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overheating 87 turbo II rx7

11K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  ShadowX 
#1 ·
halright...

a buddy of mine recently came across a good deal on a 1987 turbo II rx7. ($1500) and he went ahead and picked it up

the car is in fairly decent condition, has about 110k on it and had been sitting for about 4 years.

upon discovery, we hooked up a new battery and to our suprise it fired right up after about 10 seconds of cranking... blew a nice cloud of smoke out until it warmed up, and hasn't let out a puff since.

he got it trailered home (no tags) and parked it... when he finally got tags for it he drove it a bit and that's when the problems started. When it is driven (regardless of how) the Temp gauge gets hotter and hotter and hotter... until you get scared and go ahead and shut it down and let it cool off. (its never buried the gauge)

we replaced the thermostat, coolant level sensor, and coolant temp sensor and flushed the shit out of it several times and filled it back up with water, drove it about 40~ miles and it popped its cork once we got into traffic in town... the engine driven fan never came on and niether did the electric one.

sooo... i rigged the e-fan to run constantly when the car's on... and to no avail

the clutch fan runs for about 10 seconds when you start the car and you never hear it again after that.... we ripped out all the A/C shit to hopefully improve airflow and that helped some, but not enough. it has the stock 13lb radiator cap on it and it gets warm and hits the overflow tank blowing steam...

the car runs like a dream other than a slightly rough idle... turbo makes good boost (6-8lbs) and the car has zero exhaust other than the pre-cat.


sooo... i'm hoping i can get some help here... been going in circles on another forum to no avail... thanks in advance!!!
 
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#2 ·
it sounds like the coolant seals in the engine are blown. The only thing to do is to rebuild the engine.

to check if its the coolant seals:

1. when cold, pop off the coolant fill cap on the coolant filler neck. fill up if low and leave cap off.

2. start the car and leave idling. do not rev.

if there is visible bubbles coming from the coolant neck, then you have bad coolant seals. if not, then something else it wrong.
 
#4 ·
just because your engine is ovheating doesnt mean your engine is blown. if your coolant seals were bad your exhaust would have some white smoke in it. check your water pump. put new gaskets on it if you remove it. also, ive always had trouble bleeding the coolant system in my seven after i change it. takes a little time, depending on what overflow/filler setup you have. i think there was three different setups. i added a $15 moroso filler neck inline on my upper hose and it helped alot. good luck, tell your friend to enjoy the seven. i have always enjoyed mine.
 
#5 ·
Did anyone else notice this guy has only 1 post, and originally posted this well over 6 months ago??

In case he reads this, like pbrx7 says, bleed the system and make sure coolant is actually running through it, radiator might be clogged or water pump could be shot.

Also keep in mind that 70% of the cooling in a rotary is through oil, so if the OMP isn't working or the oil injectors aren't injecting, the coolant overheating is just a by-product of other issues.
 
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