bgchrisrx7

My new dd (87 base model 125k) recently started producing the dreaded "peanut butter" oil of a bad coolant seal. I am short on cash at the moment (just bought wheels and tires, brakes, springs, struts, and swaybars less than a week ago) so rebuilding right now is out of the question for me (even though I know its the only right way to really fix the problem). I was wondering if anyone had used any products such as K&W Permanent Metallic block seal, Heal-a-Seal coolant system sealer, Steelseal head and block sealer, Thermagasket etc. and with what (if any) success was achieved (rotary or piston)?

bgchrisrx7

Well it looks as if I am going to be the first to try this.... so saturday I am going to try it and will post my results after I do... hope this works and fixes the problem until it can be repaired!

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

It's rather extraordinary that the seal has failed in that way. This is almost an unheard of failure. If a coolant seal fails, it almost always leaks into the engine.

Search for "paul yaw coolant fix" for info on using sealer to try and fix this issue. Be aware that he sealer will make a real mess of the cooling system, so when you actually rebuild it, you are in for a lot of fun...

bgchrisrx7

I am leaking coolant into my oil... making the oil look like creamy peanut butter. Thats what I was referring to. I was assuming that it was the coolant seal that was bad... should I be looking into other faulty seals? I will check that out Aaron thanks!

gracer7-rx7

iTrader: (16)

post a pic of the oil.

did you notice the oil looked off when changing or were you just looking at the oil filler neck?

how many miles on that oil? what brand/weight was it?

Kentetsu

That's not produced by a leaking seal, but rather by condensation forming in the crank case.

This could be due to a bad PCV valve.

I have used a product (which you shouldn't need) called Alumaseal with great success, for anyone that really does have a leaking coolant seal (white smoke out the exhaust).

bgchrisrx7

The pic of the oil is hard to do right now as I am at work... but the last (first time on the car since I had it about 3 weeks) the oil looked fine... like regular old used oil. But since it has been getting cooler outside it has been getting worse. It looks like chocolate milk on the dipstick and has almost no moisture in the filler tube and is kind of frothy. I used 10w30 Pennzoil and a pennzoil filter (PZ33 to be exact) and it has about 2000 miles on this oil change... I hope that additional info helps. I have not yet done a leakdown pressure test because the shop I work at doesnt have the correct sized test fitting (Snap on comes tomorrow though so I will). So am I correct in gathering that it is NOT a faulty seal from the information I have been presented??? Also if it is not a bad seal how do I go about fixing it and making sure it doesn't happen again? I don't think that I can take another load of stress like this from my DD (why I got out of 7s for so long in the first place) Thanks for all your help.

rxtasy3

iTrader: (2)

unless one of the housings is cracked at the cooling passages or one of the freeze plugs in the front housing behind the front cover came out, there's no way for coolant to get into the oil. when the coolant seals go bad, the coolant gets into the combustion chamber. the fix is a rebuilt.

bgchrisrx7

What would other side effects of these problems be? The car is not running hot
(checked with factory and aftermarket mechanical gauges). The oil pressure seems a bit low on the gauge but it is within spec if I use an external gauge (a bit on the low side of spec but not bad). Would seafoam or another similar product help if it is just condensatio (along with a new PCV). What else other than a pressure holding test should I try to deduce the true cause of my chocolate milk oil?

Kentetsu

Dude, trust me on this. We deal with this all the time on 1st gens after owners remove the "rat's nest", otherwise known as "all the emissions equipment". Complete removal of the rat's nest also eliminates the factory method of dealing with condensation.

To work around this, I simply run a vacuum line from a nipple on the filler tube to a vacuum source. This seems to work fine. Others like to get a little complicated, and add a PCV valve to the system, which also seems to work fine.

Your car should already have a PCV system in place, unless you have removed it for some reason, so I would assume that your PCV valve is defunct and in need of replacement. So do that, then change the oil, then stop worrying about it. You'll be fine.

P.S. While I am a great lover of Seafoam, I do not ever recommend adding it (or any other type of addative other than Lucas) to the oil. Put it in the gas tank, and it will do wonderful things for you. But for the crank case, only add oil...


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diabolical1

iTrader: (3)

+1

this is the most likely cause of your problem.

bgchrisrx7

NEW SYMPTOM!!!!! Oil in my coolant!!! Yay effin rah! Ok so now I really need some advice/someone to talk me out of torching the car!!!!

gracer7-rx7

iTrader: (16)

Dude learn to use paragraphs. We're trying to help but your posts are almost illegible b/c you don't use a frickin paragraph anywhere. Don't make us have to work at it.


That crap in the oil filler neck is normal when seasons change. You can search the forums and see a bunch of pics just like what you described.

Why do you think you have oil in your coolant? When was the last time you did a full flush and fill? Coolant sometimes does look like it has some oily spots but I've never seen real engine oil actually making its way to the coolant.

bgchrisrx7

Sorry gracer, its somewhat difficult to think in paragraph form when I am at work.
I work in a repair shop, however I have no real technical experience with rotaries. So I will do as best I can describing this.

When I removed my radiator cap to try to do a pressure test today the same somewhat foamy oily (very closely resembling what results from a blown head gasket in a piston engine) was all that was in my radiator. It appears to be the same as the frothy gunk on my dipstick.
It is also running low on coolant.

The previous owner claimed to have flushed it before making the haul to Kentucky from Texas and when I purchased the car the coolant looked very fresh and green so I had no reason to disbelieve that.
The car is getting harder and harder to start (cold or hot) and is starting to run warmer as time progresses and it is used more.

I am almost to the point that I am just disgusted with rotaries again and would ALMOST just drop a 302 in this bitch and call it a day (or reliable... whatever). But the rotard in me can't see it in his heart to bastardize another one and instead ask for real problems by 13bt swapping it... if I can find the $$$$s.

w.sen

iTrader: (8)

I used water glass sodium silicate ..you have to take out the thermostat to do that.. Flush out the cooling system real good.. Use the shitty oil to do that.. Then toss in the good oil and fill the cooling system with water glass and water.. Run until warm leave the water glass mixture in for a week ... I idled every day for a week for 30 minutes.. Then I started lightly driving it.. Then filled with 50/50 coolant Worked pretty good for me.. I use 20 50w penzoil with a k&n oil filter

rxtasy3

iTrader: (2)

is ur car an automatic? the trans oil coolers in the radiator on automatics will sometimes start leaking transmission fluid into the radiator..

bgchrisrx7

Nope 5 speed... means something is bad wrong huh???

jb5365

iTrader: (1)

Does Alumaseal work for Turbo motors? Mine will actually run coolant out of the exhaust after shutdown, cleans the combustion areas so well that it is hard to start without ading oil or trans fluid to the spark plug holes...

bgchrisrx7

I am going to try K&W permenant metallic block sealer. Some of the other guys at the shop have had moderate success with it. I will post results and the process that I used later. Heres to hoping!

gracer7-rx7

iTrader: (16)

That is sad if there is indeed something wrong with it. I'd recommend just flushing / draining the coolant from the block and washing out the radiator as thoroughly as you can.

See what happens with that before resorting to Alumaseal or other drastic measures. At least then you will know there is a problem vs. wondering if there really was a problem.

Kentetsu

Do not use a block sealer!!! Rotaries have some important differences from piston motors.

The reason I selected Alumaseal, was because it uses aluminum rather than copper or anything else. So even if some of the sealant finds its way into the "combustion chambers", it will just burn off without causing any damage (powdered aluminum is highly flammable).

I've heard horror stories of people trying other types of sealants...