Ok today on my whole 1 mile drive to work the cooland buzzer came on.
So later on in the day when I was about to go for lunch I started the car then thought I\'d put some coolant in it.
I went to take of the cap (at the water pump part), then the water scooshed out, so I closed it again. First of all is this right as the car hadn\'t run for about 3hours and I only let it run for about 30seconds before I took off the cap. Should it be under pressure?
I put coolant in it, went to restart it and it wouldn\'t start at all.
I then took the plugs out etc, cleaned them up. Left them out for a few hours and put them back in.
Got the car started with little issues but the revs were about 3.5K. I drove home and noticed the car would struggle to go properly like it was holding back. Also notced the ABS? (yellow light at the bottom left of the dash) flashing on and off. I also noticed that the Apexi hand controller flickering slightly and the odometer now and again. It looked like some sort of electrical issue. (possibly batt terminals not quite tight enough)
I got home, then noticed steam coming from the front of the car. It was coming from the expansion bottle area, out what looks like an overflow at the top.
So... before this the car was working fine etc no issues etc and it sounds normal when running.
Anyone any ideas? Anything magical I could have knocked while taking the plugs off and the elbow?
Any ideas greatly appreciated?!?
Engine:
13b-REW Engine (3000 ish miles on fresh rebuild)
HKS Twin Air Filters
Air Pump Removed
Blitz Dump Valve
APL Intercooler
Aeromotive FPR
Walbro Fuel Pump
4 x 850cc Denso Injectors
Full Non Sequential Turbo Conversion
HKS Downpipe
Re-Amemiya Centre Section
Racing Beat Back Box
Apexi Power FC Commander
hi jim if the water was coming out off the white tank on the drivers side it could be you put to much water in it, mine does this when i fill it up to much, as for it not starting could be because you did not let it warm up before you turned it off and it flooded it and it will run rough to start with after you have flooded it
Yeah I thought so. How long would it normally run rough for?
Also, any reason why it would be idling at 3500 rpm?
I took the plugs out and took the elbow off as well as the battery. Is there something I could have knocked?
I\'m gonna have a play tomorrow morning before work (as long as the battery is ok), and have a look to see if anything obvious has been disconnected. I\'ll then start it up and leave it running for a good 10mins or so.
Any help appreciated!! Any ideas/suggestions welcome. As long as the engine isn\'t dead after less than 24hours of ownership!
dont think there is any thing around plug area that would make it idle that hi, did you reseal the elbow when you put it back on and check you accelorater cables not to tight that will make it rev hi
I took the elbow off, then simply tightened it back up again.
What do you mean by reseal?
I\'ll check the accelerator cable tomorrow also.
The joys of rotarys! Welcome back me! lol
I\'ll check for anything obvious loose and check the throttle cable. Then see what it does tomorrow! :)
Keep the ideas coming folks. Much help appreciated!!
I don\'t know if any of this will help you as I have an FC but:
The car will \'idle\' at 3500 rpm as this is the AWS (accelerated warmup system) this is to warm the cat up from cold, but isn\'t good for the engine lol, to disable it, put the clutch down and put it in 1st gear (but obviously don\'t pull the clutch up lol) then start the car, the car will rev high, then drop to high idle, maybe lower, if you blip the throttle it should go to high idle (1500ish)
For my car I always let it warm up before driving, I usually wait till the engine temp is just on C before I drive off (takes about 5 minutes) I know some people drive off right away, as long as you don\'t boost until the engine temp is in the middle you should be fine.
If you have any fueling issues perhaps try and turn the key in the ignition 1 stop before you start it, this will run the fuel pump and pressurise the system.
I also see that you have a Blitz dump valve like mine, I know when I put mine in I had an air leak somewhere and it wouldn\'t idle at all. Perhaps check around connections that there isn\'t a leak anywhere.
Cheers mate, I\'ll have a good look tomorrow.
Everything was fine last night until I flooded the thing today! I\'ll start it with it in 1st and the clutch down. See if it makes a difference.
I don\'t think it\'s anything too serious to be honest (hopefully!)
Is it normal for the coolant to be pressurised after seconds? Or if it\'s not run for a few hours?
Like I say, I started it, then 30seconds later took the water filer cap off and it was under high pressure. Is this the norm?
thanks
take it out and give it a run mite sort it self out
when you took elbow off did you insert rubber seal back on ??
Yeah, I did notice that as it was 1/2 off. So I put it back in.
Jurgen.. you\'re not too far from me. I know you import cars etc, etc. Do you do much else with rotarys? IE, service, troubleshoot etC?
Hi, sounds to us like you may have a broken casting or damaged water seal which will cause a compression loss into the cooling system also not letting the idle control valve work properly due to coolant loss causing your fast idle. If you want to pop it down to us we have a cylinder leakage tester which will determine the problem for you. If you need any more help give us a call, cheers Ben
There is a plug just behing the plenum? (thing that covers the rats nest) that\'s unplugged. It plugs into a black cylinder type thing.
The owner said if it ever has trouble starting plug this in. He said it was mapped with it unplugged, so normally it\'s left off.
Would that do anything?
Could it be something as simple as a leak in the coolant system (pin hole in a hose etc?). Or a dodgy AST/Cap?
QuoteCould it be something as simple as a leak in the coolant system (pin hole in a hose etc?). Or a dodgy AST/Cap?
No i doubt that, if it was a pin hole it would squirt coolant out at the abnormal high pessure you mention, I think Lindop hit the nail with this one!
if you run it, with the pessure build up your getting, you could blow a hose or the rad! then overheat, which will do more damage!
I\'m gonna have a good look at the car tomorrow and see what happens.
I\'m gonna refill with coolant, make sure everything\'s connected etc as is.