whiteweazel21

iTrader: (2)

I think it might be a sign, after everything was said and done, my hood lever broke. Is it my baby not wanting me to see her die!?

Long story short, I bought the car in November, stored it for the winter. It's a nice low mileage (38,000 miles) nearly stock car with the exception of an aftermarket catback. As summer came about, I began having an issue where in stop & go traffics the rpms, noticeable in 1st gear, would drop very low instead of holding at idle. The car felt like it may just be about to stall, but would always recover back to a healthy idle. Soon after, the AST cracked. I figured it would be a good time to get some maintainance done. So I ordered a new AST and had it installed & I had all the fluids and filters (courtesy of Ray) replaced. At that time I had also purchased the coolant hose kit that Ray was having a summer special on, so I had the shop redo all the coolant hoses as well. Things were good, except for the rpm issue still popping up (throttle body related?).

Since I got the car back, I had put about ~150 miles on it. It was a cool summer day, didn't need the AC just put the windows down. I drove it home from work, which is about a 5 mile/12 minute drive, nothing extreme. I park it, and a couple minutes later I start hearing it boiling over. I have no clue where the boiling was coming from, but it sounded like a pot of boiling water. I had a meeting I needed to attend, popped the hood hoping it might cool a bit, and ran off. Later I did a lot of reading on the forums to try and see where I was situated. I was a bit relieved to see while not normal, this was somewhat common (boiling after turning the engine off). The next day I checked the coolant level, full. Checked the overfill tank, and it was really low, just barely hitting the bottom tip of the plastic meter stick. I filled it up and started the car. At that point I noticed a bit of white smoke out the exhaust, and went to check it. It smelled sweet like coolant. I started the car up again today, there was about 10-15 seconds of very light white smoke, but it still smelled really sweet. While the car started right up with no problems, it was lightly backfiring a bit for a minute or two. I gave it a few light revs, the backfire is there when letting go of the throttle. I went to open the hood, and the lever gave way....a sign of DOOM!?

So I was hoping I could get some help as to where I stand and what went wrong. Is it safe to say that when the car boiled over the coolant seals were damaged, and I am looking at a rebuild? Is there any other possible reason I would smell coolant through the exhaust, a leak or error with the new coolant hoses or ast? Also, would anyone say mechanic is responsible for this happening? Like I said, I only put 150 miles or less after picking it up. At the same time, I understand this could have been due to a number of different things, but it just seems somwhat related to me and I'm not sure if there would be any reason to assume this.

Sorry for the long, incoherent ramble lol. But damn...it really sucks having this happen AFTER getting all the maintainance done LOL.

twinturborx7pete

iTrader: (3)

Well you'll end up replacing your hood lever cord. It is all one part. The hood is relatively easy to pop open without the lever. You can use a metal clothes hanger, bend it to a 90 degree angle and look between the crack of your hood and front bumper. Using a flash light you should see the hood latch mechanism. There are 2 small holes, if I recall, that you can see. Use the clothes hanger to poke the bottom hole (if I recall) hold and hook into it. Then pull the hanger back slowly. It only takes a little bit of pressure. You won't have to yank.. you'll be surprised.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

unfortunately, it's fairly common for low-mileage cars to develop coolant o-ring problems. It's a combination of them not being driven and the coolant not being changed regularly. It gets acidic and attacks the seals. My brother's ~30k mile FD experienced a similar fate right before DGRR this year.

P.S. I've since switched to Evans coolant on my FD, so I'll never have to worry about changing it again

whiteweazel21

iTrader: (2)

Rich... ironically you are the person I was looking forward to contacting in regards to the aftermath, and you posted in my thread

So at this point, is there absolutely no doubt that this is a coolant seal issue?

Yea, researching the topic I did find a few threads mentioning it was not uncommon for the coolant seals to go on low mileage engines.

What is the best way to contact you? I'd like to get a better understanding of the handling of the rebuild procedure. I may have to wait a bit to save up some and get a few more things done. Actually I was eying a new engine since they supposedly are a good deal, but I'd still want you to install it if I go that route. Have these new engines literally been sitting on a shelf for that last 17 or so years? Anyway, I will try and contact you soon, let me know how.

Thanks

whiteweazel21

iTrader: (2)

Hate to beat a dead cow but...

My understanding is that when the car boiled over, the coolant seal got damaged correct? Considering I just had new coolant hoses and AST installed, and only put about 150 miles on the car after recieving it from the garage, is it possible the coolant seal got damaged from the work done on the car? Could a damaged coolant seal have cause the car to boil over in and of itself? Or is it just like Goodfella mentioned, the low mileage car with infrequently changed coolant regardless of work done on the car?

I'm just trying to better understand what happened. It's definately a coolant seal right?

Thanks

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

It's hard to say definitely without the car in front of us. I'd say time will tell.... see if the car hard starts, if you get white smoke out the tailpipe, and you also can search for 'champagne bubbles' to give you one procedure that'll tell you if the seals are shot. Cooling system problems can be a real PITA to troubleshoot.

whiteweazel21

iTrader: (2)

I see, thought that might be the case. The car starts up fine like always. The first time I started it the day after the car boiled over, I could see the white smoke from my mirrors, somewhat thick/dense and a fairly large cloud. Second time I started it up, there was still white smoke, but a lot less, thinner, and for a much shorter duration, about 12 seconds. Both times the exhaust smelled sweet like coolant, although a slighly different odor than when it boiled over. From the engine bay when it boiled over, the smell was more like a mixture of sweetness & burnt plastic.

I did read about the champagne bubble test, I will have to give it a shot. I'm actually heading out to NYC for work tommorow, doing the NY International Gift Show at the Jacob Javits. I just wish there was a way I could bring my car along and drop it off at your shop