So i bought an 87 rx7 fc from a friend of mine. there is some big problems with the engine and i dont have a clue where to start.

I was told that the water seals are bad in it that its just flooding the engine with water. what would cause this i know very little about trouble shooting rotary engines the engine however still turns over which is a good sign. Just need a little insight of what is wrong witht his car thanks

 

If it has been sitting for any length of time with bad coolant seals the internals are probably rusted pretty good. Either way this engine is going to have to come out, either for rebuild(if its possible) or for replacement.

The coolant seals on the doritos engines are kind of like the headgasket to a boinger. Over time they will eventually fail, but overheating the engine and not properly maintaining the coolant system will definitely help to speed up the process.

Is this car turbo or no? If this is your first RX7, or the first you're going to be working on, obtaining a copy of the S4 FSM is in your best interest.

 

Yeah its a turbo engine. the guy said when he did it he ran all the water out of the engine i dont know how he would do that but whatever i guess lol just unhooked the radaitor and cranked it over a bunch maybe i dunno.

i plan on pulling the engine anways but its still a good sign that it turns over still right lol. gotta have some hope in this lol this is my sexond rx7 the other one i have the motor was completly seized up. and i never replaced it hopefully i can send this engine to someone near my area for a rebuild.

 

There is a drain on the radiator and on the block, I hope he did both if that is the case. Although after that I would have ran fogger oil through the intake to help keep the combustion chamber lubed, but thats neither here nor there right now.

If you're planning to rebuild a water pumper this is the main thing you need to watch out for(pic below). Notice that there is a groove where the coolant seal resides in, and that the engine pictured below has a piece of the iron missing, allowing it to become another water pumper. Before that piece went missing the coolant seal was most likely fine.


image comes from http://infini-fc3s.cyberosity.com/ so credit goes there for the pic.

 

Pull the radiator cap off. Make sure it is full of coolant. Crank the car over and check for bubbles.

Also check the thermostat. Wrong thermostat can cause an engine to overheat.

I bought a car this fall and the guy said the engine blew a coolant seal. Actually the thermostat was junk.