Loose a little coolant get a new engine
 

Well, at 20,xxx miles and 23 months of ownership, I'm getting a new engine. Had the car into the dealership for 20K service and they said they found a minor external coolant leak in the rear housing of the engine. I had had a low coolant light come on last November...but I figured after a year and a half of Texas heat, it wasn't unreasonable to have to add a bit of coolant.

Apparently, replacing the engine is the easiest fix??



AT

What? Where exactly is the location of the leak?

Scary, because mine has also had coolant just disappear to almost the low point. I thought that was normal though...evaporation or something going on, and just simply dumped more in. Guess it's not a normal thing huh.

I don't have any specific details other than they said it was the rear cover/housing. I am assuming that its the end piece of the rotor sandwich. The new engine should be in this next week and i'll ask some more detailed questions before I let them pull the old one. I have had no real engine trouble (other than the MIL's from the PCM program of the week era :) ) so this has me a bit spooked. I have questions like, is it a new factory engine, a factory rebuild, a joe's auto shop rebuild? what?

AT

That sounds just like my experience...didn't know anything was up until the low coolant light came on and I just topped off the resevoir. I even checked it about a month ago and wasn't appreciably low...*maybe* it was 1/4" below the mark, but I didn't pay attention to how exact it was on the line when I filled it.

AT

Definitely not normal. Coolant is not a consumable fluid. You may lose a little--like a few ounces--over a years time due to evaporation, but nothing like you are describing. It is either leaking externally from a hose connection perhaps, or leaking past the internal engine coolant seals. Check for spots of coolant under the car.

If you notice clouds of white smoke exiting the exaust the leak may be internal to the engine. In any case, you might want to schedule a visit to the dealer to have it checked out.

And definetly don't expect that you'll see it on the ground under the car. I have none, nada, zip making it to the ground. Thats even after my car sat in one place for eight days while the family went on vacation.

Aye, no coolant puddles here either or I would've taken action for sure. I think it was about after a year after I bought the car that I noticed that the coolant level had actually dropped appreciably enough that I felt like bringing it back up to the Full line. Speaking of which, it was during this time also that I would occasionally hear a gurgling sound at startup coming from under the car, which some people have also attributed to something being up with the coolant system...air bubbles or something getting into the fluids. I then got a coolant flush at the end of last year, and I have been steadily monitoring the coolant since. So far, it hasn't dropped, and I haven't heard that gurgling sound either. I do however notice occasional puffs of white smoke coming from the exhaust, particularly on cold days.

But thanks for the heads up, all this time I had thought that it was normal for coolant to disappear slowly.

Yesterday I lifted up my car and I saw sign of coolant leak at the end of rotor's housing. I only take half liter coolant water to the tank for 2 years, but I worry about this leakeage sign on the engine. I will try to make photos about it next weekend.

I for one will be interested in whatever pics can be provided.

Next Monday!

Atacdad,
I had the same thing happen at 19,585 mi. but mine was leaking at the front housing.

There were a few miscast housings that developed external water seal failures.
looks like you got on too. When was your 8 built?

The replacement could be a brand new, or it could be a Factory rebuild. All of rebuilds here in the states come from Cali. So if yours is goin to be arriving in a week, I'm guessing a rebuild.

My coolant light flashed on then off the other day. I checked the level in the bottle (Mazda, please make it so I can read the level of the fluid.) and it was only a slight bit low. I added what amounted to 1 Propel bottle's worth of water to it and it came up slightly above the line.

I wonder if I have a leak now. Crud.

I had the engine coolant light came on ahh around maybe Nov Last year, I got my car around June

After that I added to the Max level, so far its still at around the MAX level (when cool)

Sounds scary .... I have 12,033 miles now ...

I just checked my coolant again today...I got the coolant flushed in December I think, and it's at the low mark again. Guess I need to mention this the next time I'm in for service...along with the problem of my AT making crazy vibrations at idle.

I dunno about the RX-8 sometimes...it's a blast to drive but it's also incredible how many problems crop up with it, one after another. Brake squeals, flash after flash after flash, heat shield recall, hard starting, bad engine mount for the AT, and now coolant leak. Then there's all those problems the MT has had with its tranny.

I'd point it out to the dealer...my system was only down about a liter after 18 months.

Just came in this morning...the service writer had not seen the engine when I talked to him, but his guess was that it was a remanf as well. I'm a bit nervous about that...it could have a core with 80,000+ miles on it that I'm trading for a gently used 20,000 mile core (I'm not a hard driver). I'm told that I get the greater of 12month/12,000 miles or my outstanding warranty, so that gives me 2 years and 28,000? miles.

My light flashed for a week before I figured out that it wasn't a low windshield washer fluid light...found that out after I bought a bottle of windshield washer fluid and took the cap off of the reservoir to fill it...it was already full :scratchhe

I also had the gurgle noise, getting progressively louder, during this time. I was also using the heater (it was Oct/Nov). Since topping off the reservoir, I have not had the gurgle noise as i continue to use the heater.

Other threads have postulated that there are issues with air in the heater core as the vehicle is shipped from the factory...thus the reports of gurgling.

I don't think its unreasonable for the cooling system to suck in more coolant during its first winter weather exposure...just like the volume of air in your tires shrink when it gets cold, so does the air in the cooling system. This could create enough suction to pull in more fluid. Such was my reasoning when I needed to add coolant at the start of this last winter. I still think its valid.

Now my experience is that I might want to check out the cooling system to be sure.

Crap, now what? I've been off the board for the better part of the last 6 months, did I miss something?

Don't get off topic on your engine discussion with tranny issues. It's not that big of an issue

You can read about it here:

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/your-second-gear-72972/

Also rgonza had this to say

My engine was replaced for supposedly the same reason - coolant leak from rear rotor housing. I never had any low coolant indication.

No worry's. I'm not harsh on anything.

oh man. now i'm nervous. i have a coolant leak as well but not sure exactly where yet. from looking under the car, i seems to be coming near the passenger side. i'm hoping it's a hose. i'm changing my oil this weekend so i'll have to check it out. hope i don't need a new motor. (crossing fingers)

Every now and then I may see 2-3 drops on my garage floor. I bought my car used with 11k miles on it last July. 24k miles on it now. Just a few weeks ago I started it and the low coolant light was on, then went out after a minute or so. Every now and then when the engine is cold the light will pop on and then go out. I have not added coolant yet. I'll have the car up on the lift tomorrow and will check for where it is leaking. I thought it may be something minor until I read this. I'll let you guys know.