Learning experience accepted, moving on. My gut said \'there something not right here\' when i looked at the car, but my head couldnt spot anything, so I ignored my instinct.
The final straw was the insistent bzz of the add coolant warning yesterday as i set off home from work. Whilst there was no drastic loss of coolant - the quantity was only just at the low marker on the header tank, the temperature gauge now reads halfway up it rather than about 1/3 as it used to.
There is a small drip beneath the car after its been running.. i guess the water seals are on the way out. Cant see anything at the base of the rad to suggest its that
Could be and is more likely a coolant line that\'s on its way out.
Jack the car up (with stands), let it warm up to normal temperature and carefully get underneath and see if you can see where the drips are coming from.
If you can\'t; get someone to hold her at 3000rpm and have another look. This will pressurise the system and should revile any hidden leaks.
i never used the header tank as a guage - i always take the caps off and fill from that point
dont know why - i just do and never had a problem
try it that way - it might be airlocked ??
Stu
I will definately check these points, but im really losing any trust in the car which is a shame, as when its working its great!
Personally I wouldn\'t loose trust, make sure you have AA cover instead ;)
I bought mine 2 years ago, only used it for 2 months before the turbo hoses started leaking. A lot of my time later and I finally got her started again this weekend.
Without being rude, its almost expected that you\'ll have some issues when owning an RX-7 :(
if its running great then dont worry about it
my old EGI used to use 1 litre of oil every 100 miles - didnt worry me one bit :D
But its not running great :P
This series of little issues just makes me thing the car hasnt had enough care in the past... little things like speakers not being connected, wrong fuses etc.
This weekend will be more tinkering I think, but if stuff isnt improving after that.. well ill just run it till it pops as ill never get my money back!
Current problems -
wont idle, just stalls at lights etc once its warmed up
misfire under load (ht leads are quite bad - replacing)
coolant loss
Gets through about half a tanks worth of petrol in 100 miles
sump gasket looks to be a bit iffy
heater has 2 settings. warm, and hotttt
If i can get past the first 3 problems ill be happy...
Last thought - if anyone lives anywhere near Frome and knows their way around these cars and how they should behave id apprecaite their opinion - will reward with beer or whatever :)
the idle - thats a worry i suppose - but if its got a bad spark - that could cause this ( plug leads )
misfire under load - never had this so cant really help - sorry
coolant loss - hummm could be a few things - i would get it running then look into this
the 100 miles to half a tank - dont worry about this - thats normal :D
Stu
100 miles half a tank is normal??!
Oh well i suppose its less thirsty than my xjs was, and i havent even had to jump out of it for fear of it going up in flames yet.
Just spoken to magnecor who said they had to recheck the plans for the non-turbo non-pas version as they had feedback that the coil leads werent the right length. They are all sorted now though so once the ignition system is in order I can have a decent attempt at figuring out whats wrong with the thing.
Thinking back the idle problems started after the battery was flatted by me.. would disconnecting it and reconnecting it \'reset\' the ecu or is the egi not fussy like that?
Sounds like you are doing OK mpg wise, I used to get around 140-180 from a tank in mine :D
Change your leads and plugs if at all iffy. Whats the history of the car? is it Turbo or n/a, how miles has it done?
Its a n/a and its done 125k
so... filler cap in the middle eh..
*looks at boiling coolant and expansion tank forcing coolant out the top*
crap.
Fingers crossed i didnt destroy it yet.. ill actually fill it this time i guess...
i have seen cars with that problem - usually down to a faulty cap - start cheap and work upwards :D
Open the top filler cap and fill it until its full up.
Gently squeeze the top rad hose a few times (should get a little air expelled)
Leave the cap off and start the engine, if theres any air in there the level will drop a little, top up as needed.
After a minute or so refit the top cap.
Hold a hand on the top rad hose, once the water reaches 82deg the thermostat should open up and you will feel the top hose get warm.
I am in a better frame of mind today having thought about it... this problem started about when the air pump was removed, and absence of any coolant leaks except when its hot.... went and checked.. massive amounts of slack in the fan belt (now being the only thing that drives the water pump et all).
Unfortunately no mazda dealer in the immediate locality, so ill have to try a halfrauds belt and see if that makes an improvement. If it does ill go hunting for a proper belt.
The only thing that doesnt match this theory is that theres no sign of the battery going flat
update...
The only thing that didnt match, now matches. Replaced the fan belt and leads today and went to start it.. battery flat.
Old fan belt was horribly perished and cracked.
Tune in tomorrow for more updates :)
Update is.... it wont fire. Cranks strongly, can smell a little fuel, turning it over by hand with the plugs out gives a good strong hiss. Spark plugs are .. well they arent great and they dont even look to be the right type but they worked before and ought to work again. The leads are brand new but ive tried refitting the old ones just in case... no joy. Tried easy-start but its just like its not even trying to spark!
*wanders off to stick a spark plug on the end of a lead and see if the spark looks ok.
Im all up for a temperemental car but this is a little too much.
Update - Victory! when I replaced the fan belt I had removed the dizzy cap and electrical connections to get more leverage to tension the belt... When I refitted the connections I managed to somehow mangle one of the contacts so it wasnt actually fitted within the connector, but rather bent to the side... fingers crossed it behaves properly in temperature et all now!
the plugs - should have a flat end - looks like a circle in 4 qaurters with a probe in the centre - i can get a pic if you like ??
in that case im wondering how my plugs havent chomped the rotor to bits (or vice versa).. i did think it was odd as i thought they should be flat as you said.. they arent.
The plugs that are in there look like the right hand one in this picture
http://www.powerlabs.org/images/newplugs.jpg
Today, the car is still overheating as badly. It does however pull properly, still stalls at idle etc...
Found a cheap golf ill use whilst i try and fix the rx7
hummmm they look like cross fire plugs for a normal car ?!?!
what you need is http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/forum-photos/Spark-Plugs/OLD-BLACK-BUR9EQP-ELECTRODE.JPG
apart from that you want clean ones !! LOL
how quick does it over heat ?? and by how much ?
stu
It overheats good and proper (ie boiling coolant) after about maybe 5 minutes in town driving starting at normal temperature. On constant 60 mph roads the temperature is stable / cools.
The fan coupling behaves properly, the top hose gets hot so I guess the thermostat is ok... no sign of leaks from the radiator cap. I am properly bleeding the system each time.
The way I see it now, either theres a leak im not seeing, or the water pump is shagged. I dont know if it could be the water seals in the engine, but i doubt it would run properly and suggest good compression? I dont notice any water under the car unless it has properly overheated and spewed it out the header tank
depending on what you want to spend - change the rad cap - it could be failing and not pressurising the system properly
if you take it off - does the spring move OK - and it should be rated at 0.9 bar ( i think its bar )
not sure what else it could be ... my mate had the same prob - would run great - get it home and it would shoot coolant from the overflow bottle .. i will ask him when i see him
Car behaved perfectly today.. only thing I\'ve done was ensure that the rad cap is the correct pressure and that it moves freely...ill replace it and see where that takes me.
Now i wonder what i should do with the golf ive just bought...
humm so it ran OK today - i hate problems like that - really hard to trace down :(
Sounds stupid I know, but have you checked that the fan is acyaully working? They are hydrostatic and the fluid does tend to leak out or it loses its properties. (Some become really visous allt he time which kills the belts, others just become very loose so you never get any cooling, the fan just free wheels)
Possibly the fan - when cold it doesnt freewheel which I gather it should do - i havent checked it when hot yet - it should be fairly stiff then correct?. Ive got myself a banger that im using for the commute now so I wont kill the rexx anymore by driving it as it is.
This weekend im going to replace the radiator cap and thermostat i guess, and check out the viscous coupling.
If the coupling is toast, where do I get a replacement? or now that the air pump is removed perhaps I would be better off going for an electric fan to reduce the load on the remaining belt; although unless I can find one that doesnt require a world of fabrication to mount that idea is less than entirely attractive.
so you removed the air pump .. did you put the dual belt on the alternator ??
if not this could be your prob - means that you only have one belt running the water pump - if this slips you are in a world of trouble
stick the air pump back on ( just the main bit ) and see if it helps
there are a few threads covering this already
stu
the air pump does something with the idle at low revs aswell - i would be really tempted to stick it back on
tbh i didnt get a choice in the matter. I booked the car in at rx-motors for a replacement exhaust manifold, expecting a like-for-like jobbie, but they actually put on what I assume is a performance manifold without the thermal reactor gubbins. This removed the use for the air pump so they removed it too. I dont have the air pump anymore - i think they just trashed it
I only have a single belt driving the alt + water pump - have replaced this to try and see if that was the problem but no joy.
hummmm with a single belt it can slip and cause the water pump not to turn - and we all know that the fan is connected to that
no idea how you prove the theory though ??
http://www.mazdarotaryclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14205&highlight=air+pump
Well I might see if i can find a super short belt to double it up... I can pull the belt by hand and turn the engine over that way without the belt slipping, and theres no squealing to suggest it slipping when running. Not ruled out as the cause though
My current thoughts have turned to maybe the thermostat being stuck open and / or the radiator cap. What im really looking for is an explanation for why it was fine one day and bad the next... and thinking about components which fail in that style.
Also got joys of work to do on the new shed this weekend :) polishing it up and replacing a bashed off mirror, then fitting a stereo