So I was driving out to a house warming party tonight and tragedy stuck. I had been driving on the highway with no drama whatsoever, and picked up some friends. I pulled onto a street from the house and did some 'spirited' accelleration on a bit of a winding street. I got no further than 7/8k in third gear, and hit the brakes, as I was coming to a red light. As I sat at the red light one of my passengers said 'oh god, is that coming from your car?' white smoke was wafting past us from behind the car, my rad light went on (I assume for when the coolant is low), and I heard the flapping bag/marbles in a can/oh my god, please no! not my engine! Sound. Note, I know for sure the rad light wasn't on AT ALL until I came to the stop.

There was a gas station beside us, and I did a quick u-ie into the gas station. As I drove away from where I was stopped, I noticed a big puddle of what I assume to be coolant. At the gas station, I filled up the coolant with 50/50 premix stuff (just wanted to get something in there), and started up the engine. I also noticed a splatter mark of coolant on the engine's plastic cover, when I took it off to inspect the engine.

****
As an aside, I've had some trouble starting the engine lately. My dad flooded my car a couple weeks back and a week after that happened I installed the BHR ignition kit. Since I've had the bhr ignition kit in, I've been about... 4/5 times with starting my car. basically 4/5 times the car would start on like the 2nd crank (va-va VROOM!) and the 1/5 time it would just crank and just not catch at all ooooor have little catches ... which is hard to explain. You could hear it catching and the cranks would go a little faster, but the engine wouldn't actually start up. I figured it was the spark plugs, since the flooding probably fouled the plugs, and have been meaning to buy new plugs. I also bought seafoam in order to give the engine a thorough cleaning, to make sure there's no reason for the bad starts.
****

I topped up the coolant as best I could (half a jug) and started the engine up (to circulate the coolant around and cool the engine, since the fan was blowing like mad). The engine took a couple tries, but started up. Temp was back at half from 3/4. Got back on the road briefly and before I knew it, more smoke, and temp hit all the way to the max. I cut the engine as soon as I noticed (literally less than a miniute later) and let it coast to a stop. Called CAA (AAA to you 'mericans)

So. I got the car towed back to my driveway, because I don't want to take it to mazda, unless I know 100% (hell, I'll take 80% right now) that it's waranty work.


So what happened? Think it's a core part? Did one of the coolant lines blow up? Did the rotor housing crack? Something separate? Good chance that the overheating do serious damage to the housing/rotors? Should I just send my engine out to be rebuilt with new seals and stuff?


I'mma go cry into a pillow and check on this thread in the morning.


So much for my carputer ):

edit: oh. You might want to know what I drive! 2004 RX8 (duh) 6MT GT with 70,000 km's on it.

 

it seems to me like either a rad issue, or one of your hoses are leaking slowly.. or check if the rad fans are working to cool the engine off, regarding teh flooding of your car your spark plugs are probably done, my car flooded once when it was still at the dealership where i worked so they deflooded it using an airhose towards the plugs.. to really dry them off.. and then started the motor and we watched it run and see soooooo much smoke come out and ever since that no flooding .. mazdas way of deflooding like it sais in the manual is just a temp job until you bring it to a dealer.

 

White smoke billowing from the tailpipe once engine is warm + consumption of coolant + overheating normally equals coolant entering the combustion cycle which normally equals a cracked housing which normally equals engine replacement time.

 

if you've got smoke billowing out of your exhaust pipe and coolant mysteriously disappearing from your radiator it's probably time to put the poor thing out of its misery.

Have you checked your dipstick? Pull your drain plug for oil (ideally with a waste pan underneath it) and look for water/coolant.

 

I think you guys misread what I wrote. I was going about 110 kph and then braked quickly at the lights. All the smoke was coming from the engine bay, but wafted by me once I had stopped.

It wasn't a slow coolant leak. It happened really quickly AT the light. I stopped. Lots of smoke from the engine bay (I would consider it more steam... like in the movies when the car breaks down and they lift up the hood and it's all ssssssssssssssssssssssssss) and it puked out a whole bunch of coolant.

I think that there's a better chance of itbeing a blown hose rather than a blown housing. Any rotary experts know which hoses to check? The engine bay's awfully cramped.

 

check the hose thats directly connected at the radiator , so the neck of the radiator..

 

should have checked the hoses as you were putting in the coolant. should have also checked that some road debris hadnt blocked the radiator

 

SHOULD HAVE?! Man, I can't time travel.

However, I will say that the hoses you're talking about are buried below the air box, battery box, and a whole bunch of wiring harnesses, Not really something I can get through at a gas station.

At any rate, I have an update. I have found the hose in question. Near the steering rack and above the bottom of the rad. It's literally below a support brace that the airbox sits on.


http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/e...03-2008014.jpg

See the blue brace going across the bay, right behind the coolant resevoir? It's literally hugging up against that.


so my question is: the line is loose, where the double nuts are. I can twist the cable. Is it just a matter of getting a wrench that fits, and tightening it? Or is it something that you need to replace if it becomes loose? Please respond asap : D

 

what engine bay is this??

 

its the engine bay of a right hand drive 2004 rx-8

 

It's an engine bay I found online showing the center brace where the fitting I am dealing with is.

I have a picture and will upload it to here as soon as I find the usb cable...

 

weird

 

if nothing is broken then you can just change the metal piece ( forget what its called ) to tighten it again take a look at how the hose fits if its loose ect.. but its always better to just get a new one they are cheap.. that should do the trick, the pressure must have been too much when you were accelerating and then when you stopped, it just gave way... good luck

 

I can't get to the fitting with any of my wrenches. Thats the issue.

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/4972/radline.jpg

Hopefully this board resizes pics.

That's the fitting. And I dont have any room to get in. Should I just be heading to the dealer? Any tips or tricks?

 

That is an oil line.
You don't need a wrench, just a fine screwdriver.
Read the FSM.

That said, it is supposed to be loose. It is a compression fitting with a clip, not a threaded connection.
If there is no oil dripping out of it, leave it alone.

 

okay so I've topped up the resevoir and am going to try and pressurize it with a bike pump. I work in another city during the week, so I won't have any chance to fix this until next friday. And I have 2 jobs. So I barely have time on the weekend anyway.

We'll see if I can find the leak.



edit: Is this something that happens often to rx8's? Is it a known problem? My car's been poopy ever since I bought it (engine light within the first day of having it, which led to a replaced cat under warranty, but they told me that it was misfiring and the issue was still there), flooded engine, followed by bhr kit, that cleaned up the acceleration off of a stop, and brought up the fuel mileage, but that brought on trouble starting , and now this (mind you I'm supremely happy with the bhr kit. And I'm surpremely happy with the rx8 as a CAR. Just... not super happy about this one in particular.


Are there some specific places I should look for leaks?

 

So.


I tried pressurizing the resevoir tank, to little fanfare. Nothing leaked and it just sort of sat pressurized doing nothing.

So I put the airbox back in, put the battery in and reconnected all the vaccuum lines, filled up the resevoir tank etc. Started the car up. Once the engine got to half, the fans kicked in. So the car knew it was hot. the resevoir tank was for sure being pressurized, so I can assume the water pump was on. The engine got a bit hotter (just over half) and still nothing. I checked again and the engine quickly rose to 3/4's of the way on the temp gauge, and then the overflow line started dribbling water out of it.


My dad thinks that the cap is done and is just releasing pressure too quickly. I think that there's something blocking inside the piping blocking the flow of water.


What do the sages of rx8club have to say to this?

 

Do you have coolant under the car? I mean is it leaking externally at all? Stupid question but is there a belt going to the waterpump?

I have to ask.

 

Well if I missed the cap being the issue, how could you rule out those questions? : D

All the belts are there to my knowledge. I will double check, for I am not 110% sure.


So far I have not found evidence of an external leak. What happened was there was a puddle on the road where my car stopped at the lights. And I could smell coolant and I could see coolant smelling smoke wafting about me. My rad light came on and I had to fill it up. NOW, how the coolant left the car, I do not know. There was coolant alllllllllll underneath the airbox, but now that I notice, thats where the resevoir overflow line goes, it just hangs in between the resevoir and airbox.

So no, so far there's no leaking underneath the car at all.

 

Please verify the belt is on the water pump. Because for it to overheat that quickly indicates the coolant is not circulating.
Next thing would be the thermostat has stuck shut.

 

All belts are on all the pulleys.

I think the leftmost pulley is the water pump, and it certainly has a belt on it.

It seems to me that the pump is done or the thermostat. What do you think ez?

 

Seeing how you have no fountains of coolant under your hood. I would think that the thermostat could be stuck shut.
If the water pump is not leaking externally than it should be OK. Doesn't mean that the impeller did not fall off. Never seen that before but hey it could happen.
Try gabbing the water pump pulley and jiggle it up and down. Should not move or have any side to side play. Also if you remove the water pump belt and try rotating the pump pulley. See if it spins freely.

 

Thanks tons. Is it best to just take out the thermostat and start with that?

 

Just make sure the water pump is OK first. That can be done with out removing anything. But yes I would start with the thermostat. Also check to make sure there is nothing blocking the radiator too.

 

I had a thermostat on a 1978 Mercury Zephyr (Ford Fairmont) cause something very similar years and years ago.