2nd gen rx7 issues hot ....hot.....crappy looking coolant.

[rsx858]

Dave is a straight up guy and absolute RX7 guru... hopefully youll be fixed up in no time!

[dyoungre]

The time line of what occurred isn't completely clear - did the engine run ok last fall, but overheat when you 1st took it out this year? I've witnessed engine seals fail if they are stored over the winter without sufficient glycol - everything was fine in the fall, and then oil and water became one over the winter. Water in the engine freezes and expands, failing the main O rings.

[seckerich]

It is always a good idea to store these cars with antifreeze in them. The cast iron will corrode quickly and let the seals move and they blow first time it comes up to temp. The area around the water jacket in some of these motors is .070 or less depending on core shift in casting. First put a pressure tester on the cooling system and see if it pushes AF into the chambers. Sniff tester(O2 sensor) on the open radiator cap with the motor running will find a leaking seal as well. If the car was designed to have a splitter and it is gone the low mounted oil cooler will not work. All the air is ducted with the splitter opening. Run the car with 200-220 water and never over 230 oil if you can. We run the factory 160 thermostat in all our cars.

Worst case you will need one cast iron and a seal kit if everything else was as advertised. If you have the motor cracked open replace the apex seal springs. Don't give up, it will be worth a little headache when you get it right.

[gpeluso]

time line...
i picked up the car in the fall and tried to run it an EMRA time trial event.....the water looked crappy then.. ran a 5 min session and saw water leaking from the rad area. I was upset that I pick up the car and it had isues....at the track I removed the resevoir and cleaned it out in hopes this was not coming from the engine....it was cold out and the car never got hot in 5 min.

this winter the car was stored in a heated garage and started once a month.

over the winter I replaced the spark plugs and oil due to the car flooding during one of the start ups.....the way the car is tuned , it is a bitch to keep running until it warms up.(Haltech system). I also fixed one of the hoses on the bottom of the rad.

last week......took car to open lap day and experienced what I stated earlier.

Conclusion.......car was messed up when I got it!

[C. Ludwig]

Any news Greg?

[gpeluso]

they picked up the car yesterday afternoon......5 hr drive so I'm hoping to hear from KD rotary tomorrow... and it would be nice to hear from the seller too. Thanks for asking Chris. I just talked to Matt over at Pirate Motorsports today and he did say you are the man when it comes to Haltech programming. Those guys run a RX8 in Grand Am.

Greg

[gpeluso]

well, good and bad news.....Dave at KD Rotary is finishing up the RX7 and should be done tomorrow. The over heating was coming from one of the Rad caps being bad and the water pump was pouring water out of it. That was the water I saw running out of the front of the motor. Dave also had to fix the front oil seal by the crank.... it was a pretty bad oil leak and he also fixed the oil beather sytem the guys had on the car....oil would leak down the side on the plugs. Dave also rasied the lower oil cooler so a stock belly pan would fit. Tuning is the last on his list.......he has worked out the poor cold start programing and is going to throw it on a dyno tomorrow ans see if he needs to tweak the Haltech sytem anymore. I hope I caught the high temps I saw in time... so far it looks that was.....The good is that it is going to be fixed and delivered back to me early next week........ the bad is that I thought the car was ready to go when I got it........from delivery I have been unable to run the car without issue.. I hope the shop that sold me the car can soften the blow.... but I still have not heard a response. I know its a racecar and a machine but it had a problem day 1 , even when it was to be in top mechanical condition(I knew the body had bruises). So far I am very happy with KD Rotary. BTW Dave thinks the crappy water is vasoline from an engine rebuild.

Greg