Coolant problems :(
01-03-2015, 01:11 PM
#26
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If the needle dropped back down after the fans kicked on, then you probably have a severe clog/restriction somewhere in your cooling system.
Be advised that the needle won't start moving up until 235F, and you can suffer engine damage as low as 220F. That doesn't mean that it WILL happen, but it's playing russian roulette, and the higher the needle goes the more bullets are loaded into that gun. That needle high pic looks more like 250F to me, and that is REALLY dangerous to your engine. It is likely that you already have engine damage from all of this. If you end up finding the problem, you are going to need to start testing for a coolant seal failure.
Wow that's really worried me
I shut the engine off after the raise in temp.
Coolant light on with normal coolant level is a common failure, the coolant bottle float attached to the sensor gets water logged and sinks to the bottom and won't float, tripping the coolant light even with full coolant. You have to replace the bottle to replace the sensor.
It's normal if the oil level is low. Did you check the oil level? The engine burns oil by design, so you will need to add oil periodically. 1 quart low is about enough to trip the oil light, and while 1 quart in 200 miles is not normal or acceptable, it is entirely possible if the engine rebuild was botched (plenty possible, many rebuilds are done by people that shouldn't be touching them) or your overheating has warped a housing (also possible).
Yes I checked the oil.. It's gone off again now.
At this point, I'd really recommend removing your thermostat, but taking pictures of it before actually removing it from the housing, so we can determine if it was installed backwards.[/QUOTE]
I will do this tommorow.. Do you think the rotary engine place I got the rebuild from have messed up as there was no cooling problems before and the car was taken back to them and they said they have fixed it but clearly not.
Also if there is engine damage would this be there fault, not fitting the car back to how it's ment to be, it's just hard to believe that as their supposed to be specialists with rotary engines.
Be advised that the needle won't start moving up until 235F, and you can suffer engine damage as low as 220F. That doesn't mean that it WILL happen, but it's playing russian roulette, and the higher the needle goes the more bullets are loaded into that gun. That needle high pic looks more like 250F to me, and that is REALLY dangerous to your engine. It is likely that you already have engine damage from all of this. If you end up finding the problem, you are going to need to start testing for a coolant seal failure.
Wow that's really worried me
I shut the engine off after the raise in temp.
Coolant light on with normal coolant level is a common failure, the coolant bottle float attached to the sensor gets water logged and sinks to the bottom and won't float, tripping the coolant light even with full coolant. You have to replace the bottle to replace the sensor.
It's normal if the oil level is low. Did you check the oil level? The engine burns oil by design, so you will need to add oil periodically. 1 quart low is about enough to trip the oil light, and while 1 quart in 200 miles is not normal or acceptable, it is entirely possible if the engine rebuild was botched (plenty possible, many rebuilds are done by people that shouldn't be touching them) or your overheating has warped a housing (also possible).
Yes I checked the oil.. It's gone off again now.
At this point, I'd really recommend removing your thermostat, but taking pictures of it before actually removing it from the housing, so we can determine if it was installed backwards.[/QUOTE]
I will do this tommorow.. Do you think the rotary engine place I got the rebuild from have messed up as there was no cooling problems before and the car was taken back to them and they said they have fixed it but clearly not.
Also if there is engine damage would this be there fault, not fitting the car back to how it's ment to be, it's just hard to believe that as their supposed to be specialists with rotary engines.
01-03-2015, 01:13 PM
#27
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Would there be any noticeable tell tale signs of engine damage with out the test?... Really worried about it now because at one point the gauge was near maxed when it dumped while driving 
01-03-2015, 01:16 PM
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Coolant on the plugs or in the housing (easiest to tell with a no-gas brief engine turn over in the morning, then pulling the plugs to check)
Coolant in the oil (have a sample tested by an oil analysis place)
Combustion gas in the coolant (easy test by most places)
Coolant system pressure test fails (and if you know for sure that there isn't a coolant leak from anywhere outside of the engine)
Coolant in the oil (have a sample tested by an oil analysis place)
Combustion gas in the coolant (easy test by most places)
Coolant system pressure test fails (and if you know for sure that there isn't a coolant leak from anywhere outside of the engine)
01-03-2015, 01:29 PM
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Coolant on the plugs or in the housing (easiest to tell with a no-gas brief engine turn over in the morning, then pulling the plugs to check)
Coolant in the oil (have a sample tested by an oil analysis place)
Combustion gas in the coolant (easy test by most places)
Coolant system pressure test fails (and if you know for sure that there isn't a coolant leak from anywhere outside of the engine)
Coolant in the oil (have a sample tested by an oil analysis place)
Combustion gas in the coolant (easy test by most places)
Coolant system pressure test fails (and if you know for sure that there isn't a coolant leak from anywhere outside of the engine)
I really hope it hasn't caused any damage.
Would the car run ok with damage?
Is it less likely to cause damage as it's just been rebuilt with new seals?
It was noticed straight away as I was keeping a constant eye on it, seeing as it was a cooling problem.
I just don't know why today it has not overheated or dumped anything.
Where's the best place to start with the cooling system?
Does it look like its a restriction somewhere?
This has only been like this since the rebuild.
01-03-2015, 01:36 PM
#30
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A minor initial coolant seal failure will likely not cause any immediate problems other than perhaps a bit of unstable idle when first starting. Over time, it will cause harder cold starts, lots of white coolant smoke, periodic unexplained misfires at full throttle, etc... Eventually, it will corrode enough of the engine to fail a compression test.
Many people new to RX-8s vastly underestimate how easy it is to damage the engine on an overheating. You need to be paranoid about it. If you were dumping coolant, being fast enough with turning it off could easily mean less than 1 second of initial coolant dump that you didn't see before the needle even starts moving. Turning off the engine once the needle starts moving could easily already be 10-15 seconds too late. Get an OBD2 adapter to monitor actual coolant temps if you are going to keep the car and keep testing.
Did the rebuilder give you any sort of warranty? If so, you need to be talking with them, as this is almost certainly related to the rebuild.
If not, If I was in your shoes i would literally remove the entire cooling system and test/replace every single piece, making sure that each piece is reinstalled correctly, and then make sure that the refill and burping is done correctly.
This is something you can do in a weekend with simple tools.
Many people new to RX-8s vastly underestimate how easy it is to damage the engine on an overheating. You need to be paranoid about it. If you were dumping coolant, being fast enough with turning it off could easily mean less than 1 second of initial coolant dump that you didn't see before the needle even starts moving. Turning off the engine once the needle starts moving could easily already be 10-15 seconds too late. Get an OBD2 adapter to monitor actual coolant temps if you are going to keep the car and keep testing.
Did the rebuilder give you any sort of warranty? If so, you need to be talking with them, as this is almost certainly related to the rebuild.
If not, If I was in your shoes i would literally remove the entire cooling system and test/replace every single piece, making sure that each piece is reinstalled correctly, and then make sure that the refill and burping is done correctly.
This is something you can do in a weekend with simple tools.
Last edited by RIWWP; 01-03-2015 at 01:40 PM.
01-03-2015, 01:43 PM
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A minor initial coolant seal failure will likely not cause any immediate problems other than perhaps a bit of unstable idle when first starting. Over time, it will cause harder cold starts, lots of white coolant smoke, periodic unexplained misfires at full throttle, etc... Eventually, it will corrode enough of the engine to fail a compression test.
Many people new to RX-8s vastly underestimate how easy it is to damage the engine on an overheating. You need to be paranoid about it. If you were dumping coolant, being fast enough with turning it off could easily mean less than 1 second of initial coolant dump that you didn't see before the needle even starts moving. Turning off the engine once the needle starts moving could easily already be 10-15 seconds too late. Get an OBD2 adapter to monitor actual coolant temps if you are going to keep the car and keep testing.
Did the rebuilder give you any sort of warranty? If so, you need to be talking with them, as this is almost certainly related to the rebuild.
If not, If I was in your shoes i would literally remove the entire cooling system and test/replace every single piece, making sure that each piece is reinstalled correctly, and then make sure that the refill and burping is done correctly.
This is something you can do in a weekend with simple tools.
Many people new to RX-8s vastly underestimate how easy it is to damage the engine on an overheating. You need to be paranoid about it. If you were dumping coolant, being fast enough with turning it off could easily mean less than 1 second of initial coolant dump that you didn't see before the needle even starts moving. Turning off the engine once the needle starts moving could easily already be 10-15 seconds too late. Get an OBD2 adapter to monitor actual coolant temps if you are going to keep the car and keep testing.
Did the rebuilder give you any sort of warranty? If so, you need to be talking with them, as this is almost certainly related to the rebuild.
If not, If I was in your shoes i would literally remove the entire cooling system and test/replace every single piece, making sure that each piece is reinstalled correctly, and then make sure that the refill and burping is done correctly.
This is something you can do in a weekend with simple tools.
Yes the builder give warranty.
Maybe I should call them, as they have obviously caused this problem to the car.
01-03-2015, 01:52 PM
#33
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See my post here: https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discuss...6/#post4652856 #4280
01-03-2015, 02:02 PM
#34
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Coolant on the plugs or in the housing (easiest to tell with a no-gas brief engine turn over in the morning, then pulling the plugs to check)
Coolant in the oil (have a sample tested by an oil analysis place)
Combustion gas in the coolant (easy test by most places)
Coolant system pressure test fails (and if you know for sure that there isn't a coolant leak from anywhere outside of the engine)
Coolant in the oil (have a sample tested by an oil analysis place)
Combustion gas in the coolant (easy test by most places)
Coolant system pressure test fails (and if you know for sure that there isn't a coolant leak from anywhere outside of the engine)
I pulled the oil stick out and it's covered in water droplets all over the stick also it has a white gunk all the way up the stick...
Hers the problem, the car leaked as soon as I returned home and was taken back to the rotary engine repair place, they said it was a hose which they said in good faith they had done it.
After 20 more miles after them doing that it dumps everywhere again. The company must have messed up somewhere and I will be taking the car back under the warranty the gave me .... Looks like there gonna have to rebuild it again, I'm so shocked.
01-03-2015, 02:04 PM
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The dipstick is not a good way to test the oil. Water is different from coolant. Water condensation in the oil pan is entirely normal for RX-8s, especially in the cold months.
01-03-2015, 02:06 PM
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I think best thing is take it to them and say don't call me until it's completely sorted... I have a year warranty so they have to replace the engine if it's broken due to their bad work... It was fine before hen so it's obviously their problem... What a shame.
01-03-2015, 02:07 PM
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Also the droplets are too small to see wether it's coolant or water however it's all the way up the stick and covered in white gunk
01-03-2015, 02:12 PM
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Again, using the dipstick to diagnose is not a very good idea. The condensation in the winter months is called anything from milk, to white gunk, to white foam, to brown milkshake, etc...
Do a site search here and you will see a plenty of threads about it:
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...milk+foam+gunk
This is entirely normal.
You may, or you may not, have coolant in the oil. You CAN NOT tell via the dipstick.
Do a site search here and you will see a plenty of threads about it:
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...milk+foam+gunk
This is entirely normal.
You may, or you may not, have coolant in the oil. You CAN NOT tell via the dipstick.
01-03-2015, 02:37 PM
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Again, using the dipstick to diagnose is not a very good idea. The condensation in the winter months is called anything from milk, to white gunk, to white foam, to brown milkshake, etc...
Do a site search here and you will see a plenty of threads about it:
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...milk+foam+gunk
This is entirely normal.
You may, or you may not, have coolant in the oil. You CAN NOT tell via the dipstick.
Do a site search here and you will see a plenty of threads about it:
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...milk+foam+gunk
This is entirely normal.
You may, or you may not, have coolant in the oil. You CAN NOT tell via the dipstick.
After 10 mins there and 10mins driving back there was no problems.
I then sat outside for a little while to see and again it was actually under by one notch from the temp sign on the back of the display..
No dumping at all...
How and why has it not done it again?
If there was a clog surely it would have happened again?
01-03-2015, 03:00 PM
#41
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I know i totally agree, and to be honest I just have a gut feeling it's gonna be bad.
I think I need to test it still.
01-03-2015, 03:05 PM
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Also just found this...
I was looking around the fc3s-pro site and came across the coolant change section. *It basically says that All FC rad's should be upgraded due to the weak stocker. *As for the serious coolant change, they recommend draining everything, filling it with Prestone Superflush and water, then driving around until the system boils over and your temp gauge hits the H. *Then shut it down, cool it off, drain it, fill and drain again, then fill.
Who would want to purposely overheat their car?
Here's the actual guide lol........
Drain entire cooling system (of coolant) - on the 13B, use the radiator drain (plastic plug) on the bottom of the radiator and the engine block drain (14mm hex plug) located in the driver's side engine mount bracket.
Close drains and fill with your favorite flushing additive. We recommend using Prestone Superflush™.
After pouring in bottle of Prestone Superflush, top off with water as per instructions on the Prestone Superfluch bottle. The cooling system should now be filled with the Prestone Superflush and water mix.
Start the car and run till the cooling system boils over. Yes, you heard that right - till you see steam coming out of the overflow bottle. You might need to drive the car around the block a few times to get it to steam; it might not steam just idling in your driveway. Try not to drive very far away from home when doing this. Stay calm and do not get alarmed when the temperature gauge hits "H" and the low coolant light/buzzer goes off. As soon as you gauge hits "H", calmly drive back home and kill the engine.
Shut the engine down and let it cool down.
Drain everything out of the cooling system - it should look milky white!
Flush the cooling system with as much running water until everything comes out clear. Don't forget to flush and clean out your overflow bottle also!
Drain and fill with your favorite coolant and (distilled) water to the appropriate ratio depending on your climate. Again, don't forget to fill the overflow bottle also.
I was looking around the fc3s-pro site and came across the coolant change section. *It basically says that All FC rad's should be upgraded due to the weak stocker. *As for the serious coolant change, they recommend draining everything, filling it with Prestone Superflush and water, then driving around until the system boils over and your temp gauge hits the H. *Then shut it down, cool it off, drain it, fill and drain again, then fill.
Who would want to purposely overheat their car?
Here's the actual guide lol........
Drain entire cooling system (of coolant) - on the 13B, use the radiator drain (plastic plug) on the bottom of the radiator and the engine block drain (14mm hex plug) located in the driver's side engine mount bracket.
Close drains and fill with your favorite flushing additive. We recommend using Prestone Superflush™.
After pouring in bottle of Prestone Superflush, top off with water as per instructions on the Prestone Superfluch bottle. The cooling system should now be filled with the Prestone Superflush and water mix.
Start the car and run till the cooling system boils over. Yes, you heard that right - till you see steam coming out of the overflow bottle. You might need to drive the car around the block a few times to get it to steam; it might not steam just idling in your driveway. Try not to drive very far away from home when doing this. Stay calm and do not get alarmed when the temperature gauge hits "H" and the low coolant light/buzzer goes off. As soon as you gauge hits "H", calmly drive back home and kill the engine.
Shut the engine down and let it cool down.
Drain everything out of the cooling system - it should look milky white!
Flush the cooling system with as much running water until everything comes out clear. Don't forget to flush and clean out your overflow bottle also!
Drain and fill with your favorite coolant and (distilled) water to the appropriate ratio depending on your climate. Again, don't forget to fill the overflow bottle also.
Last edited by RxJosh; 01-03-2015 at 03:08 PM.
01-03-2015, 03:41 PM
#43
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That's...terrible.
If nothing else, don't use RX-7 info here, too many things are too different about the RX-8 engine.
No, refilling and reburping isn't needed if this was just a burping problem. I'd still get something to watch the ACTUAL coolant temps (a bluetooth OBD2 adapter paired with your smartphone and an OBD2 app works) at a bare minimum. Again, if I was in your shoes, I'd disassemble it all and test everything.
If nothing else, don't use RX-7 info here, too many things are too different about the RX-8 engine.
No, refilling and reburping isn't needed if this was just a burping problem. I'd still get something to watch the ACTUAL coolant temps (a bluetooth OBD2 adapter paired with your smartphone and an OBD2 app works) at a bare minimum. Again, if I was in your shoes, I'd disassemble it all and test everything.
01-03-2015, 03:52 PM
#44
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That's...terrible.
If nothing else, don't use RX-7 info here, too many things are too different about the RX-8 engine.
No, refilling and reburping isn't needed if this was just a burping problem. I'd still get something to watch the ACTUAL coolant temps (a bluetooth OBD2 adapter paired with your smartphone and an OBD2 app works) at a bare minimum. Again, if I was in your shoes, I'd disassemble it all and test everything.
If nothing else, don't use RX-7 info here, too many things are too different about the RX-8 engine.
No, refilling and reburping isn't needed if this was just a burping problem. I'd still get something to watch the ACTUAL coolant temps (a bluetooth OBD2 adapter paired with your smartphone and an OBD2 app works) at a bare minimum. Again, if I was in your shoes, I'd disassemble it all and test everything.
What do you mean disassemble everything?
If I'm honest I wouldn't know where to start disassembling it.
I'm sure this is the rotary company who rebuilt this engine 200ish miles ago fault and I'm guessing with the warranty they provide they will have to repair.. It had the problem straight after the rebuild which they said they rectified.
I just don't think it's been tested correctly and maybe for them it would be worth doing the coolant tests on the car too see if more damage had been caused.
I'm very concerned about this now and need the car working for Monday which just isn't going to happen
01-03-2015, 04:00 PM
#46
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Yes, if you have a warranty, take it back to them. Feel free to point them to this thread.
Considering how much coolant you have sprayed all over the place, i wouldn't be able to place any value on one part of your engine bay smelling of coolant vs another part. Completely clean everything in the engine bay and then yes, there may be a connection.
Considering how much coolant you have sprayed all over the place, i wouldn't be able to place any value on one part of your engine bay smelling of coolant vs another part. Completely clean everything in the engine bay and then yes, there may be a connection.
01-03-2015, 04:48 PM
#47
Driving my unreliable rx8
Tbh my first thought was a bad coolant seal in the rebuild. The fact its driving good now points away from that.
First check your plugs and post the pics.
Then get the coolant system pressure tested.
If that passes pull the thermostat and take a pic before actually removing it. If not bring it to the builder.
Boil test the thermostat to see if its opening and when.
First check your plugs and post the pics.
Then get the coolant system pressure tested.
If that passes pull the thermostat and take a pic before actually removing it. If not bring it to the builder.
Boil test the thermostat to see if its opening and when.
01-04-2015, 12:47 PM
#48
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Hey guys.
Update today.
Been driving all today and leaving engine running everytime I can at garages ect, not a hint of the gauge going over half way....???
Maybe I filled it too much?
Update today.
Been driving all today and leaving engine running everytime I can at garages ect, not a hint of the gauge going over half way....???
Maybe I filled it too much?
01-04-2015, 03:40 PM
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