speedsector

i just made an appointment with mazda for monday. we'll see how it goes. only have 19k on my car now. i'm preparing for the worst. i just hate it when other people touch my car. warranties are a blessing and a curse in my opinion. blessing cause it doesn't cost me anything but when they work on it, they might screw something up (like forgetting a brake caliper pin) or simply dirty up the car. I wish warranties would allow me to do the labor and cover the cost of the parts. I know...i'm dreaming. wish my 8 luck guys.

Atacdad

Ok, one engine swapped. In case anyone was wondering $2830 in parts. That inlcudes(rounded to nearest $):
ENG. REMAN M/T $2500
EX. MAN. GASKET $55
OIL FLTR GASKET $3
IN. MAN. GASKET $84
RING, 'O' $4
OIL FILTER $5
MAZDA COOLANT (GREEN) $13
MOBIL 5W-20 $12 (5@2.45)
SPARK PLUGS $77
SPARK PLUGS (TRAILING) $66
BULK LUBE $10

Total Cost to Mazda, incl. labor: $3867

T-von

That's a coolant seal letting go. The only way to fix that is to open the engine. Since it was leaking on the outside of the engine, obviously this was the outer coolant seal. Had you been getting white smoke during engine operation, that would have been the inner coolant seal since that one would let coolant into the combustion chamber. If you know how to rebuild these engines this would be a easy fix since all you need is a gasket kit. If you have a coolant leak this early on a newer engine block, it's usually because of an assembly error. If the coolant seals aren't properly in their grooves, they can get pinched when the plates are sandwiched and torqued together. Remember these engines are hand built.

IZoomZoomI

weird whenever I rev my car in neutral past 7k the low coolant light would come on and off... no leaks though. But what does this mean?

alcimedes

Last I checked the car rev limited to 6k when in neutral. But you might have a magic car.

ayrton012

Here is my engine after almost 2 year.

Atacdad

I think that limit was in one of the more recent PCM flash updates.

speedsector

mazda checked out the coolant leak and they said that it's coming from the radiator hose or radiator where it's connected to the hose. i have a PWR radiator and love it so far. I'm hoping it's not the radiator. i'm gonna slide underneath and check it out today. either way, i'm glad it's not coming from the motor.

Atacdad

The saga continues....

So now I'm leaking oil all over my driveway! ##$#@%(#!!! & !

Slickvic

Maybe some zero pressure, water free coolant might prevent this problem?

http://www.evanscooling.com/html/npgPls.htm

Atacdad

Ok, new engine time again. Oil leaking from between the housing slices.

vampyre

For those worried , the place to look for "fatal" coolant leak from rear rotor housing is to the right side of the engine right behind the oil filter. (use a flashlight).

Sorry for the poor photo quality, but i think you can understand where to look.

Chrisbert

Mine is going to Mazda Monday to get a checkup. I'm at 49K miles, so if its gonna go I hope it does now.

Gomez

Water pump.

Gomez

Man......you have some serious voodoo issues!! Someone has you pinned, who did you cross.....??

Oranje

Decided to perform the required 24 month/24,000 mile coolant change using the Engine Coolant Replacement procedure from the RX8 engine service manual and the directions from the Prestone 50/50 premix solution and Prestone Super Radiator Flush. A quick recap:

Drive around the block or so to warm things up. When cool enough, remove cap, loosen drain screw and drain. Retighten drain screw.

Pour in Super Radiator Flush (approx 22 oz) and fill with demineralized water (approx 1.5 gals). Start engine and idle till warm. After engine warms, turn on heater to highest temp and run at approx 2500 rpms for 5 minutes, then 3000 rpms for 5 minutes. Shut off engine. Let cool a bit. Remove cap, drain, and tighten drain screw.

Why Radiator Flush: "A premium Prestone antifreeze change begins with Prestone Super Radiator Flush. Quickly helps to flush out deposits and oily residue to maximize your cooling system effciency" Could it help? Who knows. Likely couldn't hurt.

Fill system with demineralized water to rinse. Even though system capacity is 9.2 quarts, it only appears to fill and drain about 6.5 quarts. Repeat engine warming sequence above and drain.

Fill with Prestone 50/50. Repeat engine warming sequence above. Drain again. Over kill? Perhaps, but since some residual is left behind from the last rinse, it seemed to makes sense to drain and fill again.

Final fill with Prestone 50/50. Engine service manual suggests to repeat engine warming sequence above until coolant level no longer decreases. I did this twice.

No leakage and no spills on the old paint job (anti freeze and paint dont mix) Took about 90 minutes.

Cheers,
Redcard

09Factor

One word

"Wow"

Really only 1.5 gal of Dimin. H2o? I would be scared to that in Az. i'm not say saying what you did was wrong or anything like that, I just would think of something like this.

Any Low coolant light show up when you were doing this?

Oranje

No lights ... just monitored the level on the tank as it warmed, and added more h20 or coolant when it receeded, which seemed to be the point of running at 2500 and 3000.

antreasrx8

ok guys i will ask smthing stupid....
you check the coolant from the big white box at the front of your engine right? There is only one place and not like the other cars that you have a radiator cap to check the green fluid.... hope you understand...

Oh and i had the light flushed twice this year but nothing happened....
Hope you answer...

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Yes you check the coolant from the *big white box*(more like bottle)

MOST cars today have that kind of *bottle* to store extra coolant.

Its pretty hard to read I know, but on the side of the bottle theres a MAX line. you can see it clearly if you flash some light on the other side.

if your *coolant* light came on twice this year .... add some coolant to it.

Atacdad

hehe, its been about 2 years on the last engine swap...just to recap:
lost original engine to rear housing coolant leak (started this thread),
lost replacement engine to oil leak at the middle housing,
2nd replacement engine leaked oil too...bad pan gasket fixed at dealer.

So now that 2nd replacement engine is sneaking up on 20K miles...probably in the next couple of months. Anyone want to make wagers about it??


Still love my car, garage rash and all

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

37K miles. still on original engine.

antreasrx8

So my next question is....

If the coolant level is higher than the line could that be a reason for the indicator to flash? my mechanic put more coolant than usual.. IS THIS POSSIBLE?

XRX8X

not really it just means your so called tech did not replace your defective sensor on the bottom of the fill container.me and the dealer don't get along to well(the tech's)because they always leave something loose or off by accident .i only let them do wro work because i am afraid if i pay for them to mess it up i would be pissed the f$#k off!49,000 miles 2004 6sp. and they just replaced my water pump and the battery was left loose and the hold down clamp is missing!!agh!!going back again!

rotaryPilot

Well just to contribute to this very informative conversation.

My car has 36250 miles and till now I have filled at about half a liter of coolant. So in 2 years and 36250 miles I filled 5 times (almost) of 100ml each time. This looked normal to me.

However, my concerns about engine leaking coolant were reinforced after I had changed my spark plugs. My plugs have a green like color signifying a moisture issue.

You can check my plugs at the photo below in detail:
http://www.imageshack.gr/view.php?fi...8dh8uuc4nc.jpg

Anybody had moisture is his plugs? This is definitely coolant leaking or it may signifying fuel with water mixed? Any other thoughts ?

In case that the green – moisture in plugs means internal coolant leaking how do you prove that to your dealer so that an action can be taken?