My car was running hot so I removed the radiator to have it flow tested. This involved draining the coolant out of the engine. I have ordered a new thermostat so I don't want to fill up the coolant again until it arrives. My car has been sitting for a little over a week. Is it bad to have the car sit with no radiator (I used plastic bags to seal all the holes into the engine), and with the coolant drained for a while, i.e until the thermostat comes? Also, I ordered from rx7world.com, it has been a week and my order still says pending. Has anyone else had this experience with rx7world.com and how long does it usually take them to ship stuff.

This is the article that prompted me to ask this question */the part about corrosion/*

http://mazdatrix.com/faq/rotorhsg.htm

 

You car is fine with no rad in it.
Nothing should hinder the car from being just like it was Before you took teh rad out,..well,only you will have a New rad and thermostat in it.
IF you think it may be something else,.you can temporarily fill the cooling system up with Water and give it a "test run,to make sure that the problem is Solved.This will save you from losing any New coolant that may spill or overflow If the HOT problem is still there.
Then drain the water and fill with a 50/50 Coolant/water mix.

 

why would you buy it from that place? I dunno about rx7world.com but I bought 2 Radiators in the pass on Ebay, 1 for my Rx-8 and 1 for my Rx-7, both Koyo. from the same vendor, everything shipped from the same day and its probably the cheapest on the net.

You can leave the car like that for a while, but try to put the radiator back asap. cuz there are Iron parts in the engine and its not so great to leave it with Air for too long.

 

O i bought the thermostat and some other cooling parts from them because they were the cheapest, I haven't bought the radiator yet because I don't have the money

 

also how long is a while, do u mean like a couple weeks, or what

 

It should take a long time for it to start rusting/corroding, especially with a little coolant residue in it to prevent corossion from the additives. I'd guess at least a few days, if not a lot longer. Then it might get a thin layer of rust that gets worse over time. IMO make an order and take care of it right away and don't worry. If you can't do that, then put the old radiator back on right away and fill it up with at least 30% antifreeze (or just 50:50 if you're gonna re-use it). It's easy to change the thermostat anyway. If you got a cheap thermostat instead of OEM, then go to a mazda dealer, www.rx7.com, www.mazdatrix.com or www.racingbeat.com and get one. Anything else belongs in the trash. Don't risk your engine. People have had serious trouble with other thermostats.

 

I order a new thermostat, radiator cap, and water pump/alternator belt from rx7world.com last Monday, I bought all oem parts. I took the radiator out to see if it could be flow tested, the only shop that would do it wanted 100$. So i have left the radiator off and have had the coolant drained for about a week and a half. The only problem is rx7world hasn't shipped my parts yet, order says it's pending, and I'm worried about when they'll arrive. I don't want parts in my engine to rust, but I also don't want to have too fill and re drain the coolant. I guess I'll just put the radiator back on tomorrow and refill/flush my coolant the effort that will take will be worth it if I can make sure my engine doesn't rust.

Do you think I've damaged my engine by having it sit with the radiator off and the coolant drained for a little over a week?

 

No.
It's fine.