FC3sinfiniIII

How to fix, a busted coolant seal after the engine have been running under overheating status?

SureShot

Of course a rebuild will do it, but first, try the "block weld" trick.

Here it is:
Internal Water Leak - a temporary fix (posted by jimmyv13)_______________
The recipe: two cans of Block Weld and some Purple Power degreaser from Pep Boys. The Block Weld is a clear liquid with copper granules blended in. The process takes *hours* but can be very worthwhile!
Step 1: Clean the check out of the cooling system - drain the radiator, fill with water and degreaser, run the motor until warm.
Step 2: Repeat 5 or 6 more times.
Step 3: Drain the radiator, fill with water only and run the motor until warm.
Step 4: Repeat 2 or 3 times. You must rinse the system with water until no degreaser is left inside, this is *very* important.
Step 5: When you are sure that the cooling system is very clean inside, refill with water plus two cans of Block Weld (no anti-freeze). Run the motor until warm (about 30 minutes). This hardens the Block Weld where the water is leaking into the motor. Do not rev the motor into high RPM during this process!
Step 6: Leave the motor off for a minimum of three hours.
Step 7: Drive for 20-30 minutes in the local area to make sure that the repair has worked. Keep the RPM down! If successful, drain a small amount of water from the radiator and add some anti-freeze. If it's still leaking water into the engine, add another bottle of Block Weld and run the engine for 20-30 minutes. Let stand for three hours again. Test drive again.
Step 8: Drive the car around like you used to... assuming that the process worked!
This process can be a real pain to perform because you have to start the motor to accomplish the warm ups during the steps. Don't forget to pull the fuse when you turn the motor over to push out the water prior to each start up. Cups and cups of water came out of my motor throughout the process! I have been driving the car pretty hard since the temporary fix and it has held up well. It now starts easily, has plenty of power, and hasn't needed any water to be added to the system since I added the Block Weld (about two months ago). It was a lot easier to do this temporary fix than to go out and buy another motor/car, especially since my other one is almost done.
If your motor is shot you've got nothing to lose.
If it works for you, thank Paul Yaw at YawPower. His crappy little shop truck has been driven pretty hard for two years after
this same kind of temporary fix.
If you follow the directions on the can of Block Weld, it will not work for this type of repair! Follow the steps listed above. Be very
aggressive in your efforts to clean the inside of the cooling system.

slpin

iTrader: (9)

rebuild

RotaryEvolution

iTrader: (30)

after seeing what causes the failure i would never recommend the block weld unless it is an absolute necessary to keep the car running for a short period.

jhammons01

Pull it out and rebuild it. You'll have fun + that is the only way to "fix" the problem.

SureShot

You have to be lucky and catch it early.

My prior 91NA ran for a year on one treatment.

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

I've said it before and I'll say it again: The Block Weld "trick" is only for the most dire circumstances when you absolutely NEED that engine running again for a short time and cannot rebuild it or prepare it for storage properly.

Coating the inside of the engine with Block Weld completely gums it up, as well as the rest of the cooling system. This includes the radiator, heater core (have fun cleaning that one out!), water pump, etc. etc. If you intend to rebuild the engine and keep the car in service, DO NOT use the Block Weld or you may find yourself taking 10x longer to clean the engine and also replacing the rad and heater core shortly later. Even Paul Yaw (the originator of this trick) has made this very clear in the past.

FC3sinfiniIII

cool, how do you explain the white smoke coming out of the exhaust with coolant smell?

Valkyrie

White smoke means the coolant seal(s) is (are) bad, and it's sucking coolant into the engine, and burning it out the exhaust, which you can see as basically steam, and you can smell the antifreeze in it.

It means you need to rebuild, although I think overhaul is a better word for tearing the engine down just to replace all the soft gaskets...

I see a rebuild as what you do to repair a blown engine, or one that otherwise has poor compression, which isn't the case with a bad coolant seal.

(although an overhaul and a rebuild really are the same thing...)

I know for a fact my coolant seals were shot to hell when I tore my overheated engine apart to rebuild it, although part of that might have been me using a putty knife to get the housings apart


An engine with a blown coolant seal also won't run for more than 5 minutes without overheating (again) because it'll drain all the coolant out pretty damn fast... my exhaust manifold was half-full of coolant when I took it off!

jhammons01

^^Valkyrie, Not being difficult, but not all that is factual.

First off the White smoke may only smell Oily It may not have that sweat smell of Antifreeze so please don't think that that is the only factor determining whether or not it is coolant.

Second, a blown coolant seal in the early stages "may" allow flow in only one direction. i.e. the coolant may only seep into the chamber as the motor cools. There may NOT be bubbles in the coolant resevoir or overheating problems. The Coolant res is under high pressure as the motor runs and when truned off the pressure will try to equalize hence the coolant seepage into the Chamber.

Just understand that White smoke on start-up is 99% surely a coolant seal being blown.

On a lighter note. IF you woul dlike to learn to rebuild a Rotory and your Disciplined about it, you'll have a great time.

Valkyrie

My car didn't have the smell of coolant, personally, but that's because it was pure water, with no anti-freeze (I had to refill it with *something* before I ran it...).

I was simply explaining that if there is a coolant smell, it's the smell of anti-freeze being spewed out the exhaust. Come to think of it, I think mine smelled somewhat oily, since it was pretty nasty stuff (I had to close the car's door to keep it out of my face).

If you've got white smoke in large amounts (like I did), and your manifold is full of water, it's a pretty safe bet that it's a coolant seal...