j0rd4n

Short story. I've been looking since January for one, and this is the first person to respond to me. I talked to him a couple times and went and saw it yesterday. After a short drive in it, I offered him $800 for it (listed at $1000) and off I went.



1987 N/A

128K miles

I think the rear subframe mount (is that what it's called?) needs to be replaced on the right side. It still has a lot of get-up and go.



Unfortunately, he said it had an overheating problem when it gets over 85. Well, it drove fine the 10mi from one town to my friend's house, but on the ride home it overheated. After letting the motor and everything cool down, I removed the thermostat so try to keep the coolant at full-force just until I could get it home (~35mi from there) and see what the problem was. Well, about 10mi down the road, it overheated again, and when I pulled over this time, after I turned off the car, I got out and saw water just pouring out of the bottom of the car, though I couldn't tell exactly where (it was about 12am). I parked it and came back in the morning and towed it home. It's going to have to sit there while I finish this school semester, though I'll be going home every other weekend and just starting it to keep it from sludging up.



I had a couple questions for those that know a bit more than me. First, does this sound like just a hose might've busted connected to the water pump? I don't think it's the water pump cause I didn't hear any strange noises like my friend's Intrepid had when his busted. The hoses definately need to be replaced, as the hose connected to where the thermostat was was very flexible (easy to pinch w/my fingers), and I'm told that's a no-no.



My next question concerns power steering. Is it common for this model year not to have it? He said it didn't have power steering (nor power brakes), but the steering was uncommonly tough, and there's something under the hood we thought could be the power steering pump that I hoped someone might be able to correctly identify for me.



Thanks for all the help, and I hope to get to know you guys as I start work on my new pride and joy.



-jordan

j0rd4n

Here's a picture of what we're confused about.

Baldy

That's the air conditioner compressor.

It's common to have manual steering, many people prefer it.



I'm moving this to the 2nd gen section, you should be able to get more help there.

Leetheslacker

where was the water coming from?



i left a clamp off one of the heater hoses once, all the coolant came out and ran down the left frame rail, one of them couldve busted.

j0rd4n

Actually, that's exactly what I was thinking. I think a clamp just failed at the high pressure.



It was the middle of the night, so from above I couldn't tell where the water was coming from, and below it was almost underneath the motor, so perhaps the the clamp holding the lower hose (?) to the water pump busted?



I do wish I was at home so I could get a better look at things during the day, though. :/

fcs13

Good find! the car from the pics looks to be in good condition.



There are a few places water can leak from in these cars as I have found out for myself. The heater hoses (driver side rear of the engine / against the fire wall), the radiator hoses (duh) The water pump housing/pump/everything else involved with that, and there is another hose connected to the bottom radiator hose area. I noticed when I was installing my electric fan controller that when I tilted the radiator wrong, it leaked.



Turbo models have water jackets in the LIM that if the o-rings go bad on them, they will leak like a siv and its near impossible to tell since the turbo is right beneath where the leak would come out at. My biggest fear with my leak was the turbo itself but luckily it was not.



I would check all areas that any water might travel through hoses. Clamps, cracks, dry rotted rubber, etc. Just go over a thorough what I like to call "feel if its wet" test. Also, if you need anything for the car (engine dept.) You can PM me and I will see if I have. If I do, just make an offer and we can go from there. Welcome to owning your first rotary I have three now

j0rd4n

Ok guys, I was able to successfully backflush the radiator using the garden hose kit that auto parts stores/Walmart sells. I did 2 flushes with water from the hose, then did a mix of water with a flush solution and let it run for 10 minutes. After that drained, I flushed it once more with water, drained it, then began to fill it with about a 80/20 distilled water/coolant mix. I could only get just over a gallon in there into the inlet where the cap is near the thermostat before it started overflowing. I let it sit for a few minutes then tried to add more, thinking maybe there was just an air bubble stuck somewhere, but it was still considered to be "full." I figured that maybe it just needs to be run through a bit and get into the system, and then I can add more. I couldn't do it tonight because I had to leave before I could let it cool down. Hopefully my next trip home will give me the time to work on it more.

Leetheslacker

fill the rad up from its cap first, then fill the rest from the filler neck.



or pop the cap off the rad and fill the neck, the pressure in the rad wont let it fill so you gotta pop the cap off.



atleast, thats my experiance