Winnipeg85GSL

OK, this had been driving my dad insane. There is this jug if you are looking at the front of the car its in the top left corner. It says subzero fluid and seems to have a pump on it and running to the carb. Sorry for all the questions i just turned 16 and this is my first car.What is this thing?

7addict

The bottle you see does go to the carb. It is for cold weather assist. This should be 90% antifreeze and 10% water, when the temp. is below zero this is injected into the carb while the ignition is in the start position. It helps seal the combustion chamber from compression loss past the rotor tip seals. Now this probably has not worked for years as most people do not know it even exists on thier car. If it still has orange fluid in it you can bet it's not worked since new. I have found though that you can clean out the old gunk and flush it out if you wish. The motor is usually still good but I don't know anyone who is using it, if you are going to use the car in the winter though and the motor still works, clean it up and use it. The cars need all the help they can get starting in the winter.

Pele

iTrader: (28)

Fill it with ATF or MMO, hook it to a button inside the car... Blickedy Blam.. Instant smoke screen.

FJ

Wish I was 16 !!
I bought my '84 GSL-SE new and disconnected the plug to the start assist motor soon after, as per the mechanics advice. I haven't missed it. More problems than it's worth. Granted, I never drove it in the winter, but in Montreal I still drive it in temps well below zero before I put it to bed for the winter. If the car won't start in the cold or floods, look for the real problem, it's not the start asssist.
Enjoy the car!
-John.

djs2571

The start assist pump probably doesn't work anymore anyway. but when it does function it only spurts a little fluid, then shuts itself off (odd little valve in there that only allows a little fluid). Used to help compression when it's below 0F.
I am going to use this resovior as a 'smoke screen' tank, But when I looked at it, the motor was frozen, screen plugged etc... even after cleaning it didn't work very well. Just don't take the valve apart, it has two tubes coming from it, (one to the pump, one to the engine, it's a bitch to get back together correctly.
I'm gonna get a 'real' pump and see what I can do.
I think there's something odd with where the hose goes too, I couldn't blow into it when the engine was running, and no vacuum?? it's a little valve under the injectors that I don't want to mess with right now.

MIKE-P-28

iTrader: (1)

It is a needless device, when the oil temp sensor tells the Sub zero assist motor that it is super cold it injects small squirt of 90% antifreeze 10% water to the motor. It provides a little compression for it to start. Jerk it and cap the hole, unless you wanna do the MMO or ATF mod

85RX7GS

iTrader: (1)

I've got mine disconnected - first thing I did after I got my 7. I drive it in the winter and it starts fine as long as you use the choke.

Dusukun

Wow...That's amazing that none of you guys use yours...I use mine all the time. Every morning, actually, and sometimes even later on in the day if she hasn't been driven for a long time. It makes a marked difference in my car. If the engine is cold, she'll start but just die if I didn't use the choke/assist.

82transam

iTrader: (18)

Never use mine either. I'm too lazy to use it. I use my 7 all winter and starts right up every morning so why bother?

Turbo_Crazy

Yeah, most of you have obviously never been to Winnipeg in the winter... Try messing around with it, you know, pull the wires and see if the engine starts up without it, and with the assist. If the engine needs the subzero assist to start, then leave it, if it doesn't, then chuck the damn thing as far as you can.
Man I love BC. All the beauty of Canada without all the damn snow!

FJ

Wow. Talk about a thread from the dead.

-John.

allenbillings

I was told by a friend of mine, that was a Mazda service manager, that the whole idea of the anti-freeze injection was so that the engine would spin faster and lighten the load on the starter in cold weather. When mine went out on my old RX4 in Chicago one winter, the darn thing almost seemed to be siezed.
I also learned that this mixture, when poured through the carburetor on the older rotaries, could resurrect a dead rotor in some cases. It seems that it had the effect of cleaning out the apex seal springs where the owners neglected their engines. I saw Al do this on several occasions with great success.
If you live where it's cold and you drive the car year round, I would recommend fixing the cold start unit. Mazda put it there for a reason.
I hate it when people on this site say that the Mazda engineers had their heads up their backsides when they put some of this equipment on the cars, but then go to great lengths to extoll the virtues of the Mazda rotary engine.
REMEMBER - Chrysler started putting plugs in the zerk fitting holes on their cars on the '70s. It wasn't because you didn't need to grease the suspension, it was because the plugs were about 1/2 cent less than a zerk fitting. Why would Mazda spend all of that money on their cars if they didn't have to???????

The_Dude

I live in Canada also, and drive my rex all winter ... For the first half of the winter, I didn't know this little tank existed. I found it about mid-winter as I was filling un my windshield washer tank. I then filled it up with 90/10. All this little story to say, personnaly, I havn't seen any difference before or after putting it in. My Engine starts up SOO easy that I don't see why it would be necessary for me anyways. My dad's got a 2003 Civic ( I know, I already bitched at him for hours about that but still ) , and my 84 Rex starts WAY faster then his.

Bottom line: try it out, if you see a dif. keep it in, if not, I don't see the point.

Eric.

MIKE-P-28

iTrader: (1)

what do we bring this thread back every year or what>?

Winnipeg85GSL

Holy mother of all thread revivals.

And its mine too!

Wankelguy

Like a little slice of your life, ain't it?

Keaponlaffen

I started reading it and went....

wait a second... this doesn't apply any more... you have no subzero tank, unless you somehow rigged it up to your *gasp* V-8 No worries

mcnannay

well im having a hell of a time getting my car started in the morning...and i know this isn't as cold as it going to get here...

I have an 83 gs with an old 13b in it and a RB holley carb, anyways i was just curious about the sub zero starting fluid, i know i don't have any of that crap anymore but my bro had it on his car at one point and i was thinking about rigging the system up to my car. I had initially thought it was ether or something, but just water?!? oh well, i guess ill just keep parking at the top of my driveway to i can push start it

not to mention i wanted to ressurect this again...hahaha
and i love that sig keaponlaffen, that is ******* awesome...laughed for awhile after reading that

brandon davis

iTrader: (3)

what kind of cold mornings are we talkin about here guys 30-40 or 25 and below? if you are in a mild winter climate id just recomend a block heater much more effective just set it up to a timer about an hour before you leave the house and youll be okay. i just started doing this and it seems to work a little bit better than without not quite like a warm start but not like a 35 degree temp start either.

Pele

iTrader: (28)

It says 6 months man, not a year and a half.

calvinpaul

iTrader: (2)

Wow, old *** thread, I never knew about this little dohicky....learn something new everyday.

Rusty Shackleford

so i can take this ugly tank out and plug the holes leading to the carb...??????i live in SC so its not that cold lowest it gets is about 40 or so

1stgen4life

iTrader: (1)

Yeah take it out and plug it if you want. Most people never use them anyway. Mine hasn't been used since new, but it is still in there.

And this is one of the greatest back from the dead threads I've ever seen. I guess it was due for a 2004 since every year before that was covered from 2001 up.

DAVID GRIMES

It has been so long since I even thought about what used to hang on that bracket. No need at all for it in Southwest Georgia 3 hours from the Atlantic and 3 hours south to the Gulf.

Weight removal if nothing else.

JokkVahl

Agree