this isnt good is it?
 

FD has symptoms of:
Whoosing water sound behind dash area, coolant light comes on and regularly need to add water. Hard to start sometimes.

I have heard this is coolant seals. But just for precation someone tell me this isnt the only thing. Replacing a motor wasnt in the picture when the car was bought. :(

The car has 90k+ miles. car was bought out of Ft Lauderdale,FL for 11,200. My friend bought the car and is wantign to mod it but im tryign to get him to get the car runnign smoothly first. Any info on this would be greatly appreciated. If so, engine rebuild? or swap?

does the car smoke at startup or at all? If so does it smell sweet? If so then it could be your coolant seal. Could you describe the "whoosing" sound a little better? It could be a number of things. It sounds more like a coolant leak in one of the hoses which should be a lot easier to fix then a coolant seal ;)

sounds like water draining throuhg a pipe. It smokes under acceleration and when cranked. Havnt really noticed a sweet smell but can always smell some sort of exhaust. I am not around the car as much as my friend is.

Tell your buddy to take the car to a Mazda dealer and have a compression test done. He shouldn't mod the car without at least this information in hand.

From then on, keep said car away from said dealer ;) - many Mazda dealers can't deliver good service on FDs, so be careful.

Dave

Sometimes I hear coolant or the heater core gurgling water. Not necessarily a problem. White smoke, slightly sweet rich smell during startup isn't usually a problem - lots of thick lingering white smoke is a problem. Get a boost gauge on the car and get your buddy to sign up for this forum so he get this done right. If he doesn't buy into the idea (some dumbasses just want to start bolting on) pitch the group buys, classified section, and other stuff whatever it takes so he doesn't shred that car.

ok. he just signed up last night. he will be posting asap. thanks for the info

Homie needs a motor. Been there, done that 2x.

heh, thats we are kinda figuring. I called gotham racing today and talked to Rich. We might be sendign it off soon. BTW jpandes, my friend saw the pics of your car and loves the wheels. he was wondering where you found them. His is a Silver 94 with the spoiler.