How long before a rebuild when you START smelling coolant?
 

Hey all,

I know I'm going to have to rebuild my engine soon... but how soon? On very cold days (and only on cold starts) I get a cloud of white and that coolant smell. I know that I have a bad coolant seal/water jacket somewhere. On a warm day, it's not a problem, though, and only on a hot day with the A/C cranking does the water temp needle stray from "good" towards "boned."

I drive the car about 10 miles daily. How long do you think I have before the repair becomes more complicated than a basic rebuild? I don't want to have to shell out for housings and rotors if I can avoid it...

Thanks all.

if its overheating u run the risk of warping your housings etc, its best to rebuild asap and stop driving it.

or try the block weld procedure

It's actually NOT overheating, at least not according to the temp gauge. Regardless, thanks for the input.

A coolant leak smells like coolant :D

163 days 13 hours 6 minutes and 8 seconds.

How many miles on the motor? Don't let the stock gauge get above halfway (ie dont use your a/c). Get an aftermarket coolant temp gauge.

Now that's what im talking about!

No beating around the bush, direct answer down to the second.

Fritz is the man!

you sure the white smoke is coolant? it could be condensation if you have a turbo back exhaust / no cat etc

Always have a stop watch and calender in your car next to your gauges.

You want answers, YOU WANT ANSWERS.......... You want answers? I want the truth. You can’t handle the truth. Son we live in a world that has walls,. and those walls have to be guarded by rotary gods that carry coolant :lol2:

LOOL :suitdance

LOL. Exactly the response I expected. Let me REPHRASE the question: has anyone noticed an approximate rate (days, weeks, months) at which coolant seals go from leaky (as per my situation) to blown?

The reason I ask is that other than the obvious coolant smell, I haven't noticed ANY other symptoms of a blown seal. Yes, on a HOT day with the A/C on, the needle starts to move, and then it's off with the A/C, on with the defogger at full blast, and down with the windows. Even flipping the parking lights resolves the problem, and given the weighted nature of the stock gauge, I know I'm just a few degrees out of the normal OT. So... it's not a full blown coolant leak. I think that the seal, when heated to OT, seals perfectly, or at least close enough that what little gas that escapes into the coolant system is handled by the AST. When the engine gets cold, though, the seal and the reduced pressure in the engine lets coolant seep in. At least that's my hypothesis... correct me if ther's anything grossly wrong with it.

Anyway, I ask because, perhaps unlike many of you, I have to budget for these kinds of things. I'm trying to decide between taking the engine to MazdaTrix for a rebuild or simply ordering a reman from Mazda. A rebuild without replacing housings and rotors costs just a little less than the reman, but in the event of more work needing to be done, I would have been better going with a reman. I feel confident that I could remove and install the engines, as this won't be the first I've ever worked on, but wonder if paying extra is going to be worthwhile in the long run. I don't know, I have a lot of options running through my head. Just wondering if anyone could shed light on a similar issue he's had.

rob at pineapple told me many times he got remain in from mazda and disassembled them and parts be out of spec or used bearings put back in so you get what you pay for!

mine is opposite....mine will climb then i flip the ac on and it drops...just waiting to get a power fc and set the fans to click on earlier...

brad

If you just want to buy some time then use the CRC block weld and follow the write up that's in here some where to the "T". I used it on my car and got 14 months with a fairly sever leak. It would have lasted long had I stayed abit further away from the 10 psi boost level (this really heats the car up) I've had my donnor motor in for about 4 years now with a lottle over 30k with out any issues from using the block weld treatment. I live in Fla. and use the A/C all the time (even on the bad motor when I had completed the block weld. If your not pushing coolant into the resivoir and it still returns to the system then your leak is minimal. Tom a friend of mine had been driving his 95 street port with the block weld for aprox 1 year now with out issue (his leak was minor when he cought it. There's no garuntee how long it will last but it should give you the time you need to budget for a replacement of some sort. 10 miles a day is not even enough time to get the car warmed up and blow the carbon out of it.

I was in a very similar situation, I drove ~30mi/day for 2-3 months just fine (but not every day).

Yes, definitely, Mazda remans have barely spec'd parts, and used internals.

you could be lucky and coolant could be dripping down onto the block from a small leak somewhere.

Pressure test the system

That'd explain the fine filmy gloss (honestly, barely noticeable.. my lady thinks I'm totally nuts for seeing it) that seems to develop on the windshield when I use the defog/demist for a few days at a time.

Still doesn't explain the coolant in the exhaust.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I got a couple bottles of CRC copper block weld and I'm going to keep my fingers crossed. We've set aside ALL of Saturday to do it, so with luck, this issue should be resolved then. I'll pressure test the system before then, just in case. Will keep you all updated.

When you're finished with the block weld let me know when you need the new rad and heater core ;)

Seriously that stuff will muck everthing up.

Just keep topping it off, saving money and when it won't start the 1st time it's done. 1st it will run on 1 rotor for a few minutes after starting and once the combustion chamber dries the other one will kick on but once it won't start all together because they are both getting saturated with coolant it's time to give in and get a new engine. Change the plugs and drive it straight to the nearest rotary shop or just get a new engine and drop it in yourself. I say this because once it's this bad it'll start overheating.

Best of luck :)

Sounds like a bad heater core/heater valve to me.

Before you do the block weld pressure test the system.

You can also easily bypass the heater core.