did you parked it outside the street overnight?

 

i have the same symptoms, mine is a coolant o ring leak.

About to do the radweld treatment soon, will let you know how it goes

 

Yep, it was parked on the street overnight, sounds exactly like Hyperite and DaveW are talking about. I don't have the money to get it fixed right now, so should I just let the car sit, or start it up daily, or can I just drive it like I used to? Will the problem eventually get worse and blow the seal completely?

 

I wouldn't drive it around.. It will just make things worse...
Don't start it at all.. I would just disconnect the battery and forget about it untill you have enough money to pull it and get it rebuilt...

EDIT: Alright i didn't completely read all of your post.. I thought it was a cracked apex or corner seal..
If it's a coolant leak and it doesn't smoke that bad at start up and really is not drinking a lot ( Buzzer keeps coming on every hour) i would say it is safe to drive.. I would keep a very good eye on the level though.. Check it every time you park your car. You don't want to overheat and make things even worse for the rebuild. Yes overtime it will get worse.. Eventually you will go to start your car one day and have clouds of white smoke coming out or even suddenly driving down the road.. Once it gets to this point i would park it until rebuild..

 

I didn't have the money for a rebuild when I bought my car with a blown coolant seal. I did the blockweld and drove it for a shade over a year boosting at normal levels. It would have lasted allot longer if I had stayed outta the boost. You can save money allot faster if your not making bike payments too.

 

What is blockweld, and what does it entail to use it? I really don't feel like taking the whole engine apart again, I had everything off it a month ago for the LIM job, I'd much rather save for a rebuild.

 

Yeah, what he said...

 

I have never done this, but some people have had success with block-sealant products. Search for CRC block seal, blockweld, etc. The engine does not need to come apart for this, but, IIRC, there are several steps of pre-cleaning, flushing, application, and post flushing. It appears to be somewhat tedious, but often works for an extended period (1 year+) if all goes well.

Seems like it would be the way for you to go.

Good luck!

 

I wouldn't do the blockweld, you'll just gunk up other stuff in the process.

I've been driving mine for about a year and a half with a "blown" coolant seal. Other than adding coolant (water ) every couple of times I drive it, and it's a bit hard to start, it runs fine... never left me stranded. Just get a big AST, make sure all your hoses are good, and wait for nature to take its course.

But then again, there are many who say I've had exceptional "luck" with my car. 80K original motor and turbos, tuned myself, lots of mods, flog the **** out of it.

 

Well, I think you may be luckier than me :-) Started the car up today, was only rough for a few seconds, let it warm up, made sure it was full of coolant, then drove it to Kragen's to get a new gallon of coolant. Parked it, went in, bla bla bla, came back out, started it, pulled out of the parking lot, looked down and the coolant temp needle was creeping above the halfway point. Pulled right over, shut it down, kept the fans on, opened the hood, etc. Waited a bit, got a thick rag, opened the coolant cap, stepped back, and boooooosh lol. Sprayed about two feet in the air. I left it there for 10 mins with the fan running, refilled it with coolant, started it up, watched the temp for 5 mins, temp was normal, drove it home with the hood popped and fans running. The car didn't even seem to be losing much coolant, but I'm getting the coolant buzzer a lot, and ONLY while at a stop. I started it up after a half hour after I got it home to put it in the driveway, and it started reeeeeal rough, idled at like 500 for 10 seconds, then came back up.

 

You've done this so you know it will gunk up your system. ? ? ?
Yours seems to be the exception not the general rule. The way his is going if he doesn't park it he'll overheat it and warp things if he doesn't stop the leak.
Still running the same coolant system that I blok weld treated and nothing clogged here.

 

^^^

The history of posts on this subject indicates that a large % of the folks that have done this AND HAVE COMPLETED ALL OF THE RECOMMENDED STEPS have had success.

 

I haven't done it (obviously) but i've seen the aftermath of a block weld treatment after the engine finally blew: clogged heater core, disgusting radiator, and grit-filled overflow tank.
Clearly I'm an exceptional RX-7 owner But yeah, his sounds to be going downhill rather quickly, in which case I wouldn't expect block weld to be a viable solution anyway.
How long ago did you do it?

 

I've been running on my replaced motor and cooling system for 2 years now. I did the block weld treatment right after I got the car and drove it for just over a year. The 140-150 mph runs probably lead to the failure of the treatment prematurely. For all that o be clogged the engine had to over heated and major loss of coolant in the system as the stuff need heat pressure and air to form the seal. I believe you'll find that heat and lack of air the stuff will go back into solution. any palce you find it is where there is a pressure void. it moves to it fills it and when it hits the air it seals. I've even gone to the Evans coolant with zero pressure no heating problems what so ever, also live in Fla where it has been none to cool lately. Jack
I'm not saying this is a proper fix or something that should be done, there are lots of variables that can affect the out come of this procedure. It's a baind aid and just a way to buy time (put away funds, prepare for the rebuild, swap, whatever) It was a pain in the butt to clear out the system of the old coolant, flush, add degreaser, flush, flush, flus and flush some more. So is it something I recomend ? Sure unless you'd just rather let it sit till everything is in place. Is that a better alternative, yes if you plann on beating the crap out of the car in this condition you'll only make thing worse/more expensive. It's his car and his perogative, this is just a option for him to choose or not. Jack

 

Block weld treatment: www.rotaryresurrection.com ---> tech ---> coolant seal fix

The reason you have rough running on startup is because the engine is flooding itself with coolant in one chamber and it takes a few rotations to push it out of the way and allow combustion to begin.

I know this was edited, but this is the worst advice you can give for a coolant seal motor. Either continue to start it at least once a week, or drain ALL the coolant from the radiator AND block, crank it for many seconds with the plugs out to expel any puddled up coolant, inject some atf or motor oil into the plug holes, crank it repeatedly to cover all surfaces, and store it that way.

Why, you ask? Read about halfway down the page: www.rotaryresurrection.com ---> tech ---> internal engine damage

 

Um...have you ever seen the warning label on the coolant system caps that says "DO NOT OPEN WHEN HOT"? No offense, but was there a reason why you decided to empty out half the coolant system on your engine compartment?

 

Lucky me, I've got an internal (and external) oil leak as well!

 

Hahaha that's actually a very good question... I guess I was just pissed off at my car, I wanted to see if it had lost a ton of coolant, which was dumb, but hey, it looked pretty damn cool. :-)