Hi all
I noticed that my car had small traces of coolant leaking from the bottom of the under tray this weekend. I took the time to remove the air box, intercooler, battery, battery tray and various other bits of ducting.
I removed the AST pressure cap (0.9 Bar) and using a friends pressure tester brought the pressure upto 0.5 Bar. On further inspection I found a slight leak from the from the top of the radiator where the core tabs are crimped over the plastic header. It was only very minor and in the the two month I have owned the car the coolant levels haven\'t moved in a drastic way (read not needed topping up).
Is it safe to use Radweld or Barrs stop leak in the RX-7 setup, or will it cause problems in the system with seals, pills etc?
i wouldn`t risk it matey. second hand rad wont cost too much
I would\'nt use it in any car, it has been known to block up the heater matrix and could cover up a problem that may cause you to brake down.
If you have a leak your best of trying to find it, if it turns out to be something like a Water pump seal gone or a Water seal failing you could end up sat on the hard shoulder with your car overheating (which i may add is the easyest way to scrap an engine)
Theres lots of scare stories out there about everything from rad weld to oil treatments. The rad weld that is about now is a fluid that is held in suspension within the coolant and only activates when forced through a hole and into the air so will never block radiators etc. Another plus is it is full of inhibiter\'s to stop corrosion within the engine. It is a service item on a number of manufacturers cars and trucks. If there was any problem at all then the manufacturers would never be putting it in as a routine service item.
All my motors get a bottle with fresh coolant every two years.
Kevin
I just don\'t understand why if there is nothing wrong with the coolant system i the first place? The antifreeze i use has corrosion inhibitors?
I guess everyone has there own methods and tricks just i\'m a bit funny when it comes to the water system.
Bit like the oil treatments. Clive was skeptical about it improving compression ratio\'s on rotary\'s until he was persuaded to try some and low and behold it worked...............now he sells it!
Injector cleaner/ fuel additive is another one give it a try it works.
Kevin
But just like the Oil treatment don\'t you see it as a shrt term fix? Surly if you put oil treatment in it will only raise the Comp for a short period?
I have a good reason why i don\'t like Coolant adatives, one of my early T2\'s had a Bad waterpump on and the Guy selling it put rad weld in to cover it up enough so i did\'nt spot it loosing water, anyway long story short becouse the water pump had been leaking then cloged up with rad weld the bearings seized and let go ten miles away from my house so the car overheated and did all the usal stuff that happens when your doing 70 on the Motorway. So after that i don\'t usaly like water leaks.
So if you want my Opinion fix the leak Properly and you won\'t have an issue :yes
QuoteIs it safe to use Radweld or Barrs stop leak in the RX-7 setup, or will it cause problems in the system with seals, pills etc?
Get a ally one, problem solved :Thumbs-up
Quote from: GrizzlyBut just like the Oil treatment don\'t you see it as a shrt term fix? Surly if you put oil treatment in it will only raise the Comp for a short period?
I have a good reason why i don\'t like Coolant adatives, one of my early T2\'s had a Bad waterpump on and the Guy selling it put rad weld in to cover it up enough so i did\'nt spot it loosing water, anyway long story short becouse the water pump had been leaking then cloged up with rad weld the bearings seized and let go ten miles away from my house so the car overheated and did all the usal stuff that happens when your doing 70 on the Motorway. So after that i don\'t usaly like water leaks.
So if you want my Opinion fix the leak Properly and you won\'t have an issue :yes
No problem with that statement at all radweld will only work with minor leakage if you\'ve a major problem then get it fixed. As for the oil addatives i\'m pretty sure theres example within the rally world where sumps have been punctured oil lost and the motors still finished (pretty sure mike has given an example of this before) the guys who develop these thing now are at the level where they are playing with the structure of the metals they are protecting so who knows whats possible. Anyway i thing we\'d better stop hyjacking this thread, everybody goes there own way and does what there happy with. Working with commercials they tend to be a little more forward thinking with all the addatives due to all the extra regulations they have to comply with but it does seem to be trickling down to the car world now.
Kevin
Carl gave me some to use and said he had used it several times, and I had no problems with it also.
im not sure if the turbo\'s are water cooled or not on the rx but i used some "rad weld" on my series 2 rs turbo and my cossie and it blocked up the water feed pipes to the turbo cause they were only a small diamiter, i personally dont like the stuff
I just don\'t see the Point, i take your word that the new radweld (with no gritty stuff in) does\'nt do any harm but am i wrong in saying if you have a leak its better to fix it rather than trying to cut corners?
If your rad has started cracking on the plastic headers then it\'s time for a new one (preferably all aluminium). Radweld is meant as a get-you-going repair for Vauxhall Vivas.
Don\'t insult your FD!
Thanks for the input from all you chaps. I\'ve read all the replies and talked to many people about this stuff. I\'m not fully convinced to go ahead and try it.
So since I plan to keep the RX for a period of time, I am going to go down the aluminium route, probably with a set of silicone hoses to keep things reliable.
Are Samco the best hose manufacturer about?
May not help at all but a tip I picked up the other day....
remove the pipe from the right side of the AST and blow down it. Had someone do this and it cured my water leak!
You know it makes sense. I tried grinding and epoxying the old rad crack several times but there was always a little leak after a few hundred miles.
Welded rads are the only WTG. Cooling is paramount, just one overheat episode can destroy your Wankel.
Quote from: Evil TwinThanks for the input from all you chaps. I\'ve read all the replies and talked to many people about this stuff. I\'m not fully convinced to go ahead and try it.
So since I plan to keep the RX for a period of time, I am going to go down the aluminium route, probably with a set of silicone hoses to keep things reliable.
Are Samco the best hose manufacturer about?
Its just important to remember that rad weld is just a quick fix until you can replace or repair.
Samco are not the best, doubt there\'s much between any of the manufacturers, but a known brand.
We sell SFS
http://www.rotaryart.uk.com/acatalog/Silicon_Hose.html
Quote from: Evil TwinIs it safe to use Radweld or Barrs stop leak in the RX-7 setup, or will it cause problems in the system with seals, pills etc?
Please renew the rad as older FD top n bottom tanks are now very very brittle, and will not recore, yes it will cost but it is far cheaper than an engine.
Unfortunately with a rotary if you cook it just once it will come back and haunt you even if it seems OK at the time.
Radweld and bars leak WILL block some of the smaller passageways in the engine itself.
There are some ceramic sealers on the market that are OK for the engine but from your description ultimately your rad will die even if you can stop the leak short term because of where its leaking, sorry.
Quote from: robedwards99May not help at all but a tip I picked up the other day....
remove the pipe from the right side of the AST and blow down it. Had someone do this and it cured my water leak!
That\'ll be the pipe going to the expansion tank then. I bet you just had air leaking
in while the car was cooling down and trying to suck coolant back(which is uphill), eventually setting off the low coolant alarm with the accumulated air.
Dunno if blowing had anything to do with the fix, he probably just got lucky and re-seated the leaky pipe/ast union.
Otherwise there\'s some kind of magic going on.