OK, i have a car which takes coolant like i have never seen, like two cup a day. It is not leaking from ouside the engine. The coolant is not going in the overflow tank.

So i thought, it is a bad colant seal, engine eats up the coolant. But the car doesn't smoke at all, well not more than any other rotary. Only other symptom is very hard to start when hot. Otherwise, good vacuum and easy to start when cold. Everything is stock by the way.

If the coolant seal was blown on the intake side, wouldn't it be hard to start when it is cold instead of hot? If it is blown in the intake side, it should smoke right? I thought it is not blown in the pressure chamber since the pressure doesn't rise in the system enough to make it go in the overflow.

What other test can i do to see if it is blown? Champagne test is more if you have a seal blown in the pressure side right?

anyone knows what else i can do to confirm it is a blown coolant seal?

thanks a lot

 

Yes, the hot start problem is associated with a blown coolant seal. You don't have to have smoke coming out of the exhaust. I ran mine for months with a blown coolant seal (many, many years ago) before it started smoking. I would run a pressure test of your coolant system and see if it's holding pressure. If it's not and you have no coolant hitting the ground, remove your spark plugs and crank the engine for a few secs. See if coolant comes out of the plug holes.

 

that is exactly the next step i was thinking of doing. Now i need to find that tool, any clue where i can get that? Is there one that fits over the filler neck cap? Or would it be a bad place because of the thermostat?

 

Amazon has a cheap one:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002SRGWU

I'm sure you could find one at a local automotive shop. You might be able to borrow one.

 

all right that's what i'll try, thanks a lot

 

Does the car smoke all the time even when warmed up? That is a lot of coolant to lose daily without smoke.

 

no the car doesn't smoke, that is what i find weird.

I'll try the pressure test and see if i can find a leak somewhere else.

 

Take your plugs out and look for very light, brown, and round buildup. If you see that, you've confirmed coolant being in the chamber being burned...

You might also want to try the ever so easy champagne test!

 

OK, some development, my tool to check the pressure sucked so nothing good from that point. It didn't seem to lose pressure very quick though, if there is a leak, it is small. Tried to check if coolant would come out of the engine through the spark plug holes but all i got was some sort of a fog so no clue if that was coolant or just fuel left in the engine.

BUT, i tried the champagne test and i would like to know what you guys think.

Here is what it looks like. Thanks a lot for your help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV25wTqlU3o

sorry, cameraman wasn't really good.

 

100% coolant seal failure...

 

Stick a fork in her.