YoshiFD3S

iTrader: (19)

Wellllllllllll.....the day started off the same as any other. I ended up headin' to my friend's house, cause I needed to finish messing with the vacuum-lines on the boost actuator to try and get rid of the overboosting problems I was having. According to the Poor Man's Sequential instructions that I had followed on NoPistons, that was the last thing I needed to do.

So anyways. I did.

So I turned down my little Home Depot boost controller (which I have used before on my T2, so I know it works, it's just an adjustable valve) and so the car was running fine. I was only getting like 8psi, just as I was before, but to be safe, I wanted to have the BC turned all the way down.

So, I continue driving, and pulling over to adjust it little by little. I adjusted it too high a few times and so it overboosted, and thanks to the plastic intercooler line not being bolted down right (by the alternator), the intercooler coupler kept popping off. Obviously as soon as I saw the boost gauge read anything over 10psi I pulled over, but it kept popping off regardless, and of course I didn't have a flat-head screw driver in my car to tighten the clamp...just a nickle...dime...quarter. :/

ANYWAYS, back to the point of the story.

So, one of the times I had pulled over, I noticed steam under the hood. I couldn't figure out what it was at first...then it went away.

So I drive another like...500 feet, overboosted again, IC coupler pops off, I pull over.

Next thing I know there's LOTS of steam. Greaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat.

Turns out one of the nipple on the good ole' stock AST had broken off INTO the line itself and yeah...leaked lots....I mean....lots...of coolant.

Well, all I COULD for the time being was cap off the line coming off the motor (by the thermostat) that goes to that part of the AST, and then basically plug up the AST itself.

So I drive, wasn't too bad I guess....raced an STI from slow 1st gear till 3rd....owned him...feelin' good.

So I look at my litttle POS aftermarket temp gauge. It's reading 230F and my stock coolant temp gauge is uhh....up there, as well.

I pull over immediately, and there's lots-o-steam under the hood. Turns out the larger radiator line that goes to the motor, the clamp wasn't on properly, and spewing the coolant smoke, so I fixed that, no more leakage.

I let it cool down a bit, then pulled into the next gas station to buy coolant. Filled it up, topped it off, off I go. I continue to drive to my destination, and watch my aftermarket temp gauge just progressively make it's way back up there...to the higher temps.

Finally got to my destination, and the temp was 232F again. Stock temp gauge was over the fkin' 'H' at this point. Woooooooooow...the whole time I'm about ready to kill myself.

Thankfully, I remembered I had Jason's (RX7club member) cell #, and he just so happened the stock AST off his FD, and some hours later, after shooting pool, and letting the car cool down, we install it, fill it up, and was on my way.

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SO.....230F....yeeeeeeaaahhhhhhh....and of course, after installing the replacement AST, she was pretty damn low on coolant. Had to use water at this point, cause the gas station only had 1 jug, and she gulped that, and half of another jug's worth of water, down.

Drove my buddy home, boosting back at 8-9psi again, ran nice and cool between 160F-180F on the aftermarket gauge, stock gauge remained where it should be.

Adjusted my little boost controller a tad bit more on the way home, and now she's boosting solid at 10psi in 1st, and 9-10psi in the rest of the gears....and so, here I am now, typing up the story.

So....basically, I'm still kinda nervous, though the car seemed to act fine as soon as we replaced the AST, 'cept a little occasional steam from under the hood, figuring it is/was coolant or water that was spilled onto the motor, etc.

I'm hoping 230F isn't enough to consider the motor toast now, and you'd think if it were, it would have shown symptoms from the overheating (AKA: boom) on the way home, but it didn't, so I'm hoping she's OK for now.

Alluminum AST...I plan on buying one in the next few weeks, just need to get another paycheck for it.

WOW what a night.

P.S. Don't give me crap for the Home Depot boost controller. Profec B Spec II coming soon, but I KNOW this thing works, because I've used it before on my T2, and it never ONCE overbooted, spiked, or leaked. It's just a valve that you tighten/loosen, and doesn't leak or spike anymore on the FD thanks to my adjustments made to the boost actuator, as intstructed by the Poor Man's Non-Sequential walk-through on NoPistons.

Comments...suggestions....similar experiences...anyone?

Cgotto6

iTrader: (8)

This thread sucks. You abuse your car.

"So I drive, wasn't too bad I guess....raced an STI from slow 1st gear till 3rd....owned him...feelin' good."

Its always good to drive hard on your car when its not running right...At least thats what ive heard.

ELS7

Your engine is toast or will be toast soon. ANYTIME your temp gauge moves past the middle you have damaged your engine. Its even possible to overheat the engine while never seeing it go past the middle mark because the gauge is not linear and moves only when it is extremely hot. It may run fine now but sooner or later you will see the symptoms of faileled orings. Rebuild the engine now before it gets much worse and costs u more. Compression tests are useless because its your coolant seals that are damaged. sorry to say but smoke on startup will be in your near future. i know this because it happened to me this summer(i only overheated for a few seconds and immediately shut off) and my cars been sitting ever since. now im going with an ls1 swap.

ehos

"Turns out one of the nipple on the good ole' stock AST had broken off INTO the line itself and yeah...leaked lots....I mean....lots...of coolant."

Story should've ended here. You should've towed it home or had it fixed properly right there.

Driving on, racing, letting the STOCK temp gauge get to 'H' etc etc. ALL BAD. Going for a long drive after 'fixing' your car. BAD. You must've expected something to come up. You should've just went around the block and did your little 'boost' testing close to home.

Sorry but I gotta agree with Cgotto6. You abused your FD for no reason!

Cgotto6

iTrader: (8)

Umm...Well seems this is your first post..So welcome.

But I dont think your engine is for sure gone. If you only hit 230's you have a pretty good chance of bein fine.

I definetly wouldnt rebuild the engine now. Haha, that would be down right funny.

level7

iTrader: (3)

basicaly, your saying you lost tons of coolent, and then continued to run it hard. no, i wont bust your ***** for the home depot controller, but you kinda opened yourself up to the "wtf are you thinking?" and the ever so popular, "sell your car." im not flaming you or nuthin but come on man, common sense. hopefully nothing got damaged, good luck.

BlueRex

I see a blown motor, empty pockets, and a FS ad in your future... near future.

sferrett

The thing about overheating the engine is... it's not neccesarily a 'boom' kind of failure. Usually something warps slightly and you end up using coolant due to the o-rings in the engine leaking. Make sure your low-coolant buzzer is working and keep an eye on your temps and the coolant level for a while to make sure things are ok. You may indeed be lucky, but it's gonna take a little time to know for sure.

Oh and yeah... I'll refrain from commenting on how we got here, I think the other folks have summed that up pretty good so far.

Sneak

Long story short for me, I hit black ice going like 70+ and went over a curb and I GOT lucky not poped tires noting broke but my Radatior... my liitle buzzer went off I dont think I have every turned a car off faster... I GOT LUCKY poped in a new RAD took it to rotary preformance and had them look at it...all was well.... ALL HAIL THE 7

dubulup

HAHAHA!! I stopped reading this **** after that statement too


best of luck to you YoshiFC3S...I definitely thought by owning a TII you knew how unforgiving a turbo rotary is.

and to race with a failing cooling system...you definitely lost respect there, and then to write about...that's twice dumb

manny34711

get a civic idiot

RX 4 Speed

wow you guys are all harsh... but what can I say, that WAS dumb to post this and expect good responses or praises from us. Racing after KNOWING you have a problem with the cooling system? tsk tsk... I wouldn't even DRIVE it, let alone race it. You need to use proper judgement rather than get caught in the moment... you need to grow up.

Cgotto6

iTrader: (8)

Always got those awesome comments brewing in that head, huh?

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

I closed this because very few people were making contributions.

Run a pressure check and compression check and hope for the best. No way to surely know if it was badly damaged or not.

Dave