Coolant Problem Help Help!!!
 

Ok, i've posted this about everywhere i could except here...

Ok here's the deal...

93 RX7, non sequential, just rebuilt the engine, i now have around 600miles on it. Around the 500 mile marker, i was coming to a stop light, hard on the brakes and the car idled funny, and white smoke starts pouring out the back of the car... coolant.. sweet smelling..

Then I rev the motor, it cleans up, i drive around, no problems, no more smoke, its just normal exhaust.

I get home, fill what little coolant actually needed to be filled, and start the car, burp it, no bubbles from exhaust gasses, no smoke from the exhaust... normal operation...

OK then a couple days later i drive to school and park in the garage which is on an incline, i come to start the car, its flooded with coolant, takes about 1 min to clean up and get all the coolant out, then normal operation, the car runs fine, no more smoke..

A couple more hard stops and coolant again comes out of the exhaust, its only for like 10 secs, but a HUGE cloud. Again i go home, fill the coolant, not much is missing and no more smoke. I parked the car, let it sit, started it up, no smoke...

Now today, i park at school again in the garage, and try to start the car, its flooded, it starts, and shuts off, now its just trying to start and i pump the gas to try and get it fired up and it just backfires like a shotgun. I undo the fuel pump relay, and again fire the car, white puffs of smoke come from the exhaust, to no avail, the car is motionless, its still making compression (via noise) and just stays lifeless. I push the car to a flat lot, and try starting, still no life. Just keeps turning over with no fire.

SO its flooded, but HOW is it getting flooded, the incline would be such that the turbos are higher on the car than the rest of the engine, so are my turbos somehow leaking coolant into my engine through the exhaust ports? The car shows no sign on a failed o-ring because #1 its new, no exhaust bubbles in the coolant, the oil is CLEAN and golden, the coolant is also devoid of oil. Any thoughts? I'm stumped, depressed, and really want my car running right again... PLEASE somebody out there has to have some clue as to why this is happening?!:( :( :(

Doesn't sound good. Pull your plugs and look for coolant in your chambers, have someone turn the car over for you while you check. What do the plugs look like? Are they wet, do the tast like gas or coolant? Pressure test the coolant system and check for any pressure leakdown. I don't think the turbos would leak coolant into the engine unless the turbine canisters were cracked (highly unlikely). Are you sure it was coolant smoke and not fuel? It is also unlikley that an O-ring problem would show up in your oil, or oil in your coolant, while it can happen, it isn't always so, sometimes the coolant will just leak into your combustion chamber then out the exhaust. Who rebuilt your engine, you or a reputable (or not so reputable) shop/business? Take it to them and have them diagnose your problem. If you rebuilt it, were you sure to install the O-rings correctly they are wider than they are thick IIRC,and use the correct sealant (Hylomar)? Hopefully, in your case, I'm wrong, but my engine did this very same thing when I blew an O-ring. Check your plugs and pressure test the coolant system. Best of luck!

Frank

anyone else?

I think it is the O ring as well... maybe not that bad of a case but check out this site.

http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/o-ring_failure.html

i don't get bubbles in the coolant, i don't get burning coolant all the time, i only get it when i park on inclines and brake hard

Whoa that does sound really weird. Are you SURE it only happens on inclines and when braking? Even if you have a super bad O-ring failure it seems really really unlikely that braking hard would somehow slosh coolant into the combustion chamber. Are you sure you didn't hook up the AST line to the manifold :p:? I could imagine a really bad day at the shop and someone confused the AST line for a vacuum line or something, but that would be amazing. Or maybe one of the turbo coolant lines got confused, this all just seems too weird. Oh btw, you probably shouldn't be tasting your plugs, yeah that may work but there must be a better way than putting them in your mouth :p: . I'd get it towed back to the shop and make them fix it, you paid good money for the rebuild, ask them to start it and then explain the coolant in the combustion chamber.

Nathan, i did the rebuild...

I did everything correctly, and my friend who is a rotary mechanic went over it and said it was all done correctly, now i'm having him tow it to his shop, and having him figure out what the hell is wrong with it.. since i'm stumped

As stated above, put a pressure tester on the cooling system when it is cold, pump it up, and let it sit....See if pressure drops. Give it some time.

yes but doing that will only say i have a leak in the system, which is obvious, pressure testing it doesn't mean that it can only leak from the internals, it could be leaking from anywhere, not visible, so thats the problem with doing a pressure test, its going to the shop tomorrow (wed) and i'll see what happens...

hi pete, bumping your 5 year old thread. thanks for your response to the pm.

this might be useful for some people that think they have blown internal coolant seals aka time to rebuild. i talked to pete and he says that his issue "Was a bad coolant copper o-ring on the turbos." any experienced turbo/engine people here that can comment?

i have been having the EXACT same issues as in the original post of this thread ^^ and am in the process of pulling my engine for a rebuild. its a BIG suprise to me that a turbo issue may be the cause of my blown engine-like symptoms.

^

hmm i just dont understand if your copper o ring was bad how in the world would the coolant enter the exhaust pipes...it would burn off of the manifold

thats what i don't get either.. but if it was fixed like that.. im confused

Yah it actually was a bad coolant o-ring for the turbos. It was somehow getting into the manifold through the turbos. After I found the leak and replaced the o-rings, I never had the problem again. It is a little more in depth in the PM i sent you.