I have had a problem with my coolant leaking for some time now. It started when my uncle who is a mechanic changed the coolant. Every so often i now have to top up the coolant as the buzzer goes off. I have tried to locate the leak but i can\'t find anything. The rad cap seems ok, haven\'t checked the ast and i have also noticed that the expansion tank is more than full and every so often i have a small trial of coolant leaking out under the expansion bottle, this only happens when the car is turned off. I\'m hoping it\'s just an airblock, could anyone help me with a solution as this is getting on my nerves :P
This sounds very similar to when my water seals went.
I changed the coolant and then the problem reared its ugly head.
To expel any air from the system remove the coolant hose from the throttle body and squeeze/massage the radiator coolant pipes whilst watching the coolant level, keep topping up coolant as required. Once the coolant is full in the filler neck and coolant starts to flow out of the throttle body coolant hose you should have dispelled any air locks in the system.
If you still get the problem then it might be an idea to get the coolant system pressure tested as this should show up any problems with the water seals.
If it is the seals that are the problem then the car will gradually become increasingly hard to start and you should be able to smell coolant coming from the exhaust.
I hope for your sake it is an air lock but the situation does sound very familiar.
Thanks for the quick reply.
I had a look on the internet and came across this:
http://www.rx7.org/Robinette/coolant_tank.htm
The second picture down shows the filler neck with a second tube coming off of it (the one with yellow tape around it). Is this normal as mine does not have one, just the second pipe lower down which leads to the ast. Plus my ast has a pipe connected at the top near the cap but it is not fastened with a clip. I can easily pull it off. Could any of these be causing a problem?
No mine doesn\'t have the second tube either, I don\'t know whether that\'s an american thing or something to do with the ast elimination
I would say it\'s an air lock as mine was throwing water out the headder tank because of this!! all you need to do is pop off the pipe going to the throttle body by the bulkhead & then fill up @ the usual point untill you get a trickle of water coming out of the throttle body, pop the pipe back on & jobs a goodun!
Jono
Thanks people. I\'ll give that a go, i really hope it\'s not a seal failing, i will do the champagne test when i next start her up next. If there are no bubbles i will take that pipe off that leads to the throttle body and fill \'er up. I didn\'t have any problems with coolant before i had the coolant change so hopefully all we be good. I am having trouble starting the car though but i hope that it\'s just the sparks as it is very on and off with the starting problems.
Thanks
this happened when my seals went mate, take your plugs out and try firing the car, if you get any water at all out of the engine, you have your answer.
col
Yeah, it\'s definately the seal, :Hammerthe guy who sold it to me said it had had a rebuild 4,000km ago, I\'m hoping this is true as this will make the rebuid cheap. Gonna do a compression test on it to find out health of the engine.
Thanks for the help people.
:god
Did the rebuild have a warranty?
No, i was stupid enough just to take the guys word for it as he said that his uncle and a specialist called tim helped with the rebuild. No warranty or proof of rebuild. We all learn some way i guess. :Hammer
Think there\'s only one Tim who does rebuilds so you may be able to get some history. Sorry for you if its the seal and especially after such a short life.