Add coolant alert

[J.j.]

Any black bubbles on the dip stick??

[Oedipus Rex]

nah, just a bit of a brown stain.

[J.j.]

Are you having troubles starting the car??  That\'s usually the first sign of water seal failure. (someone correct me if Im wrong)

[Oedipus Rex]

nope, starts on the button every time. Drives perfect, doesn\'t over heat, plenty power through the rev ranges, just seems to like dumping coolant all over the floor.

[J.j.]

Im out...
Sorry mate, that\'s about everything I know  
I only learnt about this recently.  I had a water seal failure on my last one.  Costed me a fortune.  
From the sound of it, I\'d have guessed that your seals are still ok.
Best having a visit to one of the specialist.

WARNING !!!    
DO NOT called a RAC guy out .
When my car was chucking out all those coolant, I stupidly called out RAC.  This was what he did.
me : Have you worked on any 7s before??
RAC : Laughing at me.  A Mazda is a Mazda, a car is a car.  They still use coolant, oil, patrol.......
me : Ok, fair enough.

10 minutes later.........................
RAC : Maybe there\'s some air bubbles in the coolant system.
me : Is it?  Could you do something about that?
RAC : Mmmmmmmmmmm
The RAC guys then started putting lots and lots(not talking pints or litres here) of water into all three of places.  Overflow tank, the one on the engine, and the one near AST tank.  
me : Does it actually need that much water??  A bit too much, no??
RAC : Don\'t worry, it\'s ok.

Started the car, reving 2k, waited for about 3/5 min for the fans to kick in.  Coolant was chucked out from overflow tank again(not surprisingly).  
Repeated the above for the next 30, 40 minutes with the same result every single time.

All in all, he was there for one hour and a bit.
After he finally gave up.

RAC : I wouldn\'t recommend you to drive it in this state, it\'s not safe.
me : Smiling...     In my head. It took you this long to come up with that??  mmmmmmm

[petemillis]

A bit of brown staining on the dipstick doesn\'t mean combustion gases or oil are getting into the engine. It\'s more likely to be from the water used to fill up the coolant, or from additive in the coolant OR from something like a coolant system sealant like Radweld (hopefully not the last one though). Just look in a kettle in different areas of the country and in some you will see brown staining, in others you will see a ton of chalk!

[clive]

Thanks for your help with this one JJ, a sniffer test is a real good idea NOW.

It may be worth knowing that if you have RAC home start and tell  them that it is a Rotary with engine problems  they will transport the car to a Rotary specialist free of charge.

I have used them twice now to transport the car like a 100 miles a time, which has more than paid for the membership. ( just litteraly rung up and booked a lowloader to collect the car)

Also worth noteing that as a full MRC we have discount structures in place for you with both the RAC and the AA

p.s. All these cars have staining on the dipsticks in the tanks, so don\'t worry about that

[Oedipus Rex]

OK well,


thanks for all the advice guys. Much appreciated.


I guess I\'ll be giving WGT a call. First call will be to the dealer though.

[Oedipus Rex]

oh and btw Clive,


will AA do the same?

[Oedipus Rex]

ok folks, last one on this.


took it out for a spin today, lifted the bonnest when I got out, definite gurgling noises coming from the main filler on the engine top.




it\'s not good is it.

Gonna have to go to see someone and quick sharp I think.

[Rich Cheung]

Oedipus Rex - I don\'t think your alone mate.
Been out in mine today. Coolant buzzer and light come on. Fearing the worst I stop and let it cool down for 30 mins. Check for leaks, check levels and all seems fine. Drive home (luckily only 10miles). Let it cool down for 2 hours, check levels all seems fine. Top in and burp system (only 0.5L). Buzzer still going.

Car had a full rebuild at Pips about 5K ago so I\'m really hoping its not water seal failure.

I can see the engine temp sensor and connector on the main filler neck. Is it worth taking apart and cleaning contacts ? Also are there any other sensors and contacts that possibly may be causing this ?

Rich

[clive]

Originally posted by Oedipus Rex
oh and btw Clive,


will AA do the same?

Sorry you will have to ring the AA to find out as l can only comment on the RAC.

Sorry to hear about your engine,

[Oedipus Rex]

may not be my engine yet,

we\'ll just have to wait and see.

[FD3UK]

Rice Cheung

The sender you were referring to on the front of the filler neck is the coolant level sender. As you can see this is very near to the top of system, if you had to add .5ltr that would have been low enough to make it go off.

The filler neck above this is the corect place to top up system, but it is also good to check there is some coolant in the expansion bottle on drivers side wing. Dont over fill this as it will only dump excess on the floor the next time engine is brought up to operating temp.


Kev

[FD3UK]

Just looked at you post and you say buzzer is still going after topping up. You can try disconnecting the sender I mentioned above at it\'s electrical connector (take care these can get a bit brittle) use a short piece of wire to link connector to metal part on the engine. turn on the ignition and check to see buzzer does not come on, this will tell you if the sender has gone bad.


Kev