jmkogut

I'm not sure exactly where to check, since I haven't jacked it up yet, but I have an original 13B, never rebuilt, never maintained, and driven fine for a few weeks. I anticipated a rebuild this spring, but it overheated once in stop-n-go, and I fear that did it in for my o-rings. It's happened a couple more times, and now whenever I fill the coolant, it literally, drips out constantly. The only place I can determine that it's coming from is somewhere above the middle of the H-member. I thought it was heater hoses or something but after seeing it leak from there I feared the engine.

What do you guys think?

jmkogut

The engine runs at what appears to be full power, I haven't compression checked it yet. Also, it starts perfectly fine. About 3 to 4 seconds of cranking and she fires right up. I don't think coolant is leaking into the housings, but I'm really not sure.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Lopsided99

my car has a very slow coolant leak from the rear seal in the bell housing. The seal is only like 5 bucks on mazdatrix, id take a look at that first.

RotaryRocket88

iTrader: (7)

Not sure what you mean by the "H member." The metal frame under the engine?

Check all your coolant hoses thoroughly and take things apart so you can actually see where it's dripping from. If it's coming out without the engine even running, my bet is a hose; likely heater hose or the rear iron to TB hose.

Lopsided99

come to think of it last week i blew a heater hose. The hose clamp cut right into it and ripped a whole, check that one. Its on the right side of the motor if ur looking from the front of the car. Down on the right of the intake manifold.

OutCold

sry for threadjacking, but if you have coolant leaking into the engine housing should u be able too tell on a compression test?

Rxxx-7_GSL-SE

My guess is water pump gaskets, those all ways leak after u overheat it, even if you put new ones in a week before overheating it. Or you have a hole in the water pump or pump housing. That best explains why it pours out at the same time u pour it in.

This is really extreme and what happened to my pump hahhaa stupid fenco rebuilt ****



If the leak is EXTERNAL then it should NOT be the coolant seals...

O yeah never let the temp gauge go over 1/3

Yep a blown coolant seal engine can burn tons of coolant but still perform almost as good as before, practically no "seat of the pants" difference

Worst case senario (not likely either) your external coolant seals are leaking from the sides like where the spark plugs are. This is unlikely since the external ones almost never fail, you only get leaks when housings are cracked.

U mean the o ring on the rear stat gear?

Yeah i think its a heater hose, waterpump or rad hose

has to be external. Well thats best case senario

yeah if its really bad coolant will gush out of the plug holes or outta the exhaust ports hahaa

jmkogut

Awesome, thanks.

I'll check that all out this weekend.

jmkogut

Also yes, by the "H-member" I meant the part of the frame that you jack up the front of the car with, the engine sits right above and behind it.

OutCold

How much compression ca is lost? I dont know why but my car sometimes spew white smoke when i cant get it started on the first few trys, doesnt happen in the same scale if i roll start it, Well, i know, its because water is leaking into the housings(Water Temp gauges is on the middle when i hear the normal temp should only be 1/3 of the scale.), thing that puzzles me tho : My engine seems like its a full power/full compression...shouldnt it be alot slower?

jmkogut

I'm not sure to be honest. I let it overheat once bad, so I expected the worst.

I still believe I'm in for a rebuild, I'm crossing my fingers this engine lasts until spring, I don't want to be out in a garage in the cold..

and from what I hear, some people don't notice any difference when coolant seals go out. The car just starts eating it up.

classicauto

iTrader: (3)

Go start the car stone cold and look at the overflow hose. If waters spitting out into the overflow you need new coolant seals.

Also, whenever building an engine that's been overheated you need to be extremely careful when checking plates that you don't find any warpage or any cracked/cracking water jacket o-ring lands as these parts become extremly stressed during an overheat.

arghx

iTrader: (3)

yeah I overheated my motor a while back (clutch fan went bad), and the car ran great, never seemed to lose coolant. But when I tore the motor down recently due to other problems I saw a chipped area on the middle iron that must've been the result of the overheat. So I could've lost the coolant seal at any time really.

OutCold

By coolant seals u mean the water seals in the engine block eh? What if it the overflow doesnt spew out water when i start the engine, is that a 100% confirmation that the engine doesnt have a leak?

classicauto

iTrader: (3)

Yes, by coolant seals I mean the water seals in the engine block.

That test is not 100%, but in my experience 90%. EDIT: also, the test needs to be done when the car is 100% cold, as in sat overnight.

Ultimately you need to pressure test the system. The tool can be borrowed from places like Part source (or so I've heard from USA members. In Canada they do offer this service)

You'll need to place pressure on the system and leave it over night. In the morning if there's been any drop in pressure then you've got a leak somewhere. If you spot a leak on the ground, trace it up the engine to its source. If you spot no leak then its leaking internally into the combustion chamber.

Personally given the way this thing is sounding with an external leak and other hoses that have popped due to shoddy clamps being used I'd bet my money on some hack job water line rigging thats let loose, but nonetheless, if it's overheated - the coolant seals are very likely to be overstressed and leaking/torn.

jmkogut

AWESOME. I hope this lasts the winter, again I really don't want to swap my first 13B in the cold.

I'll start sourcing an engine to rebuild while i slowly kill this one.

I looked at the water pump and that's where the drips look to be coming from. I'll take that off tonight and make sure it's just the gasket and not the housing. I have the needed gaskets in the mail already

I'll order new piping this weekend.

Anything else?

jmkogut

I've traced the flow of water with red. I believe 100% that it's the water pump gasket now.

One small troubling issue.

Now the car starts difficult (seems to be taking a few seconds longer) and once its started I have to give it some throttle to clear up. I think coolant is actually leaking into the housings now..

OutCold

Well, i got a brand new koyo and i cant see any leaks, all despite of this im loosing like a litre of coolant for about every 40 miles.. and sometimes my car spews out white smoke on start up, and i dont mean the puffy little condense smoke, i mean like a damn smoke screen grenade! Shouldnt be much doubt where the coolant goes eh? Still my compression seems fine so far, runs like a kitten when i first get it started hehe So im , so im thinking ill do the same as the OP and see how long it lasts me, im not gonna break anything else but the engine itself will i? Got a new one sitting ready too be mounted in.

HAI-TEK7

iTrader: (31)

Make sure it is the gasket. Most water pumps have a seep hole on the bottom that will leak coolant to tell you its bad.

classicauto

iTrader: (3)

Nope won't damage anything aside from the engine. However if there was an intention on rebuilding the current core I wouldn't drive it much as you can warp the plates which would require replacement of them when its rebuilt. That can make a simple refresh pretty pricey. But if you have an entire other keg, I wouldn't sweat it.

OutCold

Yeah got an entire new block/housing with internals and intercooler plus a few small things coming this weekend.