so i have an 84 gs and my radiator leaked all out and i did not realize it once my car got overheated and kinda popped and started smoking so i towed my car home and went to pull it in the garage and it started right up and got it in the garage... so im trying to figure out what happened i poor water into the radiator and it leaks out of the engine some where in between the air filter and the engine i cant see exactly where it comes out but it looks like somewhere on top... do rotary's have soft plugs like piston engines? and what the heck do you think happend? what can i do? thanks!!!

 

between the air filter and the engine? well, there's two O rings that seal the water passage in the intake. if that's what u mean, to fix this u'll need to remove the intake and replace those O rings and of course the gasket. yes they have freeze plugs. they're located in the front iron behind the front cover, and on the flywheel side of the rear iron. i take it ur not in the habit of glancing at the gauges every now and then to have noticed it was running hot? how hot did it get? may end up needing to be looking for another engine.

 

once the engine popped and started smoking, the heat gauge was all the way up i believe when i glanced down... my check light was on but it does that even when its only slightly low... so i never figure its down low enough to worry and when i get to where im going i top it off... but thats obviously not the smartest thing to do... well ill try that i guess i have nothing to loose now ill tear it apart myself no money to have it get worked on... i just picked up an 86 with only 60k on it its been sitting for awhile there is a few stuff i need to do to it but hopefully i can fix and sell this one!!!

 

Didn't you hear a buzzer?

When the fluids of my FB are just 1 or 2 cm down the buzzer drives me nuts (have a bad radiatorcap and need to replace that).
Further i always keep an eye on the temp. gauge....

 

as rxtasy3 instructed, start with changing the intake o-rings and see if the system will hold fluid. if that resolves it, then i would suggest paying closer attention to your gauges and warning lights/signals.