Lemonfresh

iTrader: (1)

Lemme give you some back ground first. I have a 94 touring with an Apexi intake and RB dual exhaust other than some clutch and brake work its bone stock. Almost 99000 miles. I check the coolant and oil every time before a drive, it has not been losing oil (at an alarming rate) or coolant (full to the top of the fill cap every time).

Last week I went to take it for a drive, when it started it was idling very rough and and sounded like it was only running on 1 rotor. After about 5 seconds it cleared up and ran just fine. This only happens on cold starts. As its not loosing coolant, I would have to imagine that its an internal seal sticking. I have been meaning to steam clean it for some time now and put it on my list of things to do on my next day off.

Yesterday, while I was at work, my girl friend wanted to take the car for a spin (its hers to). She said that when she started it, it idled rough and sounded funny for about 30 seconds and then she shut it off. She went back out and tried it again about an hour later and it puff a big blue cloud of smoke and still idled rough.

So it sat until today. When it started up today it idled rough for about 5 seconds again then cleared up. Vacuum at idle was at 19 - 20 inches, water temp was about 150F. I proceeded with the steam clean. Did the rear rotor first, took a little over a minute to suck down the gallon of distilled water, spitting and sputtering the whole way. When we did the front, we had the motor at about 3500 rpm . Stuck the hose in the water, the motor did not start sputtering at all and sucked the water down really fast. I started looking around and the water was coming out underneath of the car. Right below the turbos and also running down the pre-cat to the cat. It was not coming from the hose sucking up the water.

After this we took it for a spin to clean it out and make sure it is running ok. Vacuum at idle actually is now in the 15 - 16 range. Which is usually where it sits. When the turbo(s) come online, we now notice a sucking/whining sound coming from the passenger side of the car. It was there before but seems to be more pronounced than before. I made sure the vacuum lines I took off the UIM were connected at both ends so it should not be a vacuum leak. 3 gear pull still showing 10 - 6 or 7 - 10. We are at 4200 feet so I would expect a slightly lower transition pressure. It does feel like it has lost a little bit of power though.

Sorry for the book, just wanted to answer any questions that might pop up.

So water dropping under the car during steam clean. Bad LIM to UIM gasket? Bad exhaust gasket or turbo gasket? Or cracked exhaust or turbo? The water did not seem to be making it into the rotor housing.

Whining/sucking sound. Just normal and never had the stereo low enough to notice it before? By product of a bad seal around the turbo area?

Loss of power and no vacuum increase, see above.

Or something else?

helghast7

iTrader: (6)

well im by far, no expert on these thing, but the visual im getting by your description, it actually sounds like you have a hole somewere in your piping

which would explain the crappy idle and the sucking noise coming from the side, because if this were true, essentially you have one big vaccum leak because of this "hole" or crack

though since it still holds normal vaccum after a certain time its hard to say thats definety what it is

i dont know if you can get your hands on this, but your best bet to see if you do have some sort of crack or leak, is to get a smoke machine and see if the smoke comes pouring out of any place it shouldnt

it can be done with the engine off, and its safer then pouring more water or any other substance into the engine with it on

anything further then that is above my head, but it would be a good place to start since it will remove alot of factors, such as bad/ broken items such as lines and gaskets

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

Sounds like two seperate issues. Pressure test the cooling system and check for boost leaks.

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

If the water didn't make it into the housing but was exiting near the turbos then it's probably your LIM -> engine gasket.

http://www.mazdatrix.com/c-2.htm

Part: 13-111C-N3A1

existanzrx7

iTrader: (8)

Something similar happened to me when I did the steam clean on my seven. I pored the water in threw both rotors at the same time and I notice water leaking from the turbo area also. So what I did was jack the car up and pored more water in and got under the car to see where It was leaking out of and notice it was leaking from where the down pipe bolts up to the turbo manifold. I notiched that i had one of the bolts work it self loose and that’s where the water was leaking from so all I did was tightened the bolt and its all good now. Know for the water that was leaking its just water that didn’t burn up during combustion maybe dew to feeding the engine to much water and it just couldn’t burn it fast enough.