I just found out that my coolant seal has a slight leak and I dont really have the money to rebuild the engine for more than a year. So my question is will my car survive for more than a year with coolant leaking in the engine? Even though I cant afford much, Im very attached to this car so dont want to sell it but looks like it might be heading in that direction.

 

nope, get a rebuild

 

There is a temp fix not for a year but for some months so you can save for a rebuild. I have the link to the site on my own comp(on dads laptop) so pm me and ill pm u the page.

 

you can run it till it dies... at least the internals will be clean

 

If it's an inner coolant seal, and if it's near the bottom, the heat from combustion will act like a blow torch and erode the groove in the area of the leak. It does this amazingly quickly, making a rebuild necessary. Here's what happens when you drive the car too long with a blown coolant seal.....this is from a teardown I did a few months ago:

 

You can get a soft seal kit for around $150. If you can turn a wrench you can do this yourself. Dont forget to measure your seals and clean everything good, take a look at your bearings. This is a good way to make it live a bit longer but if your apex seals are getting close to 7.3MM you would want to get another set soon.

 

It really depends. If the leak is slight and you drive the car often, it may be fine for years. But if you only drive the car occasionally it's going to cause corrosion internally and basically turn that side of the engine to junk.

If the leak is down near the combustion area, as mentioned it will grow quickly.

 

You can drive it all year if you remember to release the coolant pressure after everytime you turn the engine off. (After the engine is off, take the radiator cap off.) This will keep coolant from leaking into the combustion chamber which would keep it from starting. Remember to put it back on before start up! Constantly check the coolant level and fill it. My friend had a slight coolant leak in his GXL a year and a half ago, he does this everytime and still drives it everywhere.

 

Wouldn't he possibly burn his hand if he took the cap off?? I would take it off once it cools down.

 

my first n/a did the exact same thing

 

Yeah, burn your face off too, but there's a way to do it while it's still hot. You loosen just barely you'll hear all the pressure release once there's no more fizzing you can open it.

 

at least recommend that he use two or three rags to put on the cap so the scalding water doesn't burn him.

I think you should drive it, save as much as possible and rebuild when you can. Look up rotaryresurrection for a rebuild.

 

just drive the car and keep an eye on coolant levels at ALL times. if you notice that that collant seems to be getting lower and lower everytime you drive it, its safe to say the leak had spread out. i recommend rebuilding it yourself. you could easily do it in a week if you take your time and keep everything organized.



and phoenix7, im enjoying the noob of the week: in your sig..

 

i sent ya that pm!