Pressure tester

[dhracer]

does anyone have a radiator pressure tester kit I could borrow (pref drop off to me as I have no driveable car :wack: ), I'm now trying to find a leak in my coolant system (oh the joys of rx7 ownership :annoyed: :smash: :indiff: )

[jibber]

whats the symptoms?
ie:sort of fine while pottering about, you dont lose much fluid.
start giving it a bit and the level goes down, no visible trace of where its gone.

[dhracer]

Yeah those are the symptoms :nod:

I wasn't loosing much fluid (I can't really give it any welly as the engine is being run in) about an eggcup each time I drive. Started to give it a little more last night and I seem to have lost more fluid. When I switched off the car there was a little gargling (that's the best I can describe it :wack: ) and today there is a small amount of water on the floor. (The odd thing is I checked the level in the morning and it doesn't seem to have gone down much again :smash: ).

I'm just starting to take everything to bits to get a better view of the radiator and piping, I'm hoping if I put a pressure tester on I'll be able to spot any leak easily

[jibber]

might be an air lock and or a slightly loose hose somewhere. if you had no visible leakage anywhere i would have said a buggered water seal at a rotor housing/end plate joint ( still could be that, but i hope its not)
who did the rebuild and what did they replace?

[dhracer]

:annoyed: A bloke called chris did the rebuild, I'm not sure exactly what was replaced but I know that it was water seal failure last time. The car starts without any problems at the moment (from cold and warm)

How do I get rid of an airlock if that's what it is? I thought the AST should take care of all that :confused:

Thanks very much for the help btw :notworthy

[jibber]

ast should get rid of any air in the system.
mine also used to run/start fine, just lose the coolant a bit, but like i said there was no visible sign of leakage.

[jibber]

http://www.chpltd.com/japanese_performance/rx7tips.html
have a look on there, trade secret no2.

[dhracer]

Good link :)

I'm hoping it's something like that, it wouldn't surprise me if the AST is on the way out - it is over 10 years old and is probably getting brittle now. I just need to get hold of a pressure tester so I can find exactly where the leak is coming from, want to avoid buying one though - they're over £100 :eek:

I'm going to carry on taking bits off tonight to see if I can spot anything obvious but I doubt it since it isn't really haemorrhaging coolant

[jibber]

have not got one i'm affraid, or you would be welcome.

[dhracer]

No worries, you've been more than helpful.

I hope it turns out to be something simple :smash: :( (will update when I find out :) )

[dhracer]

Just pressure tested the system, the good news is that I don't think it's the engine, the bad news is the system is fcuked - it drops quickly from the 20psi you pump to test and you can hear the coolant coming out :wack:

it doesn't seem to be the AST, I'm guessing that one of the end tanks on the radiator has split :( I'm going to remove all the plastic gubbins from front of the engine bay so I can see the radiator properly

[jibber]

:thumbs:

[dhracer]

well I'm bloody stumped :annoyed: :confused: I took all the plastic gubbins out and re-tested. no leak but a lot of gargling from the overflow and ast (which had a lot of air in it)

I tested the old filler cap which was shagged as a broken thing, so that could be the initial problem (would that then let air get into the system?)

re-filled everything to the brim (to the point I had water pissing out the overflow tank) and still can't find a leak. started the car with the radiator cap off and ran it for about a minute to check for bubbles but didn't see anything (which suggests it's not the engine :confused: )

what does a rotary sound like when running on just one rotor?

[FullMetalGasket]

I suspect it sounds very quiet ;)

Your leak could be something like a loose coolant hose on the/a turbo - Had this on the 14a. Couldn't find the leak for the life of me :annoyed:
Eventually it had undone itself to the extent I could actually see the water coming out and realised where it was coming from :thumbs:
I hadn't found it previously because the hole was so small the water was evaporating from the heat of the tubby on it's way out leaving no trace :wack: :whip:

[dhracer]

I suspect it sounds very quiet ;)

Your leak could be something like a loose coolant hose on the/a turbo - Had this on the 14a. Couldn't find the leak for the life of me :annoyed:
Eventually it had undone itself to the extent I could actually see the water coming out and realised where it was coming from :thumbs:
I hadn't found it previously because the hole was so small the water was evaporating from the heat of the tubby on it's way out leaving no trace :wack: :whip:
why would it sound quiet :confused: anyhow I've ruled out running on one as it would vibrate like a bag of shite :wack:

:cry: I've only got 1 more drive's worth till it's run in :annoyed: oh joy, looks like another week of nights under a car :smash:

[FullMetalGasket]

why would it sound quiet :confused: anyhow I've ruled out running on one as it would vibrate like a bag of shite :wack:

I suspect it wouldn't manage to actually run :p
Plus as you put it, it would shake like fook! :wack:

[dhracer]

Nah they run fine (well not fine obviously) but they'll start and drive on one rotor :smash: