessing.

solareon

iTrader: (1)

if you get bubbles in the coolant overflow then there are combustion gasses getting into the coolant stream.

a good test for the caps is to get the car up to temperature and then try and squeeze the radiator hose. if the caps are bad the hose will be soft and easy to squeeze. if they are good then the hose will be tight and hard to squeeze.

sunburn

thanks... I'm going to go fire it up in a bit after I'm done with some things around the house.

IanS

iTrader: (4)

If you do find that your coolant seals are messed up, check out this thread:

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-archive-71/engine-coolant-seal-repair-maybe-750774/

sunburn

AWESOME!

Thanks!

sunburn

Well just went out and checked for bubbles... none.

Very little smoke from the exhaust only when cold then goes away.

took it for a ride so it could heat up, got back popped the hood and sure enough...
I squeeze the upper radiator hose and steam comes out the top cap... going to have to go to AZ tomorrow and get new caps and go from there.

Thanks for your help guys!

jake1191

iTrader: (1)

if you buy 2 pressure caps then cut the spring on the upper one(makes it basically a flat cap.) if you cant get a flat cap from mazdatrix or else you could(most likely) run into more cooling issues like many others including me put 2 pressure caps on. I blew the accelerated warmup hose and ended up pulling the UIM

sunburn

pretty certain I can get the proper caps at the locally, thanks.

jake1191

iTrader: (1)

i thought i could find the correct ones too but i was quickly proved wrong. mazdatrix has them tho