Engine Rebuild help!? - newbie :-(

[nikp]

I\'d begin to worry by the fact he says the coolant light is on, and the buzzer is sounding. He mentions that it hasn\'t overheated, but if he doesn\'t know much about these cars, he making be basing that fact on the standard temp gauge. It\'s possible he has fried his engine.

[antrosser]

i dont think as i have never run it for long when the engine has had the coolant light on. It should take some time to fry the engine i would have thought. it came on first of all when i was on a short journey from cold therefore wouldnt have thought it would have got hot in that time.

Since im taking the engine out soon, what should i look for for signs of overheating?

[vxer]

i dont think as i have never run it for long when the engine has had the coolant light on. It should take some time to fry the engine i would have thought. it came on first of all when i was on a short journey from cold therefore wouldnt have thought it would have got hot in that time.

Since im taking the engine out soon, what should i look for for signs of overheating?

The trouble is, because the engine is alu, if it overheats it\'ll warp the block = game over.

IIRC if the coolant light comes on, you should stop immediately and sort it out.

Ta, Paul.

[nikp]

IIRC if the coolant light comes on, you should stop immediately and sort it out

Thats by far the safest and cheapest (In the long run) thing to do. As said, some of the engine parts are alluminium, and will therefore warp when overheated - and therefore junk. A new rotor housing is £300! :o (I know - i have to get 2 of them!)

[dandan]

its not realy as bad a prospect but when you take the Upper inlet of an Fd you\'ll S**t your self.

:rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin

So true!!

[Nobbie]

In my amateur opinion the water seals sound like there on there way out rather than the apex seals, but i guess we\'ll find out soon.

[nikp]

If the water seals are on their way out, you\'ll be constantly losing water. Eventually it\'ll start spitting out hot coolant out of the expansion tank when it\'s hot, and after a while it\'ll get harder to start when it\'s hot. Sometimes it may also start on just one rotor due to water being inside.

[antrosser]

im not sure about that. it doesnt turn on at all at the mo! havent tried for a while tho, might give it another go in a sec. might just have been a bit flooded yesterday...and they hate starting when they\'ve been flooded! im going to take the spark plugs out and see what kind of movement there is inside or whether there is any sign of liquid in there

[Jonathan_F]

im not sure about that. it doesnt turn on at all at the mo! havent tried for a while tho, might give it another go in a sec. might just have been a bit flooded yesterday...and they hate starting when they\'ve been flooded! im going to take the spark plugs out and see what kind of movement there is inside or whether there is any sign of liquid in there

IMPORTANT!!
You may have a poor spark. (I had this, thought the engine was scrap)
Remove all four plugs(clean and dry them on the gas hob in the kitchen) and connect them to their leads, clip them together with jump leads (two in each jaw) and earth the leads (strut brace bolts)
Crank the engine.
Each plug should have a fat blue spark.
If the spark is yellow or looks small/internal to the spark gap then the plugs or leads or coils will need changing. Look for missing sparks (skipping).
A poor spark can imitate low compression. The car will run on the trailing plugs badly, or without the trailing plugs with less power.

This procedure will clear all the oil/fuel from your engine too.
Should start straight up after.

The buzzing is low water level. The sender is beneath the fill cap in the engine. If the thermostat is not opening the engine will overheat in the block, boil and lose coolant into the expansion tank causing the light to come on.
Remove the thermostat and check it opens in boiling water on the hob. I believe the engine needs the thermostat to heat up properly so you must replace it before driving the car. You can heat it on the spot though (the rad is so large is will cool the engine so your permanantly cold when driving). Ensure the antifreeze mix is good also as this raises the boiling point.

Good luck

Jon

[Grizzly]

Does the coolent light come on all the Time or has it been flicking on and off?

I\'ve first hand seen an Rx engine die from Overheating when my Fan belt snaped on my T2 going down the motorway, belive me if you\'ve overheated it you\'ll know!! it lights up like a christmas tree and when you turn it off you can here the Oil Boiling in the Sump. But the Most ovious Sign is the amount of presure in the sytem as soon as you start it from cold.

The thing is i\'ve seen a few Dead Coolant seal engines and they are very mild symptoms compared to an Apex going. A coolant problem would cause bad starting etc but once you\'ve got it running they usaly run quite well.

The water Buzzer/Light could be as simple as a bad Coolant cap.

The thing is with out having it Comp tested its a Guessing game, it could be a Dodgy map sencer or faulty EMS

[antrosser]

yeah, i was hoping for that in the best case scenario! i dont want it to be anything expensive!

Thanks for that info Jon, its interesting to find out how to test for faults etc.. if it is just the spark plugs causing the bad running and not wanting to start up then i shall be laughing! but at 67000miles, i am expecting to have to do it soon anyway :-( but least i shall be able to drive it in the meantime!

[Jonathan_F]

yeah, i was hoping for that in the best case scenario! i dont want it to be anything expensive!

Thanks for that info Jon, its interesting to find out how to test for faults etc.. if it is just the spark plugs causing the bad running and not wanting to start up then i shall be laughing! but at 67000miles, i am expecting to have to do it soon anyway :-( but least i shall be able to drive it in the meantime!

If its not been rebuilt before then yes, low compression due to worn apex seals is likely. This will cause it to foul its plus as well (low compression=low combustion temps=carbon fouling).
Please let us know how you get on.
Jon

[Grizzly]

If your taking the plugs out try this!!

Take the EGI fuel out, Remove the Rear top spark Plug then turn it over and listen to the noise it makes, It should be Even Pssssh Noises. then refit the plug and take the Ft top one out and turn it over, it should sound the same as the Rear.

It sounds harch but if its droped an Apex you are wasting your time trying to find a fault thats not there. If it passes that test then look at other things. Its easy to do.

[antrosser]

what is the EGI fuel grizzly? :-o

[Grizzly]

Yeh it will stop it Flooding more while you turn it over.

Rotarys are funny, If the engine gets too much fuel in the Rotor Baths it will wet the Plugs every time the Apex\'s cross the Plugs. So the best way of stopping this is to Turn off the Fuel injectors or Cut the Fuel which is what the EGI fues Does.

Its common to take the EGI fues out + the Plugs and crank the engine for a few minutes to help clear exess Fuel when a Motors Flooded..