I'm pretty much new to the whole rotor scene... i bought a used 82 off a guy for a good price, it ran fine... i ran it pretty hard a couple of times then it sat for 3 months. I tried starting it and it didn't like that. I pulled the front plugs to find that there was water and it started coming out of the two holes. Also the radiator was under pressure without it being hot at all. I was wondering if there was any fix other than replacing the water seals? And if I need to, can i replace the front seals without removing the motor. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

First off make sure there is no rust on the rotors where the seals sit or on the housings anywhere. Next you need to lube the motor with oil or marvel mystery oil to keep it from rusting.

Now the fix is real easy it just takes about a day to finish it all. You can look up the exact directions if you need I am going to give you the basic rundown to get you started.

You need to flush your radiator,then you need to get some degreaser from the parts store. I think the best is that purple power stuff. You don't nee that much,only like two caps full. Put it in the radiator and fill it up with water. Let it run till it gets to operating temp then flush it again. Now comes the boring part you need to keep filling with water only let it run for like 5 minutes each time and flush it untill the degreaser is completely out or this won't work. You will know it is out when the water isn't bubbly at all.
Here is the next step the most important. While your at the parts store you need to pick up 2 cans of the K&W Block seal. You need 2 cans because you might have to do it twice. Once you are flushed completly fill up part way with water and poor in the can of block seal. Fill the rest of the way with water. Now you have to start the car and let it run for like 30 to 45 minutes. You probably need to check on it occasanily to make sure it doesn't overheat. You should robably put a fan in front of the car and let it blow on the radiator. After the time is up turn it off and don't start or drive the car for 24 hours. Make sure you don't start the car or drive because you could f-up the whole process.

After the 24 hours drain the radiator and fill back up with water only for a few days. This is guranteed to work if done properly and it will work for a long time. Now if your water jackets are really bad or your housings have rusted away and the holes are big where the water is leaking through,this may not work or be very temporary.
I have done this to 2 seperate cars and it has lasted the rest of the life of the car on one which was almost 2 years on one,and the other car is about 7 months and still going strong.The car that is still going has like 220,000 original miles. It is an 86 n/a.

Good Luck pm me if you need any more questions answered.

 

Hey, thanks alot... i hope that works... I love to run this thing around. It's a heck of a drifter for a stock motor... I'll post later and let you know how it goes......

 

If you really have a seal failure large enough to let that much water/coolant in, the Block Weld is most likely not going to work. You are talking about enough water to wet your spark plugs and leak out when removing the primaries.

I've been through a coolant seal failure. It's just better to do it right and get the engine rebuilt. Talk to Kevin at Rotary Resurrection:

http://rotaryresurrection.com/

 

He is right but I also no how it is to be on a budget and hope for anything with in reason. If you have the money and the time I would rebuild or at leadt buy a refresh kit from real world solutions. Thats what I did with mine.

 

Well, i still haven't tried the block seal... but i did get some. I did want to change the seal, just wanst sure if I could just remove the front housing or plate whatever it is called. I just don't have the time to pull the whole motor. I've got three different manuals for my Rx but still wasnt sure.... Ant hands on experience helps...

 

Well if you are going to take it apart you miight as well fix the whole thing. Like I said before the block seal could work really good or it may not work at all. If this is your daily and you have no other choice I say block seal it. Don't be overwhelmed by rebuilding the motor if you can afford it. It is not bad at all. I rebuilt mine about a month ago and it wasn't hard at all. Good luck with everything.

 

Sorry, you can't just replace the front coolant seal. The motor is assembled from front to rear and needs to be out of the car to do this. If time is a factor, pull the motor and send it out. If money is a factor, find a good used motor or learn how to rebuild it yourself.

I'm not a fan of the block weld because it can coat the passages of the housings. The smoother the passages are from a coating of block weld, the less surface area there is available to tranfer heat from the block to the coolant. When rebuild time comes it's a pita to remove from the passage ways.