Hey guys...

Car: S5 TII

Anyway, I drive the car hard all day at the track. At the end of the day, the car starts spewing coolant all over the engine and out the hood onto my windshield. I pull it in and pop to hood, and find the coolant’s boiling, but the stock temp gauge is @ normal. So I let it cool down for 45 minutes.

I start to drive it home, but 5 minutes in it overheats. The temp gauge reads H. So I pull it into a parking lot, let it cool down some more. I need to move it, because the company doesn’t want it parked there, but it has a terrible time trying to start. I finally get it moved and leave it there.

I come back 6 hours later, and the engine is cool. There’s plenty of coolant. I start it up, and the temp gauge has the needle at the bottom. I start driving it home, and about 10 minutes in the temp gauge reads ABOVE H, and the Add Coolant buzzer comes on. I panic, so I try and signal my brother to pull over. He’s too far ahead. My mistake: I tried to catch up to him so that we could pull over and get help. I drive it for another 5 minutes- the whole time the temp gauge above the H line- and it starts losing power in 5th gear. So I get major butterflies in my stomach and shift to 4th. It still has power, and I start raising the revs to 3500 rpm from 2000. I get to 3500 and then it happens. There’s no power, even if I floor it. Then there’s this terrible metal-against-metal sound. So I shift into neutral and start coasting- but the rpm’s keep dropping and dropping past 1000 and it dies. I try to start it again when moving- pop the clutch too- and it won’t do anything. I coast to a stop and pull into the shoulder.

I pop the hood and get out and see there’s white smoke coming from the hood scoop and my exhaust. I open up the hood to find a ton of white smoke coming from around the rotor housings next to the dipstick. There’s a popping and slow inconsistent clicking and steaming sound coming from the same place. I try and start it again, and it won’t go. I know it won’t start so I give up after a couple tries. I feel and felt like an idiot for trying to catch up to him- I know better than that. I’ve read how the temp gauge reads cold-normal-pull over or replace engine. I’ve read threads about people overheating. Ugh.

Well, It now sits in a parking lot waiting to be towed back to my house. I’m doing a compression check ASAP. I’ll let you know.

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Cliff Notes: Coolant boils after long day at the track. Try and drive it home and it overheats. Let it cool for 6 hours and try to drive it home again. Overheats, loses all horsepower, dies and there’s a terrible metal-against-metal sound. Pull over and find white smoke coming from exhaust and around rotor housings next to dipstick. Won’t start.

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After a few days doing research, it seems that a bad coolant seal is mostly likely the problem. Although, the metal-against-metal sound still concearns me. I spent all summer saving up for a full turbo upgrade, and I really don't want to end up having to buy a whole new engine.

Thanks in advance for all your help.

-Andrew
90 TII

 

Oh yea, I kind of forgot the question..

You think it sounds like a bad coolant seal? Any idea what the metal-against-metal sound might be?

Thanks again.

-Andrew

 

Wow, that sucks. With those symptoms, and white smoke coming from the exhaust, it doesn't look good. A pressure test of the cooling system will help you find out for sure, but with the external leaks it might be difficult to diagnose. You can always pull the exhaust manifold. Water pumpers will generally deposit coolant in the manifold, and coolant should be visible in the engine if you look through the exhaust ports.

 

I'm not trying to be an ***, but why the hell did you drive it with the gauge above H? I shut down if it goes over half way! Yes...you blew your engine and will need a rebuild.

-Joe

 

Update: Went to go tow it to an RX7/Miata shop locally. Dad's making me just for a 'professional' opinion.

Anyway, I checked the coolant overflow and it was above full, but it was greenish-black.

Ugh.

What exactly needs to be done to replace the coolant seals? Can you simply just replace the rubber things(if they are rubber) or is there more to it? I'm not even 100% sure I know where to coolant seals are. What will I need to purchase when performing this rebuild?

http://www.mazdatrix.com/faqpics/boost/hsg2b.jpg

Thats what a bad 'water seal' looks like. Same thing?

Overdriven> Like I said, I know it was a mistake. I was just trying to catch up, and wasn't thinking clearly, I guess. I take full responsibility for this.

Thanks for further help.

-Andrew

 

I've seen them look much worse than that pic, but yes that one is bad. You have to have the engine rebuilt to replace the seals. Your dark stuff in the coolant is a result of the combustion products mixing with your coolant. You might as well have the whole thing rebuilt if its gonna be apart. Maybe even a nice streetport while you can

-Joe

 

I don't think I'll need to do a full rebuild for this reason:

I bought the car about a year ago. I've put about 3000 miles on it. When I bought it, the previous owner told me that he had rebuilt it a year earlier, with a streetport, and that he had driven it rarely since the rebuild. (He had an FB he liked better or something). Anyway, the point is, the engine doesen't have more than 10,000 miles on it, so I don't think its neccesary to replace anything besides the coolant seal related things unless I find them damaged.

Where would I go about buying new coolant seals?

-Andrew

 

if you're coolant seals are blown, you're going to have to do a rebuilt. It's inevitable. Though you may not need as many of the internal parts due to the short amount of time the engine was together.

 

Like I said. I know I need to do a rebuild. I'm just trying to figure out exactly what i'll need to replace when there is a bad coolant seal. What parts.

Thanks again.

-Andrew

 

*sigh*

Update: Took it to the rotary mechanic guy and he said theres definatly a blown apex seal and coolant seal. Bad scraping when you turn it over and black coolant.

Where would be the best place to get new rear peripheral and side housings?

-Andrew

 

New housings are going to cost a lot. $400 at least, and there's a shortage of them right now. Best bet is to find an acceptable set of used parts.

You might get lucky and only need a gasket set and apex seal set. If the engine was so new, then all the other seals should be fine. Of course, you also need to replace the damaged hard parts as well, but good housings can be found for $30, and about the same for the irons.

OverDriven: Don't be such a jerk. Most of your posts are very close to useless, so don't add yourself to my "must monitor this user" list. You don't want to be on that list.

 

Thanks Aaron. Once I get it pulled apart i'll post again and see if I need to start looking for housing parts. I pray all i'll need is a seal kit.

-Andrew