Hey guys. My dad's a mechanic, i guess i could just ask him instead of wasting your time, but that involves getting my *** up. So **** that.
Anyways... I would like to flush my rad... i believe the coolant in there is not 50/50 mix. But i don't know how to check for sure, so can't i just flush it and fill it up with 50/50? Where is the drain plug?
Thanks
-Ross

 

If you want to do it properly (and you should), there's a bit more to it. Here's what you do:
Buy a can of radiator flush. Follow the instructions, but with most you dump the stuff into the radiator and idle the engine for about 10-15min after the engine reaches operating temp. Don't forget to have the heater set to hot the whole time. Once the engine's cool enough, remove both the radiator cap and the cap on the thermostat housing, drain the radiator using the tap at the bottom, then remove the engine drain at the bottom of the centre plate on the LHS to drain the block. Now stick a hose into the radiator neck and turn it on. You might want to stuff rags around it so it runs through instead of just overflowing. Do this until it runs nice and clear, then repeat this using the filler on the thermostat housing (to flush the engine). Now reinstall the engine drain and close the radiator tap. Open the breather vent on the radiator neck (if you have one) and refill the engine with a 50/50 mix of quality coolant and water. Reinstall the breather and cap on the engine and start the engine. As the engine heats up keep topping up the radiator as required. When it full and no bubbles are appearing, put the radiator cap on and you're done!

 

This is a procedure mentioned both in the manual and in various sites all around....I'll just let you in on the modified version suggested by Mazdatrix:
1) Let car cool down completely
2) Remove cap and breather
3) Remove drain plug (bottom right of the radiator), move the heat control all the way to "Hot", and drain coolant
4) Run some hose water through to clean as much as possible
5) Replace drain plug, drop in a bottle of a good radiator cleaner (EFC, RedX etc), and fill with distilled water
6) Replace cap and breather and start car
7) Let it run for 10-20 minutes, and then drive around a bit. The car WILL start getting hotter, so stay close to your house/garage
8) Return to start point and let car cool down
9) Carefully remove cap, breather and drain plug. The liquid should come out white
10) Again thoroughly wash away everything with hose water
11) Replace drain plug, fill with 30/70 (or 40/60), then replace cap and breather, and you are set

EDIT: Sorry, my bad This is mentioned in FC3Sorg and not in Mazdatrix....

 

Hey Fingers, do you plan to use the green stuff or the orange stuff?

 

i've read the orange stuff is bad for rotaries...stick to the green stuff.

john

 

Ted mentioned that it was actually better (I think?)

Please post the information that say's it's bad for a rotary engine.

 

hey guys. i checked my antifreeze with a testing device. the needle went up as high as it can go. Past the scale. Meaning the boiling point was above 294 degrees celcius. This is bad, right? I diluted it a bit with about half a liter of water. I'll check it again once the car cools down. But i just wanted people's opinion on whether or not a very very high boiling point is good/bad for thermal properties of the antifreeze?? Could it contribute to overheating?

 

A very high boiling point means that the liquid does not absorb heat as fast as it should. Filling your radiator with only coolant is ONLY for VERY low temperature countries (like the Pole ). For normal temperatures, a 50/50 mix is normal, but for better cooling you will need to go towards 70/30 (water/coolant)

 

don't see y the orange **** would be bad i been putting it my rad since i got the car and never had a problem

 

Supposedly the orange stuff eats water seals. I lost 3 engines to bad water seals a few years ago (2 2nd gens and a 1st gen) shortly after I put in the orange long life stuff in all 3.

Just to be safe, I stopped using the orange stuff, but changed nothing else about how I cared for the cars..

About 6 months ago, I read that the orange stuff may eat water seals on Pineapple racing's web site.

I still have 3 rx-7s, (though they are different cars than the ones before) and I haven't had a water seal problem since.

I know this doesn't prove anything, but I still would not use the orange stuff.

I think ted was refering to low phospate coolant, and not the orange stuff in his post, but you'd have to check with him.

If you are looking for a long-life coolant, I would definitly check out Evans coolant. They sell it at Pinapple racing. There's been a ton of stuff written about it in the past. I use it, and have had nothing but good results.

 

Hey guys. So i was too lazy to flush the system. I'll do that sometime this summer, but what i did find was that my antifreeze was 100% pure. No water.
So i diluted about 10%(all i could reach) of it with water. My temperature gauge no longer goes past halfway, so that's a nice improvement. So this summer i'll do a complete flush, put in redline water wetter, and throw in a 10/90 mix of antifreeze/water. What do you guys think?

 

dont use water wetter . your temp will go up

 

since when?

I use water wetter in all my cars, including the race car, and see nothing like temps going UP.

PaulC