ADD COOLANT buzzer/light HELP

[ds2000]

I\'ve had this very recently on mine, drove it for days, no buzzer, then starting it and off it went, immediately shut the engine off, topped the water up and off I went, day later the same again.

I\'ve now located it as being the rad that was at fault, I\'ve purchased sillicone hoses to replace the old knackered rubber ones and am just waiting on a recore/new rad.

Hopefully thats all it is for you!

Dave

[chris]

Hello mate,
Looking at your symptoms I would say that the news is not too good, when the engine is cold, remove both radiator caps, top up through the engine mounted cap until water runs out of the air seperator (plastic tank) and fit the pressure cap back to the plastic tank, then top up the level to the rim of the aluminium housing. leaving the cap off, start the engine, once running the level should stay fairly still, if water starts to pour out of the top then the engine has serious internal problems (water seals or cracked seal channel)

Do NOT carry on driving it ,you are just ensuring a very hefty bill in the end, these problems do not go away, or get better!! the damage becomes more severe the more you use it. sorry to sound like the grim reaper but I have been rebuilding third gen RX7\'s for over 10 years now, and have seen the results of overheating many many times.

Good Luck

Chris

[wiggy]

This is what I can\'t understand, its not overheating?

I checked again before after using it for work today and it needed about a table spoon of water to top it up. It was fine from a level point of view and yet still the add coolant light and buzzer were on today?

If it was over heating surely it would just over heat? especially when stuck in traffic...

I\'ll give the cap off test a try and see what happens?

Cheers

[CraigC]

Hey Mate...

Sounds very similar to the problems I\'ve been having - I must say that buzzer has got to be the loudest/worst noise I\'ve ever heard!!!

I\'ve had the buzzer + coolant warning light come on intermittently recently at odd intervals on long + short journeys. So far I\'ve had the car just 6 weeks and its been straight back to where I bought it (they\'ve had it more than I have).

Had a coolant pressure test, new rad fitted, new ast tank, new pressure caps, new thermostat+gasket etc. I should get it back soon, but I fear the worst for the car.

The last post has got me thinking... and something in the back of my mind tells me it\'s all pointing to water seal failure on my car + rebuild.

Keep us posted on how yours goes...

Craig

[wiggy]

I\'ll get a pressure test done at the weekend and see what that comes back with. I\'m guessing that will show any internal leaks as on a normal motor??

I could even get my local garage to do this tomorrow for me

I\'ll also do the over flow test Chris pointed out in the morning when its light. Hopefully the water will stay still and not flow out.

Cheers

[petemillis]

Wiggy, back to one of your first posts on this....you said air was only coming out of the heater warm, well it should be hot. A serious lack of coolant results in cold air out of the heater as the heater matrix empties, and causes an overheated engine.
Maybe you just have an airlock in the heater matrix (may as well look on the bright side).

[wiggy]

Hi Pete

Yeah it was blowing out warm as it wasn\'t that hot, if left to heat up fully the air is hot. This doesn\'t affect that light and buzzer coming on and bugging the shit out of me.

Picture this, Monday morning, Had the light/buzzer thing all weekend pissing you off, you get to the town where you work only to hit the usual rush hour traffic, you sit there with the car burbling away while ticking over, on and off the clutch getting very bored and still trying to wake up. Then.......BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

ARGHHH god dam it.....

This morning the heater was working fine as it had chance to get up to temp. Thing is, still stuck in traffic the coolant buzzer went off most of the time I was in traffic and again the gauge didn\'t move one bit from the middle where it always sits.

One thing I can\'t figure out while sat here thinking about it. If the water seals etc have gone then why is the problem intermitent? Surely its like a head gasket going on a std engine and once it has it has if you know what I mean?

I have had a few cars in the past with head gaskets going and usually, thats it. It doesn\'t come and go. And, if a head gasket goes on a std car there are usually tell tail signs such as hard coolant pipes as they are being pressurised, steam from the zorst, smelly coolant etc. I have none of these symptoms?

The plot thickens

Cheers

[ro284]

Hi mate, I had the same problem as you, with heater not getting hot, buzzer going etc, fitted a new water pump in place of leaking one, thought it was that, fitted new thermostat too, it was niether, Chris kindly called and said it was a failed seal causing pressure in the system, however by this time after trying all the above it had got too hot a few times when struggling to get home yet again!after all the coolant was forced out! So i got Chris to rebuild the engine for me, hopefully a pic will appear next, if it does this is where the water seal failed, which it had!caused by corrosion! but as it had over heated so much it had distorted the front and rear plates, but while it was apart i had 2 new housings too, so basically a new engine now, i may have avoided the need for new plates had i not messed about for so long, i should get it checked out by an expert mate, today if poss!cheaper in the long run, as it is mine is all done, brilliant job, and i am running it in,
good luck Bob

[wiggy]

The saga continues....

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...

There was a Stealthy black star fighter called Bathurst, code name project RX-7. The pilot, captain Spurgen \'wiggy\' Grubinstien was struggling to maintain warp factor 56 and called upon his dedicated crew to get him out of a jam once again. The ships fusion core had been showing warning signs for some time now and regular reports had been written so star command knew the situation. The elite ship was known for glitches such as these and captain Grubinstien felt that by recording the ships behaviour it would aid future captains and crew to know how to solve the problems.

The manufacturers of the ship, Mazda plc, group, inc, were brave by even making such a ship and captain Grubinstien knew the ship would be worth it in the end.

Captains log: Star date 19.10.2004

This morning the ship carried on its usual antics whilst stuck in an intergalactic space jam. The fusion core coolant warning was on and off like hooker at the weekend. One thing noted today, as the jam was especially slow and long was the fluctuations in heat coming from the cabins internal climate system. This is swaying me more towards some sort of blockage in the coolant? One minute the heat would be hot as expected with the core up to temp and 2 mins later it would be warm. This carried on all the way to base. Again the cores temp indicators were as normal suggesting no over heating. This apparent fluctuation could only be caused by air trapped in the system and travelling round. One minute it would be where the sensors are located which would allow the warning light to come on. And another time it will be where the heater matrix is causing cooler air to come out?

I only hope the crew are as good as I was told or I feel the HMS Bathurst will be boomed.

I shall keep the log updated daily so others can learn from my experience.

Captain Spurgen \'Wiggy\' Grubinstien

Sorry guys, it seemed more fun this way....hehehe

[ro284]

Sorry i was hoping to include a pic of where my seal failed but not mastered that bit yet, any advice please, cheers Bob

[wiggy]

when you click on reply there is a box at the bottom that says attach file. Next to this is a browes button. Click on this and then when the seperate window open find your pic. Then click ok. Thats it

cheers

[petemillis]

Beam me up Wiggy, I\'m a RAOTFPMPALMAO and I\'ve got work to do - just about to embark on the thrilling task of replacing the shocks on the rear of a Skyline.

[iaint]

Wiggy -

DON\'T TRUST THE STOCK TEMP GAUGE!!!  It sucks monkey bottom - by the time you see it start to head north you have already seriously overheated (>120C type of thing).

One mod that people always reccomend is an aftermarket water and oil temp sensor because it takes a suprising amount of time to warm up the oil and the water moves around alot without moving the needle!

If you\'re losing coolant - i.e you occasionally have to top it up then it\'s leaking somewhere - either into the engine, i.e. failed seal, or out if the cooling system (rad, pipes, ast, etc).

Get the coolant system pressure tested when it\'s all cold.  If there\'s an external leak it\'ll show up.  If pressure drops but there is no sign of a leak it\'s likely that it\'s an internal leak.  This can be proven by doing the pressure test with the lower sparkplugs removed.  I\'ve heard that using htis method will possibly finish the seal off and you\'re looking at an immediate rebuild...

Get it to WGT next week and all will be made clear - try not to push it until then and avoid adding too much heat to the system from boooooost!

Iain

Iain

[wiggy]

Seeing as I am on leave next week from star command I shall take a shuttle over to WGT for them to look at the ship I hear Major Pip is a bit of wiz at fixing these dam ships...

The second in command (wife) will be most angry if the ship needs major repair this soon into us taking command of it. I feel my hopes still lie in the problem being something simple. Mutiny could be on the cards if the second in command and the petty officer Devon (my daughter) find out we can\'t in fact visit Disney land in January:  :eek

I now think my only choice would be to jettison myself into space and take my chances with the asteroids.

:rolleyes:

[wiggy]

OK, I am going to run a few tests at Lunch time (again...lol)

1) I will top up as Chris pointed out and then start the car with the rad cap off. If nothing happens does this mean the seals are OK???
Of course if it does spew out water I know pretty much 100% I am stuffed. but if it doesn\'t can I then eliminate the seals as being the problem?

2) Replace rad cap if nothing comes out and leave it running. Check the pipes for getting very hard (another indication of the system being pressurised)

3) Have a good nosy all round the car for small leaks, AST etc.

The problem could be that when topping up in the past I always have the front of the car point down hill. In the past I have always jacked cars up at the front to do the water change to make sure the rad cap it higher than the rest of the engine making it easier to allow air out.

Now the car is on a flat in the car park outside I shall try this again.

Mission report at 1400 hours.