coolant issues, or rebuild required? :S

rx4ur7 · 10-09-2009, 06:48 PM

How many miles on the motor? Life expectance for the FC NA here was 120/140. Or actually 10 years is more the norm. It is more time related here.
Easiest way to tell if it is a motor, fill up the cooland system, leave the cap off the motor fill. Start it and watch for bubbles. The first sign are very fine bubbles that can form a foam. Next stage is larger bubbles where you can see grey smoke when they burst, third stage, water blows right out as soon as you start it. At the first stage it may have to come up to full operating temperature. Some fluid will come out as the coolant expands.
On filling the puppy, raise the nose of the car as high as you can, try to get the top of the radiator higher than the hose that goes into the back of the upper intake manifold, that and the heater are the main places air gets trapped. Open the heater to full hot.
Fill it up, pump the lower radiator hose. Put the cap on run it till it gets to full warm up. Check it after it cools down.
You can also fill it, use a pressure tester to pressurize it. Release pressure and fill, keep doing that.
Another test for seals is pressurizing the combustion chamber with compressed air. This was the test we used at Mazda. Remove leading plugs and add compressed air. Watch coolant level.
Symptoms for seals are overheating, smoke on start after it sits for a while, early on it may take a couple of days,
Overheating can be caused by of course loss of coolant, thermostat, radiator, partially blocked exhaust.
Loss of coolant should be easy to find. If your tester is good and it drops, and no fluid is found externally, and there is none going into the motor, Check your heater core. See if your carpets are wet.

10-09-2009, 06:48 PM	#15
rx4ur7 Rotary since 1972 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Tucson Posts: 231 Rep Power: 17	How many miles on the motor? Life expectance for the FC NA here was 120/140. Or actually 10 years is more the norm. It is more time related here. Easiest way to tell if it is a motor, fill up the cooland system, leave the cap off the motor fill. Start it and watch for bubbles. The first sign are very fine bubbles that can form a foam. Next stage is larger bubbles where you can see grey smoke when they burst, third stage, water blows right out as soon as you start it. At the first stage it may have to come up to full operating temperature. Some fluid will come out as the coolant expands. On filling the puppy, raise the nose of the car as high as you can, try to get the top of the radiator higher than the hose that goes into the back of the upper intake manifold, that and the heater are the main places air gets trapped. Open the heater to full hot. Fill it up, pump the lower radiator hose. Put the cap on run it till it gets to full warm up. Check it after it cools down. You can also fill it, use a pressure tester to pressurize it. Release pressure and fill, keep doing that. Another test for seals is pressurizing the combustion chamber with compressed air. This was the test we used at Mazda. Remove leading plugs and add compressed air. Watch coolant level. Symptoms for seals are overheating, smoke on start after it sits for a while, early on it may take a couple of days, Overheating can be caused by of course loss of coolant, thermostat, radiator, partially blocked exhaust. Loss of coolant should be easy to find. If your tester is good and it drops, and no fluid is found externally, and there is none going into the motor, Check your heater core. See if your carpets are wet.