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In the cold weather I've noticed a "grunting" noise from shat seems to be the struts when going over larger bumps in the roads. Above 50 degrees I don't seem to hear it, but am still gathering data. And aside from the noise I don't notice any other bad side effects, like feeling something else from it. Mine's a 2004 with 68k miles. Anyone else notice this on their rotary chariot?
Finally got around to securing my sub box. I custom made one where the sub aims through pass through, routed a hole and trimmed it out. The box portion is is justified to the driver side, leaving a cubby on the passenger side. I have a little door covering the cubby, I hide my oil and other maintainance goodies in there. The strap works great for holding a gallon of 2-stroke. Once the door is closed, it looks invisible, and if you weren't familiar with the trunk, you wouldnt notice. I also fi xed the led light strips (white light makes it easy to see and not ricey), and heat shrunk the wires. Tomorrow will be a coolant flush and oil change.
What a hell of a night. I needed to do some shopping and since the Galant has a bad crank position sensor, I took the RX-8. Just a half mile or so from my first destination, my coolant light came on. Okay, well, it probably just got low over time and needed to be topped off. Luckily I have a jug in the trunk.
A few seconds later, I start smelling antifreeze from the vents. Ah hell... I look down at my Ultragauge and the temperature is around 210 F. That's a bit high for the ambient temperature at the time but it would be normal for summer so I drive another block or so and pull into my destination. I popped the hood and saw coolant all over everything. At first, I thought it might just be water since it's been a very rainy day but then I saw a blown hose right at the top of the reservoir.
I needed time to think about what I should do, so I went into the store and looked but couldn't find what I went there for. Then I went by Subway and had a look at Google Maps while eating. There were no auto parts stores nearby, but there was a Home Depot about a 1/2 mile away. I didn't have anyone I could call at the time. I considered walking despite the rain, but the radar showed even worse storms were coming. Maybe I should have called a taxi, but given the short distance and that whatever I get the first time might not work, I decided to fill the thing up with coolant and drive it.
They didn't have that same kind of tubing, but I did find a 4" piece of copper tubing that fit pretty well. I bought that, some hose clamps, and a couple of tools and I made it work. I made a quick stop at the grocery store down the road since the dogs nor I had any food and then I drove home without further issue.
I'm a bit worried that it caused engine damage. The temperature gauge never went above around 215 F but if it lost enough coolant, it's not going to read properly anyway. At least there are no obvious signs that the engine is damaged so maybe I got lucky. I guess I'll be working on it more tomorrow.
You will be ok. Three months ago, I snapped a serpentine belt that goes around the water pump pulley. This happened while I entered the freeway at 55 mph. All I heard was a snap and debris flew under the car. A/C immediately turned off and the dummy coolant gauge needle is all the way up to the right, coasted the next mile and exited. Stopped at a light for at least a minute until I was able to pull into the garage and finally check to find out what happened.
Anyway, I've also purchased an Ultragauge because of that to get an idea of what the engine temps are. My predicament has a higher probability of causing a damage on the engine than what happened to yours. If you are concerned, you can always have a sample of your engine oil tested for mixture of coolant. I forgot the company who does it, it has been mentioned here in the forum a handful or times.
Last edited by Grace_Excel; Dec 27, 2015 at 10:26 PM.
Funny enough, I bought the Ultragauge primarily because I read on here that rotaries are more sensitive to overheating than piston engines and I wanted to be able to more precisely read the engine coolant temperature if a situation such as this one arose. Given that it was a small reservoir hose and I got it off the road pretty quickly, I think I'm okay, but I'm still going to keep my fingers crossed.
I fought for hours yesterday with seized sway bar end links. Tried the 5mm allen in the screw & made no difference. So I need to figure out how to remove the end links so I can install the PT sways bars I received. Anyone have any ideas to throw at me?
On the plus side, I did successfully install the BHR mid pipe & coils, plugs & wires without any issues. Removing the AC condenser and lines. Installed new Hawk HP+ pads on the front, rears are up next.
I fought for hours yesterday with seized sway bar end links. Tried the 5mm allen in the screw & made no difference. So I need to figure out how to remove the end links so I can install the PT sways bars I received. Anyone have any ideas to throw at me?
On the plus side, I did successfully install the BHR mid pipe & coils, plugs & wires without any issues. Removing the AC condenser and lines. Installed new Hawk HP+ pads on the front, rears are up next.
soak then in pb blaster. if you are replacing the links and dont care about the oem ones cut them off or hit the nuts with a rattle gun
I heated my Swaybars end links up with a propane torch to loosen them up. Worked like a charm. Heat works wonders.
wont that melt the rubber on the endlinks? in my brothers shop he has in induvtice coil heat tool that works wonders for freeing seized **** up. it wasnt a cheap tool tho. the downsides to it are you need to remember to femove your cell phone from the area so it doesnt get fried and it will stop a pacemaker too
wont that melt the rubber on the endlinks? in my brothers shop he has in induvtice coil heat tool that works wonders for freeing seized **** up. it wasnt a cheap tool tho. the downsides to it are you need to remember to femove your cell phone from the area so it doesnt get fried and it will stop a pacemaker too
Of course it will. But they are like $14 to replace and mine had 80k on them.
I guess I won't be going anywhere today. Coolant must have gotten in the electrical system somewhere. The windshield wipers won't turn off and the car will only run for about three seconds.
Well as it turns out, an animal had started nesting under my hood. It chewed through the coolant line as well as some wires coming out of the main wiring harness on the passenger side sidewall. I can't even make this stuff up... I spent the last couple of days soldering wires and repairing the coolant line, as well as changing my oil. I've driven all over the Dallas area tonight without issue, so I think I finally fixed the varmint's damage.
I drove along State Route 88 today, a very twisty mountain road in Arizona. I dont think ive ever had so much fun in a car. She took those corners like a champ.
Pulled the diff and driveshaft off my R3, now just need to drop the front subframe with engine and tranny and do the same to my S1 so I can start rewiring the S1 with all the S2 stuff for my drivetrain swap
*Yes I bought an entire 09' R3 just to do the swap lol
My car is in the shop, dealer is fixing one of my R3 rocker panels that was cracked accidentally by them. Here is my loaner...
..but it's not all bad
2nd time they've given me a standard on a loaner, pretty awesome. The 3 isn't half bad, I just hate rev matching on downshifts because the engine noise is anemic (forces me to squint at the baby tachometer)
Trying to figure out why my 8 flooded.
Pretty sure it's a weak battery.
36 month warranty expired in September, of course.
23° with a near 0° wind chill.
Fun.
