I blew a coolant seal in my engine tons of white smoke i know that is what
happened anaway anyone know how much for a fix car ran great no other issues just need coolant seals replaced. planning on pulling the motor my self and havin it fixed no porting no apex seals just coolant seals anyone have a ballpark figure at what i am lookin at $$$$$ wise?

 

The problem with doing that, is you may fix the problem, but what if another problem arises with the engine? It would suck to take all that apart and having something go wrong with an area you didn't even touch. I would recommend buying a rebuilt/remanufactured engine OR I would buy a rebuid kit for your current engine and you can save money by doing it yourself. Here's a good video that will help you a lot during your job http://www.fd3s.net/rebuild_kit.html
Hope this helps

 

plan on selling it as soon as i get it fixed

 

$2200 to $2500, includes shipping and rebuild.





Later

 

9 out of 10 times a bad coolant seal is real a retaining wall failure, which means a plate needs to be replaced. Most engine builders will not replace just the coolant seals. We will not reuse apex seals in our builds.

 

Exactly. No legitimate engine builder will take a motor apart and just replace the coolant seals. In fact, the only time I have ever reused a seal is if someone brought me a motor that only had a few hundred miles on it that wasn't put together properly. Even so, I made sure every seal was in spec. I think you might be better off finding a used running motor an installing that, then selling the car.

 

Like everyone else has said, you might as well do everything while you have the motor open. If you are selling the car, don't short change the new owner. And, it will be a stronger selling point for selling the car. The worst thing would be only replacing the coolant seals, sell the car, and then 500 miles later the guy is calling you because an Apex seal blew. Prevent what can be prevented and save yourself the trouble. The cost really isn't much more. Good luck.

 

It might be cheaper and easier to sell it "As is"

 

Yeah it will probably be cheaper to sell it as is, but if you plan on keeping it rebuild it the right way. No trustworthy shop will rebuild the motor and only replacing the coolant seals. Do it right the first time and it will save you $$$$ in the future.

 

Interesting post and interesting photo. I'd be interested in your professional opinion. What is the ultimate cause of this failure?

Does the seal just get old and deteriorate and ultimately allow combustion chamber heat to get through?
Is there some kind of engine hot spot that causes it? Could the combustion chamber pressure or heat exceed a certain limit and that cause the seal to break down?
Does corrosion caused by old coolant play a part?
Some engines die this death a lot earlier than others. Why is that?
In short what is the main reason or reasons this sort of failure occurs?

 

You have to remember the seal is just an o-ring, in the picture above the only reason the coolant seal failed was because the retaining wall crumbled away. This allows the exhaust gas to push the seal into the coolant channel.

I can only speculate that it is caused by not flushing the coolant system periodically. Others will say that it is caused by a flawed casting, where the wall was too thin to begin with. In the picture above the wall thickness is not overly thin and does not vary from one chamber to the next.

What I have noticed is that a majority of the time it happens in the bottom half of the engine, but again not always which is evident from the pic.

Flushing the coolant system may not be the solution but it certainly can't hurt. Most engines that we disassemble have major sludge and calcium deposits. Most people avoid flushing the sytem because it is a major task to get the air bubbles out and they already live in constant fear of the dreaded coolant seal failure. They are afraid if they touch the system in any way that it will then fail.

It may come down to people not using distilled water in the coolant system. Tap water is full of minerals and metals, which when trapped in the engine can be very damaging.

 

It can happen if you don't change the coolant often enough. I recommend yearly at the minimum. Always use distilled water if diluting coolant. The retaining wall can also get damaged if the motor is rebuilt and material from the old coolant o ring isn't removed from the groove.

 

I've long suspected this is what is behind many of the coolant seal failures that seem to be so prevalent. We rarely get someone with your experience who can provide insight into the problem.

We get so many posts on this Forum from people obsessing about their oil changes and what oil to use. Yet oil related engine failures are very rare. You don't see the same kind of obsessive posts talking about anti-freeze.

The distilled water rule is a good one. In some areas the water is so hard that if you use it to mix with anti-freeze you end up putting lots of nasty minerals inside your engine.

 

This seems to be the part where we should point out that the Lisle Spill Free Funnel is a 26$ tool that should be in everyones toolbox!

 

I got a ballpark price fromr pettit racing for a rebuild there quote is as cam that does all rebuilding there said 90% it is gonna cost 3,500 that is with no porting or apex seals does that seam a lil high or is it me. have prices gone up had a motor rebuilt new a seals but kept the housings and rotors for 3,000 that was at pinapple racing? and that was 3 yrs ago motor had a mild port on it.

 

Yes that is high http://www.banzai-racing.com/engine_rebuild_main.htm