Help me guys!! I'm stumped and totally baffled!!

Took the FD out in the morning to visit a client (my daily drive was taken by my sis)... Checked coolent level, top-ped up everything, & car was last used 3 or 4 days ago (totally no probs). Yesterday, i took out thespeakers in both doors, basically, i jus unplugged them and unscrewed the entire mounting. The wirings, i left them alone.

When i took the car out, did a 15km drive, of which 9km was a crawl (read: snail's pace). Got to my client's place, rested the car for 2 hrs or so.. drove to lunch 8kms away... traffic was bad, alot of start-stop situations. but everything was still ok. Had lunch, started car, low coolent buzzer sounded... drove 50m and the temp needle shooted up! my low coolent buzzer has sounded b4, but nothing happened, so i figured that it was one of those days. pop-ed the hood, cooled the engine down abit, check coolent level, only to find out that... IT WAS LITERALLY BONE DRY!!!

What happened??! I'm worried sick!!! refilled coolent with distilled water... took me like 1.8 litres to refill the entire thing. limped the car back... and proceed to write this help message now...

Did me removing the speakers have anything to do with this? i didnt even drive the car hard.. traffic was horrendous. Please help... car still idles ok... not rough at all.. as if nothing happened.

Please help!! whats my next course of action? Thanks in advance!!

Joe

 

Speakers won't dump your coolant. You most likely have a big hole somewhere on one of your coolant lines or radiator. Top it off and let the car sit overnight. Look under the car for a big puddle of coolant on the floor. If it's not there and your coolant is just dissapearing...I don't know, maybe your car is burning it. FCs burn coolant when a seal goes bad. May be the same for the FDs.

 

the speakers wouldn't have anything to do with it.

now, i don't have an FD, but i'm pretty sure of 2 things.

first, it would take more than 2 liters to fill if the system was bone dry, my Rx-7 takes over a gallon (1 gallon = 3.78 L) - if you had a SIGNIFICANT leak (broken hose or big hole), you would have purged the entire system when the engine was running.

second, driving around in the heat if Malaysia without antifreeze would most certainly have cooked the motor. even if it ran fine, it would not restart after you shut it down.

now 2 liters is a lot to refill and i doubt the overflow holds that much reserve, so there is good chance that the engine ran much hotter than it should have - as your gauge displayed. that's not good, but if you can start the engine and it idles, you're in better shape than a real overheating situation.

1. check the system for leaks
2. check for adequate pressure
3. check for TOO MUCH pressure and a lot of combustion gases in your antifreeze
4. post your findings

good luck

 

Another thing you may try is to pull your spark plugs and inspect the business ends of them. If the insulators are shiny white it is because coolant leaking into the combustion chambers is steam-cleaning them to a high shine. This may also be accompanied by a big cloud of white smoke coming out the exhaust even after the reaches operating temps. These insulators are supposed to be dry and a light tan or grey shade when the engine is running normally.

While you're at it, pull out the dipstick and inspect the oil. If it has a whitish appearance this would also be caused by coolant leaking into the combustion chambers. One thing about over-heating these engines is that the damage may not be evident right away. Sometimes it can take weeks or even months after the overheating incident for the symptoms to arise.

 

thanks a million for all the valuable feedback.

Ok... i did a compression test, no problem... check plugs = not yet... check dip stick, no problem...

Will be going through the car with some friends to check the plumbings & the radiator, next weekend. Will update u guys on this.

However (big sighh!!), a new problem cropped up after that incident. Car no longer overheats, but still losing coolent at a drastic rate. HOWEVER (big big sighh again...), my car now has this very weird, and very scary "hiccup". Whenever i "floor" the happy pedal... as soon as the RPM reaches 3500 and above, the car will "jerk" and "lunge" violently. Something like the power being cut off immediately. However, this does not happen when i "gradually" let the rpm "climb" to 3500 and above (ie. constant n easy revving).

My car is still stock, i've jus got an aftermarket cat-back exhaust & the cat has been removed. Everything else is pure stock... yes, im still on stock air box.

Guys, any idea as to what's going on here? Would really appreciate some insights & advices.

Thanks in advance!!

 

I had a hole in my upper rad hose but couldnt see it because it was under 1 of the clamps... it was tiny but spewed out a ton of coolant.. check that and check the AST if youre still running the stock 1

 

sounds a bit like boost creep, also, check for the smell of burning coolant, it may just be a hose or something

 

start the car, let it warm up and then move it and see if anythigns on the ground?
check for smoke in the process?
pray it smokes underhood....

otherwise, your.......................................

 

Ok guys... something weird here... My car DOES NOT lose water at all when it's not running (so no puddle of anything under where it's parked). Hence, the radiator or any of the plumbing must be intact? Or it doesnt work this way?

No burning coolant smell... smoke underhood? a little, near where the turbines are... but little, not much. Stock AST is ok.

Any further advices please?

Thanks all in advance again.

Btw, slpin... pray it smokes underhood.... otherwise, your......................................., err... care to elaborate pls? scary...

 

You need a coolant pressure tester. You hook it up to your filler cap and start pumping. Set it for the same PSI as the cap is rated for (stock FD spec) and wait. Look around everywhere under the car, everything, look for leaking coolant. If you have a problem, the PSI will drop and you need to find out where the pressure/coolant is going. Listen for leaks and look, use your hands and check areas that you can't see to feel for coolant.

good luck.

 

oooo, run the car with radiator cap off and look for bubles?
and smoke near turbo, maybe the coolant hose that goes to the turbo cracked?but still shouldnt dirnk that much......