rx7racer11

soo took my car to mazduh and they call me and tell me i have condesation and moisture on my plugs and in my rotors... first off that engine has like 10k miles never smoked,, so i dont think it could have a blown a coolant seal.. its been sitting in the rain etc.. but the car would always die when i took it thru a auto car wash... water is getting in there somehow i know its not a coolant seal.. and my plugs are in nice and tight car ran great .. any ideas where its coming in from??

artguy

do you have a temp guage....not that stock piece of ****...but a real temp guage.

two...if you got coolant on the plugs then your o rings are probably shot.

if the car stalls during starting and you smell burning sweet coolant a bit in the exhaust then that is the case.


dont take your car to mazda ever again. that is rule number one.

irvine mazda in so cal told me that my turbos were shot and then tried to charge my warrantee company 7000 dollars for the parts...3500 per turbo..hahahaha...********....the warrantee company freaked and ended up cancelling my policy after they found suspension upgrades on the car.

the dealers are idiots and you will pay if you deal with them. that has been my experience. took the car to tripoint and there was no turbo issues AT ALL...they were just trying to **** me at irvine mazda. beware.

there are some easy solutions to the problem...the copper block weld solution seems to keep the guys happy who have that problem. personally though..if it needs rebuilding Id just do it and get a streetport....gotta do it right in my eyes.


good luck

j

ps..isnt pineapple racing up there? that is where you should be if so...

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

Did they do a compression test? Also have them do a pressure test on the coolant system, overnight.

Those two things should help diagnose. Condensation on the plugs is not good thing at all. It might have been gas though.

Auto car wash! Yikes!

Let me know if I can help.

Jeff

spoolin93r1

i can tell ya one thing, stop with the auto car wash if it has the underarriage! if you were 1700 degrees and got a nice burst of cold water, don't ya think that might kinda suck? well that's what your turbos feel like, i'm sure it's not good, that's why i never use the autos

rx7racer11

well the auto car wash was only a couple times when i first bought that car *L* they are doing a pressure test and there putting dye in the coolant to see if its coming into the rotor.. and the only reason i take it 2 mazda is no shop around here even knows wtf a rotary is... ive had bad expereiece at other shops.. they always break something else trying to fix it.. mazda at least in my expereicnce has fixed the problem..

rx7racer11

well i went and talked to mazda again .. theyre saying my water jackets are shot.. which are allowing massive amounts of coolant into rotor.. i witnessed myself water just spurtin out of my plug holes.. when he was cranking it... it makes no sense.. my car ran great never smoked or anything... ever. a little smoke at startup but nothing abnormal.. now all of the sudden it is shot... help would be appreciated.. either that or im looking at selling it i cannot afford a rebuild this car has cost me to much already

rx7racer11

they did pressurize the system but the mech told me a compression test was useless as that motor was already shot

CantGoStraight

Bullshit ....if they pressurized the system what were the results ??? It held, it leaked down, they found a leake or they pumped water into the rotor housings ???
By the way this is not possible to pump water into the rotor housings unless you have a bad coolant seal. I used the copper block weld treatment and got a year out of it before complete failure (probably would have gone longer) couldn't stay outta the boost. Find the true problem then decide what to do. Jack

TwinTurboTheo

Yup...the Mazda Dealers are very uninformed. My turbos were shot and they said I needed a whole new engine!!! I took it Rotary Power in Gardena and it was just my turbos leaking massive oil.

rx7racer11

well the pressure test *appartenly* showed water going into the rotor.. but i dont think there is any way in hell my seals would be bad... my car never smoked.. it makes no sense... but i witnessed water and gas coming outta the plug holes.. btw there is no water at all in my oil... i think im going to be towing it north and having pineapple or excessive take a look.. cuz im not buying that my "water jackets" are bad... even if they were would they go bad overnight ?? wtf it makes no sense

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

Bummer... If they pressurized the coolant system and it didn't hold pressure there is a leak. It could be somewhere else in the system or it could be the water jacket.

Water in the oil:
If the inner seal from the coolant jacket to the combustion chamber is leaking then you won't get any water in the oil.

Smoke:
You don't have to see smoke, especially in the begining of a failure.

Bubbles in the cooling system:
Bubbles in the cooling system, not a good sign at all. You can get your coolant tested for exhaust gases, if they are in there the motor is toast.

If it were my car I'd just keep driving it. It won't really hurt anything to keep it on the road

I'm north, let me know if you need some help. All these signs don't look good.

Jeff

rx7racer11

problem is the car wont start a good amount of water/gas is coming out when the engine is turning over.

artguy

your o rings are bad....nothing but that...Im betting the farm on this one.

whoever drove the car before you....one good hot run and that is all it takes to crispy up one of those seals...then a few other spirited runs and sppppfffftttt there it is.

if you have water in your plug holes then you have an o ring problem. simple as that.

take it to pineapple and never deal with a mazda dealership again.

ps..streetport!!!!!!!


j

btw...i dont know how it can not be smoking if you are having water in with the plugs...ya gotta be smoking...ya just didnt know it.


good luck my friend...


j

artguy

you dont have an aftermarket temp guage do you????

thats how it happens...you fly blind when you dont have those readings. you have no idea how many times you drove your car hot...if you didnt have the guage...my car would hit 112 with xs maps in it...they didnt have my fans set to turn on until 100 plus degrees. it never overheated at all...it was just hot as fark...and that is how it happens...seal damage is caused by heat.


j

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

Yeah man, your telling us everything we need to know right here.

The motor is toast, if it leaking this bad you won't get any blockweld to work.

Time for a rebuild.

On the temp guage comments. I was down in Medford auto-xing this summer, temps in the low 90s. After a couple ~2 min runs my car started to read hot on my SPI guage, stock guage showed "normal". Turns out my ~4,000 old T-stat failed by only opening partially. This is a really common problem, I've seen it several times. The bad thing is if you don't have an aftermarket guage the car will run hot all the time and you'll never know. When the T-stat fails, bigger radiators and fans won't do a bit of good. Jeff B had a T-stat go bad after only a FEW HUNDRED MILES, it was a new motor, new water pump, Mazdacomp rad.


Jeff

skunks

so your car was running before you took it in to mazda? Are you sure thats coolant on your plugs and not gas or oil??? I don't understand why they can't take a compression test, you should be getting some kind of compression, I call bullcrap on this one!

BTW: There are lots of places that the coolant system can be leaking from. Double check that its not comming from someplace else.

artguy

coolant on the plugs is pretty hard to mistake for gas...tis green for christ sakes...regardless, from what he describes Im betting its the o rings. tow it to pineapple.



j

rx7racer11

it just makes no sense to me how the car can run perfectly fine.. not smoke... and i let it sit for 2 daays and this happens... engines cant pop by sitting .. honestly wtf happend 2 my car

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

When I bought my car, the coolant seals were already toast (unfortunately, I didn't know that, let alone know anything about the car).

There was very little smoke at startup, however, sometimes it had a difficult time starting up. It (eventually) did, every now and then, get the coolant buzzer/alarm but that was really it. There wasn't much else going.

There is a fine line between the seals working and the seals failing. It's either or (either they are working, or they aren't).

The only thing you can do now is verify that the coolant seals have really failed and then plan on how you want to take care of it.

artguy

that is exactly what happened to mine....it was fine...came out one morning to find coolant on the ground and in the plug holes.

the coolant seals are not resistant to prolonged and repeated heat (redundant in a rotary)....they become brittle...like the edges of a cookie left in the oven too long...nice and crispy...one more overheat...no matter how slight...is all it takes for water to get through.

perhaps someone has pics of bad coolant seals....you will see what i mean.

time to get a decent radiator and IC...and also time to get that temp guage.

you keep saying that it doesnt make sense...the only reason it doesnt make sense is because you didnt know that you were driving around with it cooking like mad in there.

best keep a better eye on your oil level as well...and get a new thermostat while you are at it. you need to figure out why the thing is overheating...and perhaps an additional oil cooler would be a great mod too.


this wont be the first time this happens if you dont get the issue solved....it will be solved when your temp guage reads 90 celcius and below even during spirited driving...if you are driving around over 100 celcius then you are broiling your engine bay.



j

RonKMiller

Dood you're in denial. I have to agree with what everyone here has said, it's toast. Bummer.

Sometimes, if you are lucky and catch it early on you can take care of it with Block Weld, but the symptoms you have described indicate a massive leak that only a rebuild will cure.

rx7racer11

hey jeff's have you heard anything about a shop down here called lindorfs...?? apparently he works on rotarys.. and it somewhat decent.. thing is i dont have 4k + for a good rebuild at pineapple.. i was actually in the process of selling my car when this happend.. soo /. i either need to sell it blown or fixed cheaply as possible.. thx

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Get a reman from Mallory and then get some local help to pull your engine and install the new one.

I believe you can get a reman from Mallory (after your core is sent back) for around $2k. Of course, you'll still need yours pulled and the new one installed, but you can probably get local help for the price of some beer and pizza.

rx7racer11

well the thing is pineapple said it sounded like just a coolant seal went and it wouldnt need a full rebuild which would be $$1995.00 soo if i do yank it ill have them do it 1.. because i know they do good work..2 it would be max 1995.00 for a rebuild... according to the guy i talked with. . soo idunno ... im just going let it sit 4 awhile.. till i can come up with some cash.. or ill sell it with a blown engine which i dont really want to do

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Right, that's *if* those are the only seals/parts that need to be replaced. So, that's not a guarantee that you will only pay that price.

If you are going to sell it whether you put a new engine in it or not, try to sell it as is (if you don't have a lean on it or anything). Then, if no one wants to buy it as it, get a reman and put it in then sell it.

If you are going to keep it after putting another engine in it, then I say get the engine rebuilt.