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My friend gave me his rx8 in July of this year. It ran fine till I took it to big bear mountain in October. It overheated right when I got to the top so I turn off the car and rolled down the mountain where I called for a tow to my destination.
When towing it home I started the car and it stayed on but abnormal idle getting it on the trailer. Once home, I had to start it again to get it off the trailer and samething happened before it died in the driveway.
Found out the top thin plastic of the radiator hose connector broke off so I replaced it with a mishimoto radiator and hoses. When I tried to start the car it wanted to turn over but couldn't so I started the deflooding process.
Once I did it 10x multiple times I decided to remove the catalytic converter where I found about 1/2 gallon of coolant :/ After removing the cat I continued the deflooding process.
Now the car starts for about 1-3sec, turns off, and continues to want to crank over. I noticed when it did start the temp gauge jumped to 3/4 to high. Thinking the thermostat is stuck open/closed? Probably new sparkplugs? Just wanted to get your guys' opinion before I start saving for a new rebuild.
Rent a coolant pressure test tool, if it lost pressure and you see coolant in the rotor housing or exhaust, you’ll need a new engine due to blown coolant seal and/or warped rotor housing.
Did you ever have white smoke bellowing from the car when you cold started it before? (typical signs of blown coolant gaskets>>coolant going into combustion chamber>>rebuild)
Sadly you should find a builder/ reman regardless, there's no way to fix coolant getting into the engine other than a rebuild. I'd worry about causing any further damage running the engine.
Running the engine with coolant going into the combustion chamber will likely lead to fouled plugs and likely hurt your cat (I went through a set of plugs about every 700 miles at $80 a set to get through college) Eventually low coolant will lead to overheating, leading to cooking your seals/bearings/E-shaft/etc.
I agree that you need to pressurize the cooling system to the pressure on the cap on the expansion tank. If it holds pressure then you would not have a coolant seal leak. The chances of this are very slim to none, as you advised that there was coolant in the exhaust system. This is a tell tale sign of coolant seal failure, but just to be sure, pressurize the system so that you will know for sure.
Before you junk the engine try Bar's leaks. There is a chance it could solve the issue. It worked in one car for about a year. Guy was able to save for a new engine yet still drive his car. It was his only car and he just used it to work and back. Note this advice is if you are planning to get a new engine. If doing a rebuild, this will make it even more difficult. This is the one we decided to use and it did work. Only for about a year though in this case. Make sure you do a block test first to confirm coolant seals have failed.
Last edited by CaymanRotary; Dec 23, 2020 at 05:31 PM.
Before you junk the engine try Bar's leaks. There is a chance it could solve the issue. It worked in one car for about a year. Guy was able to save for a new engine yet still drive his car. It was his only car and he just used it to work and back. Note this advice is if you are planning to get a new engine. If doing a rebuild, this will make it even more difficult.
I highly suggest not doing it and taking any measure you can to not use any form of stopleak in your car.
>>in short it'll make cleaning your irons a pain in the ***. It won't always hold, so you'll periodically burn coolant> fouled plugs($80)> destroys cat. On top of all of that your heatercore WILL get clogged and there is no way around this. Probably cheaper in the long run to buy a 500$ beater car for a year than using stopleak
Last edited by MincVinyl; Dec 23, 2020 at 05:46 PM.
Funny thing you mentioned the heater core, it was ruined and had to be replaced with the engine. This method only good if you are replacing the engine and not rebuilding it for sure. Gives the engine a bit more life and time for most people not equipped to tear a rotary out like its a day in the park like you Minc lol.
If the OP lives in a warm-ish environment I suppose IF you absolutely have to. It would be possible to bypass the heatercore and just plug it up for now. You would still have to deal with the mess that will be made in the coolant resevoir. I recommend if you do end up using stopleak to get some vacuum hose to lengthen the coolant overflow drain down under the car. The stopleak will cause the drain hose to leak sludge all over your powersteering connections and inside the engine bay.
Also at a certain point in having to rebuild engines it becomes second nature. Gets easier the further down the bottle of antiseize you get aswell.
Glad you did the right thing and pressure checked the cooling system. Its best that you did not throw any more money at the engine before deciding to pull it and have it rebuilt. That was a wise choice.
