I've had this issue were pressurised air/gas causes my coolent to go to my overflow tank and i didnt know whats causing it, there was allmost never smoke when i start it so i dont know what the hell is up, but anyways it used to be id siphon the coolent out of the overflow and release the pressure by the pressure release screw on the radiator and refill it.
and this is what happened tonight
My coolent decided to blow, like i drove it for about 4 min just heading home from my gf's house and i filled the coolent and empied the overflow like i allways do and when i got home i had smoke coming from the area of the coolent hose that is the return feed (the bottom passenger side of the radiator area near the engine).
and there isnt a drop of coolent on the ground so im absolutely confused cause with that much smoke there should be a significant leak somewere.
and the smoke was bad enough to flow out of the hood.
im thinking its my radiator cause before i drove home i refilled the coolent and decided to do the bubble test (engine was not cold but it had only been running for about 3-5 min so the gauge had barely started to move and i allready released all pressure from the system) and it just exploded up in a wave of coolent that didnt stop so i turned it off and drove it home (after refilling coolent of course)
and there is allmost never smoke coming out of the exhaust so i dont think its the seals.... well i hope its not the seals.
and there isnt a water pump on the car... like theres an air pump and alternator and thats it... no water pump im assuming that rotary's pump the coolent somehow but id just thought id mention that.
i hope you can help cause i dont like not knowing whats wrong with the car especially since its my first rotary and ive only had it for a week.
anyways thankx again.

 

It sounds like it's blown the coolant seals. Your engine is doing what my first one used to do. Dump overflow back into engine and repeat until upper rad hose split apart. Did your low coolant buzzer go off at all?

 

Rotaries have a water pump on the front of the engine....below the alternator.

If that is missing the engine will be f%cked

 

Oh dammit.... So are replacing coolant seals expensive???
Like what range for the seal and if you have an idea how long would a shop take on it.

 

Oh yeah the buzzer always goes off, unless I'm over a specific rpm, that's how I tell how low it is, anything over 3k to shut up the sensor and I just pull over and do my coolant.

 

Honestly I didn't see one and I know what they look like and all... Well it could have been the fact that my car died and it was 2am so I might have missed it but I'll check asap for that and post back.

 

Post a pic of the engine bay.
...and IF you have a bad coolant seal,that means you need to rebuild the engine..No easy fix on that one.

 

yeah i found it, im used to FWD setups so the fan threw me for a loop.
in other words i found my water pump.

so why is it not an easy fix????
wouldent you just take apart the engine and replace the seal??

 

as mentioned, requires a full rebuild.

if you do it yourself you might get away with getting it done for about $1k, if you have a shop do it, expect to pay $1350+ for the rebuild and $700+ for the engine R+R with parts. that is the bottom line price, anything cheaper is a homeless person with snot rags cleaning your engine in your driveway with spit.

time to post a craigslist ad, as wacky always sais: Junk it!

 

sorry i dont quite follow the bit that puts my cost at 1000$ if i do it myself.
unless thats how much a engine rebuild seal set costs.

 

it's hard to say how much a rebuild will cost til u get the engine torn down and find out what all will need replacing. if this is a high mileage engine it's quite possible it will need all the internal metal seals replaced as well. i have yet to do one for under 1k.

 

rebuild parts alone cost at MINIMUM $650, on the cheap average you will be spending about $350 on other miscellaneous parts like coolant hoses, vacuum lines, gaskets, sealant, engine oil, coolant, oil filter, clutch, fuel lines, water pump, etc, etc, etc. there is other consumables to consider as well such as parts cleaner, rags, grease, etc.

if you're going to do the job you need to address any issues that will arise, including worn internal engine parts because these engines do not last forever.

if you think you can get away with simply replacing the coolant seals, nope. you also have to at minimum replace the oil seals and the stock 3 piece apex seals are probably well worn beyond max specification on engines with over 125k miles and are about ready to start falling out of the apex seal slot resulting in a fresh motor that eats a seal.. which requires more money, another rebuild and more replacement parts.

keep in mind generally when you have a geyser from the cooling system it means you have a failed iron, which usually cost about $125+ for a good used part, you may have several that have failed coolant seal walls by the sound of it.

do it right or don't do it at all. this is the best you can expect, coming from one of the most reasonably priced rebuilders out there.

 

I just went through the exact same issue. It cost me $1450 mostly in labor plus the cost of two brand new 12A housing (I'd been sitting on these for a few years), brand new e-shaft, new rotor seals, bearings, etc... Al together I probably have over $4500 in the engine. My suggestion tear it down and find out what you need and then hire someone experienced to put it together. I had Jesse Prather from Jesse Pather Motorsports rebuild mine.

 

is there a good site that explains how to tear down a rotary engine?

 

youtube.

 

whatever you do DO NOT LET IT OVERHEAT cause it might still have some life in it. i had the same problem with my first fc. turns out that the throttle body inlet coolant thing was rusted and clogged. it eventually built up a lot of pressure and imploded.

anyways look on the side of the throttle body closest to the fire wall. there is a BLACK coolant hose that connects to it. remove it and cap it. now check to see if the tb coolant inlet is rusted from the iNSiDE. you can tell if its not leaking coolant from the tb. if its rusted then just do the tb mod. i have seen it so many times.

it gets pretty cold in alabama so i think the moisture in the air could of caused it to rust a lot quicker.

i heard that if the leak isnt that severe then one can use a coolant additive that will seal up the coolant jacket seals. idk...

if not then

 

Alumaseal will work on blown coolant seals, but only under certain circumstances. It will not work in this case because he has exhaust gases being forced into the coolant. If you put anything in the coolant to seal the leak, it will just be pushed away from the repair area by the force of the gases.

When a 12a loses a coolant seal, you usually end up with the coolant going out the exhaust. That makes the Alumaseal a good option, because the flow is toward the repair area, rather than away from it.

I would also suggest that you consider buying a used engine if you don't want to dump big bucks on a rebuild.

Good luck...




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sounds like my problem. My does the same thing. No antifreeze in the exhaust smell like i have had with other cars. So i don't think it is a seal but maybe something is clogged. But the motor has overheated on me on the road so i think i screwed myself though.