My car 'boiled over' on a trip to the big city, checked the radiator fan fuse, and it had blown. There is no indication, other than the temp gauge 'pinned' and green steam pouring out under the hood.

Put my 'heater' fuse (also 40amp) in the rad fan position, and the familiar 'fan' noise started, and the car cooled off. Drove home and took a look at the fans. To do this you have to remove the air cleaner housing, and the plastic pan it sits in.

I saw trouble right away - the air cleaner sits in two rubber grommets on the front, and two underneath - these two were 'missing'.

I had a little air cleaner trouble awhile back, and after a couple of visits, the dealer had sorted it out, but somewhere along the line the housing had been jammed down and pushed both grommets right thru.

Right below are the radiator fans. One rubber had gone into the passenger side fan, banged around a bit, bending the fins, and been thrown out. The other had rammed around for a while, then got stuck between the blade and the shroud, jamming the motor and the blowing the fuse.

Had to convince the dealer/mechanic that the fan was dead ("Oh, no, one works with the a/c, and they come on individually, you can't just look at them and say they are broke...") I mentioned the 'WDS fan check' on page 152 of the workshop manual; my new drivers side fan is on order.

If you feel comfortable removing the air cleaner, take a look into the pan underneath, check you still have two grommets.......
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doc

this is the chomped up culprit -

 

Document this. Document EVERYTHING. Make sure your dealership knows that the car overheated because of this problem.

Why, you ask?

When a rotary engine overheats, 9 times out of 10 the aluminum rotor housings will warp in relation to the iron mid and end housings. This breaks the seal around the water jacket, and exposes the inner o-rings to combustion. They don't last too long. Similar to blowing a head gasket in a piston engine, except you have to pull and rebuild the entire motor.

Maybe you'll get lucky. Maybe the materials and construction of the 13B-MSP will allow it to handle an overheating or 2. But I wouldn't really count on it.

 

So this is a dealer problem and not a design issue.

 

great post

 

What was wrong or what trouble with the air cleaner did you have? It sounds like the mechanic sort of jambed the air cleaner too far when he put it back perhaps and that's why the grommets were pushed through?

 

my apologies thats just gay . some lazy as mech might have messed ur car. or it could of been factory . who knows. From now on maybee you and 3 friends can do all the car stuff. mechanic friends rock.

 

Mine just over heated last week, or least started to. Caught it pretty quick and had it towed to the dealership. Was in the dealership 2 days earlier to for tune up before this happens. They replaced the radiator, hoses etc and found that the fuse had blown. It was missing a rubber gromet but they didn't find it anywhere in the car so could have fallen out during towing or when they orginally looked at it. But all covered under warrenty and rental car
Watch your gromets!!!

Edit: Also had them run a compression check, and everything checked out with normal plus next oil change they'll run it again. (dealership oil change = 20 bucks + 30 mins thats why I have them do it)

 

those grommets CANNOT FALL OUT unless you airbox falls out. someone removed your airbox and either pulled them out with it or they stayed and when they put the box back, pushed them through.

 

The grommets don't "fall out" they get pushed down and thru, right into the fan housings below. Fatal.

Been there, T-Shirt aquired.

S

 

I'm getting ready to pull my air box out and re seat it any advise on how to make sure the grommets are still in place after I push the box back on? Can you see the grommet's once the box is installed?

 

could anybody post any pictures of this? I cannot visualize what you guys are talking about...??

 

See the thread titled "DIY: Easy removal of the air filter box"... https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-yourself-forum-73/diy-easy-removal-air-filter-box-54827/

Post #23 has pictures https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...7&postcount=23