Hi all.
I\'ve just been reading some threads on coolant loss/low coolant and am at a bit of a loss on this one.
I went to see a car today, all seemed fine - just a puff of smoke on startup, no more. Ran fine, boost showed stable at idle (had big aftermarket gauge on the dash). Boosting was smooth.
However, when the guy went to start the car first time, he got the low coolant buzzer and went off to fill it up with (tap) water. He made reference to "these cars drinking coolant and oil", which slightly passed me by as I understand the oil usage of these engines. We then went on the test drive and all seemed fine as above (started fine hot or cold).
I did think I noticed a slight leak on the front radiator (are there two parallel to each other!?), could this be the problem?
I couldn\'t see any leak from the AST tank and the oil filler and dipstick didn\'t show any milky residue.
I\'ve left a deposit of £100 with the chap, subject to HPI check, but I am now worried about this issue and will walk away if it\'s likely to be serious. What would be the best method of testing when I see the car again - running without the main coolant filler cap on to see if air bubbles appear?
Thanks,
Ian
If there is a coolant leak outside the engine, that easy to repair. It when we cant see a leak, and coolant is leaking inside the engine, then ----->>>> ££££££££ !!!!! :-((((
Hmm, that\'s what I read mate. Quite concerned so will be looking for all the signs possible!
Is the filler cap off/check for air bubbles a sure-fire test?
the plastic screw in the bottom of the rad was the reason for my coolant loss may be worth checking
Cheers, will check that out too.
The engine was rebuilt by Rotechniks just over 22,000 miles ago (end of 2005), but I don\'t suppose that has any bearing.
It still has a plastic AST, so that is a suspicious area, but I couldn\'t see any leakage.
Hi,
Mine was leaking from the coolant level sensor below the filler cap & thermostat cos the plastic thread had cracked. Was fixed with a £20 replacement from my local Mazda dealer :)
Hope that helps,
Alex
OK Alex, cheers.
I\'ve spoken to the chap selling the car and he suggested a compression test to check the seals - presumably this will give me a pretty good idea if it\'s the water seals or an external leak?
New thread here (http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?p=219802) trying to locate a compression test in Loughborough/Nottingham!
nah, a compression test isnt gonna test the water seals. A pressure test would do this, but you need the right equipment to do it. You should get the chap to take it to wgt in your company..they should be able to do this test. Another way youy could test for an external leak would be to look out for steam in the engine bay..if you can seem steam then maybe it is not all bad :)
A pressure test needs to be done when the engine is cold. And any garage should be able to perform this test, as long as they have the coolant pressure testing equipment.
Quote from: lockwood77It still has a plastic AST, so that is a suspicious area, but I couldn\'t see any leakage.
When I got my Rex it had an aftermarket alloy AST fitted. When I took it in for service at Rotechniks they identified that the cap wasn\'t sealing properly and advised I replaced the AST with a standard plastic one. They have stopped fitting alloy ones due to continued problems with ill fitting caps, (where the alloy body doesn\'t having a perfectly flat seating area for the cap to bed on to). They reckon that plastic ones should last several years before, eventually, the high underbonnet temperatures will potentially split them. On that basis probably sensible to change it every 3 years or so. :chat
All this being said.. it seems a tad funny for the chap to say \'these cars drinking coolant ..\' if that was how it was actually worded, almost dismissing it as a feature rather than an actual problem. If you can\'t identify exactly the problem yourself then I would personally only buy it on the condition of it being looked at by a garage first as it reeeally will be a kick in the teeth if it\'s not just the rad, ast etc. Perhaps see if he\'ll meet you halfway on the cost as it\'s in his interest?
Good points one and all, thanks chaps.
Even with my limited knowledge, I should have known a comp test would indicate rotor tip wear, not water seal condition (I think!?) :Hammer
Problem is, I would dearly love to have WGT etc. check it over, but there doesn\'t seem to be anyone remotely nearby who has the skills.
There was no steam (bits of the bonnet are vented so this should have been evident, plus we popped the bonnet as soon as we pulled up after the test drive), but no white exhaust smoke either. Really put off now and without said tests/vehicle check I don\'t think I can go ahead.
I feel bad, cos the guy seems very genuine and if the problem isn\'t serious it\'s a very good price for the spec, even with the few cosmetic issues. But a rebuild-ready car for £5k is somewhat less appealing. :(
Hopefully I can agree at least the partial return of my £100 deposit, unless someone knows of an easier way to get to the bottom of this!?
It would be useful to know how often he has to top the coolant up and how much he has to put in! I\'m wondering if (on a nice dry day) you could actually see any evidence of dripping under the car - if it\'s something like a perforated hose or loose jubilee clip for instance. The fact that he is using tap water could suggest that either he did that just for speed on the occasion, or that it needs so much water that he\'s given up and is just pooring tap water down it all the time. It could be something so simple but then its also possible he knows something you don\'t and that\'s why he\'s trying to shift it. Trouble is with these cars you can never be totaly sure what you\'re buying and this might be a perfectly sound car with a loose hose. It\'s a tough one. :(
Quote from: AdriansturgessTrouble is with these cars you can never be totally sure what you\'re buying and this might be a perfectly sound car with a loose hose. It\'s a tough one. :(
Yeah, that\'s the real problem. As I said, I think there may be a rad leak, but it\'s tricky to tell unless the weather\'s bone dry. It was before we left that we saw the suspected rad leak, it was dry after the run out.
I will ask the question as to how often he tops up and what he (normally) uses.
Just spoken to the chap (Jamie), what a nice and genuine guy. So good to find people selling cars who aren\'t just trying to offload something regardless!
He says that the coolant buzzer had never gone off before, but he does top it up every three weeks or so. Bearing in mind it\'s a weekend car, that\'s probably not that many miles. He\'s never noticed any steam or water/coolant on the floor when he parks up, but has occasionally noticed the smell of coolant in the cabin. That sounds like a possible good thing to me - if it was entering the engine via the water seals, I\'m guessing it would be evaporating and flying out the exhaust rather than into the engine bay and through the cabin air vents? :confused:
He has agreed to take the car to a Mazda garage tomorrow morning for a coolant system pressure check and compression test (assuming they are capable...), so depending what that shows, my mind will be at rest.
The liquids used to fill up the radiator have been a mixture of anti-freeze and mainly deionised water. So not tap water! Phew.
Uhmm... Starting to sound more promising. Hope the coolant pressure check shows everthing OK. If you can get a bit more reassurance on that then sounds like it could be worth taking the gamble.
It always used to be a real no-no taking an RX7 to a mazda main dealer. :Nono! I guess the RX-8 has obliged them to get a little more familiar with things rotary and they should surely be capable of this kind of work, but I would still be cautious and goto a rotary specialist for more seious stuff!
Quote from: AdriansturgessUhmm... Starting to sound more promising. Hope the coolant pressure check shows everthing OK. If you can get a bit more reassurance on that then sounds like it could be worth taking the gamble.
It always used to be a real no-no taking an RX7 to a mazda main dealer. :Nono! I guess the RX-8 has obliged them to get a little more familiar with things rotary and they should surely be capable of this kind of work, but I would still be cautious and goto a rotary specialist for more seious stuff!
Agreed! Wouldn\'t dream of letting them do any actual work on the car, but as you say, you\'d think a compression test is no longer beyond them with plenty of RX-8s about (crosses fingers...)
Any half-decent garage should be able to do the pressure check (my old man was regailing me with a tale of his home-made radiator-cap-with-valve contraption he used to use for radiator system checks!) - the key is to see if the leak can be located (hopefully in a simple to get to, cheap to fix place!) If the pressure drops but no coolant hits the floor, the message would be quite dark... (Tell me if I\'m wrong!)
Its is sounding a bit more promising. I hope they find an external leak ! To top once every 3 weeks is not all that bad, either.
Well, the car is booked in at Pip\'s next Tuesday morning for compression and coolant checks, which I\'ve said I\'ll pay for. :Thumbs-up
Jamie is being a real star about it all, bless \'im. Really happy about this, will likely give Pip a bell and see how much extra it\'ll cost me for him to have a look over it in totality.
Hopefully it\'ll be a simply sorted leak, the comp test will be heading for even 7s and I\'ll be well on the way to FD fun! :D
Here\'s hoping. :cool
Quote from: deanflowersthe plastic screw in the bottom of the rad was the reason for my coolant loss may be worth checking
How can I fix this, mine is the same, are there replacement ones?
Your mazda dealership should be able to get them no problem, mine (Wrights) has got me several bits over the years, rad cap, ast cap, coolant level sensor etc. Or try Jimmy\'s for a 2nd hand one if you like.
really curious to know what happened with this......
any luck fella
Well, it turned out it was a leaking hose I think - however, I\'d decided not to jump in by then and bought a DC5 Integra Type-R instead.
I may be back soon however, as my 30th is looming and a man of that age needs a suitable toy... :D
how is the integra?
Awesome for a front drive car!
243bhp from the mods, fast road setup and a few little extras make it very nice indeed - just passed its MOT today and a lovely 90 miles back from System-R at Warrington.
Spec: http://www.itr-dc5.com/gallery/showprofile.php?uid=450
Pics: http://www.itr-dc5.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6581 (from the guy I bought it off).
I had two DC2s over five years before, so I pretty much knew what I was getting! The DC5 is a bit bigger and slightly less involving, but it is clearly faster (in my state of tune anyway) and grips just as well if not better with the fast road setup. It\'s also much sexier to look at!
I will do something to the brakes as I feel they can be improved (four-pot Brembos not all they could be, just like on my Evo VI), but other than that I\'m happy with it now - much more power through the front wheels would just be unusable, especially at this time of year.
oh dear Ian....told you so :)
Im getting tempted back to DC2 ownership tho....
I don\'t think I would want to go back to something so under-powered now - the lack of torque becomes very clear once you\'ve spent a bit of time in more powerful cars and it makes the majority of driving (i.e. not on full throttle) so much nicer.
They are immensely chuckable and sublimely engaging, but the DC5 is only a whisker less so and the pros outweigh the cons for me.