Rebuilt question, coolant in air filter, searched
 

Hi Guys,
I got my last RX-7, a 1989 vert as a project and when I got it I was told that the engine needed to be rebuilt due to in the coolant seals. I ordered all the necesary parts to rebuild the engine and today I was startig to take the engine apart and I found coolant in the intake including the air filter that was wet. The car runs great and has lots of power but the buzer comes on all the time and the radiator needs to be replace (got the replacement one already) but what really got me curious is the fact that the car doesn't smoke, rus great but uses coolant.
Please any help and advise will be appreciated
Carl

if the coolant seal is bad, the car will run hot/overheat. in addition to this it will also either pump coolant into the overflow as it pressurizes the fuel system (exhaust side coolant seal failure), or it will drink coolant and spit large amounts of white smoke out the exhaust (intake side coolant seal failure). if the car drinks coolant but there is no smoke out the exhaust, i would not conclude its a coolant seal quite yet, its probably a leak somewhere else. are you replacing the radiator due to a leak?

Coolant in the air filter? Holy crap! Never heard of that. Also, if there is no smoke, then it is highly unlikely that the coolant seals are bad. As NOPR said, there is likely a leak elsewhere.
Also, are you still wanting that brake booster line, NOPR?

That is what made me stop taking the car apart and the fact that the car runs very well and does not smoke, I swear it was coolant inthe air box and acutally I opened the box to check the air filter and that is when I found out that the box was very wet at the point that I took it outside and turned it upside down to dump the coolant, I also dispossed the air filter because it was wet and my question was: where the hell is this coolant coming from? Logically the coolant shouldn't be there even if it is a bad coolant seal. The car runs and I do not know what to do. More ideas are welcome!!

Do you see any other coolant anywhere? Also, what is the intake system like? Totally stock, or is part of the ducting removed or something.

It is totally stock and I do not really see any coolant at all, I think I am going t replace the radiator and see what happens because thsi is weird

If its stock, then it must have gotten in through the front opening. No idea how it would get there, though. Does it look like there is dried coolant anywhere? It kinda looks like really bad hard water deposits - all this white crap everywhere.

Maybe your throttle body cracked and it is spewing coolant inside the throttle body and traveling down the intake tube... maybe you should pull your tube off at the throttle body and see whats goin on inside it.

Yeah, thats worth a try.

pressure up the cooling system and look for leaks.
its much easier to find a leak with pressure in the rad.

that happened to me.. what happened is when i changed the coolant i accidentally spilt it in the intake pipe on the front of the engine.. and without thinking i sprayed it with a hose. this resulted in the air box being full of water and at first it blew lots of white smoke, then it seized up air flow meter (AFM) which wouldnt allow it to start... very clever :P

I am going to repalce the radiator today and see what happens. I am still thinking how the coolant got there, because if it was a seal, the coolant would be burn and going to the exhaust pipe, correct? I am cofused man!!

You try pulling off the intake tube like i suggested? Alot easier/cheaper to see that the problem is in the throttle body compared to replacing parts that probably have nothing to do with your problem.

Yeap, it is not from the TB itself, I am kind of shre I am going to continue my rebuilt plans, when I took the radiator hoses, smelled like combustion gases so I think that the coolant seals gave up, I have all the parts, just thought I could lucked up because the car runs great but the buzer comes on all the time.