Mike's_2nd_Gen

Today when I was driving, I noticed my engine temp kept climbing. I wasnt sure about it because I had just had the coolant drained and replaced and the low coolant light/warning thing never came on. So I nurse the car home to see what is wrong with it and when I pop the hood I notice that there is fluid all over the front of my engine bay. But only from in front of the radiator. Not the front of the radiator but actually in front of the radiator.

I have checked the resevoir up there and havent seen anything wrong with it. But the spot where the upper radiator hose fits up to the block was smoking as well, and pretty badly. But its throwing me that its only in that one section of the engine bay.

Any ideas? Is there some kind of catch can up there that could have popped??

SureShot

It could be anywhere.
When driving, a leak will get blown all over the front end.
Fill it up and idle it to a full warm up with the hood up and try to see or smell the leak.

My guess is the radiator. New ones are less than $200.
-Bill

blk91fc3s

iTrader: (2)

is your thermostat housing cracked a long the top? i have had two crack right where the molds connect. it is hairline and hard to see.

Mike's_2nd_Gen

Well the fluid is completely isolated to the front of the engine compartment. From the radiator back there is no fluid on it at all. There is some fluid and coolant pooled in the bottom tray thing under the motor, and again its all up front.

But as for the thermostat housing being cracked. Im not too sure. I just got the car home and that engine is still extremely hot.

But I will give the "fill it up and try again" method a shot and see if I cant pin point it that way. I just didnt know if maybe the resevoir could have cracked, or if there was a catch can because it looks like one up there but I dont know.

SureShot

Best case - a loose hose clamp.

Worst case - a failed internal engine coolant O-ring allowing combustion gasses to blow into the cooling system, pushing coolant out the overflow. The clue here is fuel smell in the coolant.

classicauto

iTrader: (3)

I'd put my money on it given that its isolated to the resivoir region, it happened during an overheat, and there's no leaks on the bottle.

phoenix7

1.overtightened the upper radiator hose, bent the pipe and now it leaks on the lip that goes around the top and it eventually makes it to the front of the radiator.

2.undertightened upper radiator hose so it leaks under pressure

3.I doubt it's the thermostat neck (housing) because it would not make it DOWN the upper radiator hose and then to the radiator without evaporating.


I'm leaning towards #2 because of your previous history ( i know, i'm a jerk, get over it). If someone else did the coolant flush for you then it is most likely undertightened. CHeck the upper and lower clamps and then let us know.

Mike's_2nd_Gen

Well there is no smell of fuel in the coolant, that I can notice. But the coolant does stink. Now I know that coolant never smells pretty when its burning off the motor but this just flat out stinks. I dont know if maybe its mixing with the residual grease and **** left down in the engine bay or what, but...

But I checked both radiator hoses and they are good and tight. That was one of my first thoughts but its not that.

The radiator is still full as well as the resevior, but the res. is bubbling and spitting coolant out the side blow off line. Its also gurggeling at the upper rad. hose neck.

What about the possibility that the thermostat is just fucked. I had this happen on a Honda Accord a while back and the thermostat was so badly screwed that it wasnt allowing coolant to get into the engine.

If it is an internal coolant ring, what is the procedure for replacing it??

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

Your overflow wouldn't bubble and spit if the thermostat was locked shut, because the thermostat on the rx7 lets water out, not in, if I recall correctly.

If the overflow tank bubbles and spits with the engine cold, then it's a coolant seal, and you'd just have to take the engine apart and replace them. Anywhere from $80 to $800 to do it yourself, depending on what went wrong, most often in the $200-250 range just to do a quick cooling seal replace yourself, and replace one cracked iron. $800 would be total catastrophic failure, like housing breaks, coolant seal goes, water rushes into hot engine, breaks apex seal which breaks the other two apex seals, both side faces and the rotor housing.

But that doesn't usually happen.

Mike's_2nd_Gen

Well it doesnt bubble and spit with the engine cold. It has to heat up to the point of over heating for it to start doing that.

SonicRaT

iTrader: (6)

Could be a faulty radiator cap, a hose that leaks under pressure, or any number of things. Best way to resolve this is to go rent a coolant pressure checker and pump that thing up.

evileagle

iTrader: (1)

Also, check the crimp on top of the radiator. The end tanks on these rads are plastic crimped to metal, after time heat and age will rot this plastic enough to let the metal crimps break through it. You could have a crack in the radiator end tank and not even notice it until it's under pressure and moving. I've seen it on a couple cars.

Mike's_2nd_Gen

Well I pulled the rad cap off and turned the car over. It kept pushing smoke out of the top of the rad when the engine would cycle. I cant really smell gas in the rad itself or the res. but thats not to say its not there.

Im not wanting to rule out any other possibilities but it seems so far that an internal o-ring may have failed.

The only thing that makes me think that an o-ring didnt fail is the fact that its not running any different, but I havent had the car long enough to really tell a difference in the way it idles.

So it looks that I may have to go ahead and pull my motor and start over earlier then I had originally expected.

SonicRaT

iTrader: (6)

A coolant pressure tester is your friend. Go rent one for cheap and chances are you'll be able to find your problem in a hurry.

phoenix7

that's how I found the crack in the thermostat neck. Plugged that bastard in and then the car peed on me.

Mike's_2nd_Gen

Who would rent those out?? Because I am having a **** load of trouble finding anyone who I could GO by the parts from instead of ordering them.

SonicRaT

iTrader: (6)

I think autozone does. I've bought one from NAPA before.

Mike's_2nd_Gen

Ok, so I called around looking for a pressure tester and just to my luck no one has one around here. The closest one is in Ft Worth and I cant very well drive an hour with a screwed up car. I know though that the car has good rad pressure because I popped the cap off while it was still hot and it sprayed coolant about 3 feet into the air. So I know its not leaking pressure.

But basically Im back to square one. I have no car that works now and no way to go get parts. And now Im basically going to have to blind trouble shoot the engine.

I am worried that if it is an internal o-ring that if I keep starting it trying to find out what it is, it will crack the iron and warp a rotor housing. And I know that I cant turbo my N/A motor and finding an S5 is really ******* hard at this point because now, for some reason, all the places that I called earlier this week that had one, now mysteriously dont!

classicauto

iTrader: (3)

When the car is stone cold go out and start it up. Make sure to pull the resivoir cap off (not the rad cap, the resivoir cap) before you start it, then once its fired go and see if anything is coming out. If its pissing coolant or even dripping heavily - your coolant seal(s) are cooked.

texFCturboII

iTrader: (17)

Take the radiator cap off and start it when it's cold. Look into the radiator, if you see bubbles, then you have a blown seal. Otherwise your seals shoudl be ok.

Mike's_2nd_Gen

Yeah, well its kind of hard to look into a neck that two 90 degree angles to the radiator. But the coolant does bubble back up and out with the cap off. But the old thermostat was sealed so I went and bought a new one and am going to try that at least before I go tearing into my engine.

Mike's_2nd_Gen

OK. UPDATE:

I replaced the thermostat and at idle, instead of over heating, it heated up and sat at normal temp for quite a while. So I decided to drive it around and make sure it sat right. The second I backed out of my parking spot it started running hot again. Not to the point of over heating, but hotter then normal. So I pulled back forward and pulled the cap off the resevoir. It was bubbling in there and when I smelled the air coming out it reaked of gas. It never over heated so I decided to go ahead and drive it around thinking maybe the thermostat gasket needed to reseat itself. Again it never over heated on the drive around the block, but it keeps coming on and saying that the coolant is low.

The engine is not running rough and is getting good pressure throughout the rad and hoses, so I am completely stumped over what could be wrong.

I have checked pretty much everything everyone has suggested, and Im at a total loss.

Detroiter

Well it is possible but do you have the right sized cap? I was talking recently to someone with an 86 gxl and it was having some wierd temps, etc as well..it turned out that the thermostat (or radiator cap, cant remember which one) had the wrong opening size on it. I believe they said something about the # 180 for the opening size of it and it runs like a top now with smooth idle and everything else. I know its not much info but it gives you a new idea to think about and check into. PM and let me know if it works out

toplessFC3Sman

iTrader: (1)

When the coolant was flushed, did you make sure to get all the air out of the system? I dont know if an internal coolant seal took a **** at this point, but your original problem was probably a big pocket of air. Which cap are you doing all of this at? If you can remove the cap on the radiator (if you have an S4 anyway, im not positive on S5's, but either way I dont think the radiator is the highest point) and not have coolant come out at you when cold, then you didnt completely fill the cooling system.

Look in a haynes manual for filling it, the way I do it is (for my S4, I dont think it would be much different for an S5) to fill it first with the cap on top of the radiator, and once that fills up, then with the cap on top of the thermostat housing, and even then you could have pockets of air inside the engine. To get rid of these you need start the car and get to normal operating temperature. Then shut it off, let it cool, and top off the system from the highest radiator cap. Check again once or twice after driving the car and make sure its still full, and if it is, your filled up properly (and dont have any leaks). Dont forget to fill the overflow container about HALF way up, if you do more, it will probably overflow the first time even with a perfectly fine cooling system

However, if you smell gasoline in your coolant, then you should probably get ready for some bad news (or that SR swap, which will take slightly more than a week as you propose).

Richter12x2

iTrader: (1)

That doesn't mean you're safe - the second time I blew a coolant seal the engine ran fine for 5 or 6 miles before all of a sudden it would sprint for the top. It'll still stay cool while there's water in it, and it takes a minute to blow a water out to the point it won't stay cool.

But once your engine's good and hot, it usually only takes a couple of miles. I limped my car 6 miles back home and had to stop and fill the coolant up 4 times. It never stopped running fine though, never had white smoke from the exhaust and even had decent compression numbers when I would turn it over.