How often do you need to 'add coolant'?
06-26-05, 12:59 PM
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How often do you need to 'add coolant'?
Just wondering how often. I had to add about two glasses full the other day and im wondering why since i don't see or smell any leaking coolant. Perhaps the hot weather here in florida? Can coolant evaporate over time or is it a closed system?
06-26-05, 05:21 PM
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Uh oh... watch out. This could be a bad coolant seal. Do a quick search on blown coolant seals. And check out lightning in a world of thunder in the howto ... cooling system section. You could just have a hairline crack in one of your hoses that got brittle over time. Could be the smallest crack in the world, but just letting out vacumm pressure so coolant isn't returning from your overflow tank. Read all about the coolant seal, and coolant problems. http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/
Good luck
Good luck
06-26-05, 05:55 PM
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i don't know.. my car is in pretty nice shape with 40k original miles... with no smoke or anything.
i replaced all my coolant hoses last january except for the lower turbo coolant hose. i don't see any coolant leaking or smell any coolant.
furthermore.. my brother just had a new motor put in a couple of months ago in his FD and he had the buzzer go off today.
ill check out scuderani though.. thanks guys
i replaced all my coolant hoses last january except for the lower turbo coolant hose. i don't see any coolant leaking or smell any coolant.
furthermore.. my brother just had a new motor put in a couple of months ago in his FD and he had the buzzer go off today.
ill check out scuderani though.. thanks guys
06-26-05, 06:01 PM
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and i forgot to mention that i had a little incident about 3 months ago...
i pushed it a little on the interstate to check my boost pattern and when i returned home, there was a steady stream of coolant flowing down the driveway. i noticed that coolant was spilling out of the overflow tank and that the hose running to my AST was kinked... so i "unkinked it" replenished coolant levels, and never had any more problems.
i pushed it a little on the interstate to check my boost pattern and when i returned home, there was a steady stream of coolant flowing down the driveway. i noticed that coolant was spilling out of the overflow tank and that the hose running to my AST was kinked... so i "unkinked it" replenished coolant levels, and never had any more problems.
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06-26-05, 06:14 PM
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like mentioned it usually means you have a small pressure leak. doesnt even mean that coolant is coming out, just that when the car cools air is coming in from the leak instead of creating enough pressure to pull back coolant.
dont fool yourself, just because you only 40K miles doesn't mean that you don't have a problem. you should hope it is what we are talking about and not a bad coolant seal.
your brother may not have burped his system correctly. also, unless he bought the engine from a reputable builder it could be crap. you can search and see all the horror stories about reman engines.
adding coolant to your car especially that much is NOT normal. not unless you haven't checked your coolant in a looonnng time.
do you have an aftermarket temp gauge, or PFC commander? did it overheat? if it did and you keep having this problem then you probably do have a blown seal.
you probably know all this stuff, but the upshot is that you do have a problem if you are having to add coolant. if it is something minor fix it now before it turns to something big.
if it has been three months it probably means you are having a pressure leak.
dont fool yourself, just because you only 40K miles doesn't mean that you don't have a problem. you should hope it is what we are talking about and not a bad coolant seal.
your brother may not have burped his system correctly. also, unless he bought the engine from a reputable builder it could be crap. you can search and see all the horror stories about reman engines.
adding coolant to your car especially that much is NOT normal. not unless you haven't checked your coolant in a looonnng time.
do you have an aftermarket temp gauge, or PFC commander? did it overheat? if it did and you keep having this problem then you probably do have a blown seal.
you probably know all this stuff, but the upshot is that you do have a problem if you are having to add coolant. if it is something minor fix it now before it turns to something big.
if it has been three months it probably means you are having a pressure leak.
Last edited by AntiVenom7; 06-26-05 at 06:16 PM.
06-26-05, 06:50 PM
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Originally Posted by AntiVenom7
like mentioned it usually means you have a small pressure leak. doesnt even mean that coolant is coming out, just that when the car cools air is coming in from the leak instead of creating enough pressure to pull back coolant.
dont fool yourself, just because you only 40K miles doesn't mean that you don't have a problem. you should hope it is what we are talking about and not a bad coolant seal.
your brother may not have burped his system correctly. also, unless he bought the engine from a reputable builder it could be crap. you can search and see all the horror stories about reman engines.
adding coolant to your car especially that much is NOT normal. not unless you haven't checked your coolant in a looonnng time.
do you have an aftermarket temp gauge, or PFC commander? did it overheat? if it did and you keep having this problem then you probably do have a blown seal.
you probably know all this stuff, but the upshot is that you do have a problem if you are having to add coolant. if it is something minor fix it now before it turns to something big.
if it has been three months it probably means you are having a pressure leak.
dont fool yourself, just because you only 40K miles doesn't mean that you don't have a problem. you should hope it is what we are talking about and not a bad coolant seal.
your brother may not have burped his system correctly. also, unless he bought the engine from a reputable builder it could be crap. you can search and see all the horror stories about reman engines.
adding coolant to your car especially that much is NOT normal. not unless you haven't checked your coolant in a looonnng time.
do you have an aftermarket temp gauge, or PFC commander? did it overheat? if it did and you keep having this problem then you probably do have a blown seal.
you probably know all this stuff, but the upshot is that you do have a problem if you are having to add coolant. if it is something minor fix it now before it turns to something big.
if it has been three months it probably means you are having a pressure leak.
06-26-05, 07:01 PM
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Originally Posted by Marc01
Uh oh... watch out. This could be a bad coolant seal. Do a quick search on blown coolant seals. And check out lightning in a world of thunder in the howto ... cooling system section. You could just have a hairline crack in one of your hoses that got brittle over time. Could be the smallest crack in the world, but just letting out vacumm pressure so coolant isn't returning from your overflow tank. Read all about the coolant seal, and coolant problems. http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/
Good luck
Good luck
06-26-05, 07:12 PM
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Originally Posted by AMRAAM4
For fock sake, can we go one friggin coolant thread without this BS? It's always the people with lesser posts too...almost like they can't wait to just bust out with that diagnosis/info
No i agree.. ive had a few coolant problems and every time i get that post. I was under the impression that white smoke comes out when a seal goes bad.. i never mentioned anything about white smoke.. just gradual coolant loss over 3 months. i could be wrong though but i dont care, nobody is reading this far anyway.
06-26-05, 08:13 PM
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Originally Posted by potatochobit
if you run the a/c alot in hot weather, u can loose coolant out of there.
06-26-05, 08:31 PM
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Originally Posted by jeffrored92
How do you lose coolant through the A/C system in hot weather?
the coolant system in the engine expands when it gets hot enough. the coolant will come out of the coolant reservoir tank. this happens on all modern cars. since most people run their A/C on high at stop lights, this causes the engine to heat up even more and thus leading to coolant going into the overflow tank. if you didnt know this, the rx7 A/C system is inadequate to keep the interior of the car cool during hot idling. this causes stress on the radiator cooling also.
06-26-05, 08:55 PM
#17
Your brother's having probs w/ the new engine b/c there are obviously some problems from the install. Not sure what yet, but he's gonna HAVE to take it to Ray @ PFS to get a much more experienced eye to look into it. Something's definitely not right.
Hopefully you get around to putting on a DP and checking the air filter before he did 
He thought the same re: oh it's got low mileage, it's well taken care of, etc. You can't assume that kinda stuff w/ an FD. But then again, what more can you do than give advice.. Oh and make sure you change out the fuel filter too.
Originally Posted by Csefiroth0
i don't know.. my car is in pretty nice shape with 40k original miles... with no smoke or anything.
He thought the same re: oh it's got low mileage, it's well taken care of, etc. You can't assume that kinda stuff w/ an FD. But then again, what more can you do than give advice.. Oh and make sure you change out the fuel filter too.
Last edited by FDNewbie; 06-26-05 at 08:57 PM.
06-26-05, 09:18 PM
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Originally Posted by potatochobit
the coolant system in the engine expands when it gets hot enough. the coolant will come out of the coolant reservoir tank. this happens on all modern cars. since most people run their A/C on high at stop lights, this causes the engine to heat up even more and thus leading to coolant going into the overflow tank. if you didnt know this, the rx7 A/C system is inadequate to keep the interior of the car cool during hot idling. this causes stress on the radiator cooling also.
Anyway, in summer I run my a/c with ambient temps of 100F+ and never have any problems. A/C is always cool and engine temp never goes above 210F.
I've only had to add coolant once. I was a bit low one morning, so topped up. Few days later after some sprited driving, I had a puddle under the overflow tank. Seems to me there was a one-off problem with the cooling system sucking back from the overflow. In the months since then, I haven't had to add any coolant, and I've been driving daily.
06-26-05, 10:33 PM
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Originally Posted by BLKTOPTRVL
Get new coolant caps.
A leaky cap can seem to act sort of like a check-valve; letting air in when cold, but not letting hot coolant leak out. Each heat cycle will pump out a bit of coolant. It happened to me anyway... Having that line kinked probably prevented any fluid at all from re-entering the system.
I replaced my caps, installed an Al AST while I was at it (as preventative maintenance), and refilled the coolant. Just one burp later and everything's been working fine for 6 months.
06-27-05, 12:20 PM
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Originally Posted by potatochobit
check your overflow tank.
if you run the a/c alot in hot weather, u can loose coolant out of there.
other than that, loss of coolant is bad news.
if you run the a/c alot in hot weather, u can loose coolant out of there.
other than that, loss of coolant is bad news.
06-27-05, 12:32 PM
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Pressure check system
Originally Posted by Csefiroth0
well, i appreciate your advice.. ill take it somewhere and get the pressure checked
06-27-05, 12:53 PM
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add coolant
Originally Posted by potatochobit
the coolant system in the engine expands when it gets hot enough. the coolant will come out of the coolant reservoir tank. this happens on all modern cars. since most people run their A/C on high at stop lights, this causes the engine to heat up even more and thus leading to coolant going into the overflow tank. if you didnt know this, the rx7 A/C system is inadequate to keep the interior of the car cool during hot idling. this causes stress on the radiator cooling also.
Oh, now I understand. he thing is the coolant overflow tank (as you call it) is also a coolant recovery tank, when coolant goes into it, then so should it return. Unless one of two things has occurred. 1) the recovery tank doesn't have enough coolant in it and draws back air after all the coolant available is drawn back. 2) it's pulling air back in from another source. The caps are an easy check/fix. Pressure testing is the system is best for tracking down a pin hole or slow leak. But thanks for the AC information. I wont use my AC on high at the stop lights any more as I don't want to stress my radiator cooling.
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