RX7 coolant problem. Help please.
Discussion
My Nextdoor neighbour has recently bought an Fd3 Rx7 twin turbo. and is having a few issues with it. We've cured the none starting and sorted his door locks. But his coolant problems are bothering me now as every few days he knocks on my front door and asks me to help fix it.
It has a coolant leak from the overflow in the expansion tank bottle. The dipstick in the bottle reads well over the full mark. If he leaves it leaking the 'add coolant' light comes on. He is adamant that you need to be able to see the water in the rad neck, But i think it's overfilled. It has had both pressure caps replaced if it makes any difference.
Does that make any sense? Any suggestions other than swan vestas welcomed.
It has a coolant leak from the overflow in the expansion tank bottle. The dipstick in the bottle reads well over the full mark. If he leaves it leaking the 'add coolant' light comes on. He is adamant that you need to be able to see the water in the rad neck, But i think it's overfilled. It has had both pressure caps replaced if it makes any difference.
Does that make any sense? Any suggestions other than swan vestas welcomed.
He is right about needing to fill it upto the the neck dude.
Has he tried burping it to make sure the system is full?....also maybe worth doing a champagne test to check if the water seals are ok.
If the coolant light and buzzer only come on when it's required that's a good thing as it shows the F100 relay is still working and not crapped itself....and also that some cheeky bugger has not just pulled the light out of the dash!.
Keep us posted dude, I'm sure there will be a few other guys along with a couple of more ideas.
Regards
Matt
Has he tried burping it to make sure the system is full?....also maybe worth doing a champagne test to check if the water seals are ok.
If the coolant light and buzzer only come on when it's required that's a good thing as it shows the F100 relay is still working and not crapped itself....and also that some cheeky bugger has not just pulled the light out of the dash!.
Keep us posted dude, I'm sure there will be a few other guys along with a couple of more ideas.
Regards
Matt
So coolant should be visible in both caps?
Is the dipstick in the expansion tank for the overall coolant level or just the expansion tank? My intial thought it was chucking water out of the overflow as the whole system was overfilled based on the level on it.
Do the coolant level sensors fail?
Yeah it should be visible in both dude, coolant temp sensors can be temperamental but I'd carry out the above first as you say he is using coolant more regualary than normal and the level does drop.
Also it will be worth getting compression tested to give him piece of mind....how much did he pay for it?.
Also it will be worth getting compression tested to give him piece of mind....how much did he pay for it?.
Who was it rebuilt by?
Another thing to check is the condition of the various coolant hoses around the engine bay. I encountered a similar problem where the coolant buzzer would sound almost every time I started the car which would cause me to top up the system. After a while the expansion tank began to overflow.
It turned out that there was a hole in one of the hoses (the one going to the back of the upper inlet manifold) so that when the system cooled, it would pull air in through the hole rather than from the expansion tank. For some reason there was no leak from here when the car was running, so as the system heated up, excess coolant went to the expansion tank (as it should), but since it wasn't getting pulled back the coolant level in the system dropped, while the level in the expansion tank continued to rise (until it overflowed).
A pressure test on the system may well show up any leaks. The one good thing is that the coolant level sensor sits very high in the system and it doesn't take much loss of coolant to make it go off, as long as your mate tops up when the buzzer goes off he will be ok for the time being, but best to get to the bottom of it.
Another thing to check is the condition of the various coolant hoses around the engine bay. I encountered a similar problem where the coolant buzzer would sound almost every time I started the car which would cause me to top up the system. After a while the expansion tank began to overflow.
It turned out that there was a hole in one of the hoses (the one going to the back of the upper inlet manifold) so that when the system cooled, it would pull air in through the hole rather than from the expansion tank. For some reason there was no leak from here when the car was running, so as the system heated up, excess coolant went to the expansion tank (as it should), but since it wasn't getting pulled back the coolant level in the system dropped, while the level in the expansion tank continued to rise (until it overflowed).
A pressure test on the system may well show up any leaks. The one good thing is that the coolant level sensor sits very high in the system and it doesn't take much loss of coolant to make it go off, as long as your mate tops up when the buzzer goes off he will be ok for the time being, but best to get to the bottom of it.
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