Kremlar

The other day I started the car up and immediately the 'Add Coolant' buzzer came on. The car was cold. I was away from home at the time, and in a big rush, so I added a bit of water to the radiator and overflow and got driving. Drove for probably about 40 minutes towards home, 1 stop in the middle, and everything was fine. Figured I'd push my luck and stop by the Mazda dealership for some plugs and oil filters on the way back.



Car was off for about 15 minutes. Got back in and started it up and the 'Add Coolant' buzzer was back on again, and temperatures were rising, maybe only 3/4 way to the red though. Shut it back off, popped the hood and noticed the hose off where the

radiator cap is was pulled off. Pushed it back on and felt the cap - still seemed hot.

Borrowed some coolant from the Mazda service center and tried to poor it into the

overflow and it literally pissed out. Talked to a service guy, and he agreed to put it on the lift and take a quick look. Pulled off a couple of the underbody panels and couldn't see much, but did confirm that the coolant seemed to **** out from the overflow when poured in. He filled the radiator, gave me some coolant for the ride, and I was on my way.



Made it to the local mechanic that I trust (not very experienced with rotaries, but at least I trust him) with no problems, no 'Add Coolant' light, temperature was normal. He said he would look at it.



Well, today he looked at it. Checked the cooling system, and it seems to be holding pressure fine. Is going to look at the overflow tomorrow.



However, the problem is, he noticed a substantial oil leak. He says that:



'the air induction system, plastic hoses off the turbo, plastic hose up to the throttle body are full fo oil, to the point where it's leaking once it gets to the throttle body, down the driver's side of the block from the air boot'



(this is what I remember him saying, I took notes, if it seems 'dumb', it's because I don't understand most of it and am just repeating)



He wasn't sure what the problem could be and was going to talk to me about it tomorrow. I have some service records from the previous owner, and called the old service place - Passen Motorsports. Talked to what seemed like a very knowledgable guy who said the problem sounded like bad turbos. He said rebuilding the turbos + labor would probably run me about $2000. He wasn't aware of any problems with the car when he last saw it, a few months ago.



I haven't noticed any smoke on startup, except for a slight wiff of what looks like black or blue smoke when not started for a couple of days.



I thought power maybe seemed down, but thought it was maybe my imagination.



No boost gauge installed (yet).



Here are some questions:



- any ideas on the coolant problem??



- does this sound like a turbo problem?



- if so, should I be sending my existing turbos out for a rebuild or buying new/rebuilds? any good sources?



- can a normal, competent mechanic do this job?



- should I be replacing all those little hoses I always hear about at the same time? if so, is this something my mechanic could probably do? any good source for the hoses?



- any recommendations on a shop in the Massachusetts area I could trust to fix this (if my mechanic doesn't want anything to do with it)?



- would this cause me to fail emissions?



- can a regular mechanic accurately do a compression test on a rotary? if so, anything special he needs to do? what are good/bad readings?





Any help, please??



I apologize in advance for my technical ignorance...

rotorbrain

okay, the oil might be the turbos. i wont say anymore on that. . . id assume the twins though.



coolant - you should be adding coolan/water to the coolant fill port located on the engine/thermostat housing. filling up the overflow tank will only do what you experienced. did you just have the coolant system flushed? change your pressure cap as well. that might be allowing coolant to boil over. . . this means that when the engine is cold itll be low. . . obviously. you can open the filler cap while the engine is warm, just be careful and do it slowly. let the steam escape and allow the pressure to stabilize. dont do it while its hot. . . like after a long drive or anything. . . basically, burp your system. start the engine. . . let it warm up slightly, turn it off, and fill it up. keep on till its done.



if you go ahead and get the twins done. . . find out who you want to do the rebuild and have an RX7 MECHANIC do it. not the dealership, unless they are worthwhile and other forum members recommend them. id go to a shop that knows the car. . . and deals with them exclusively. youll know that theyve done that type of work before. the hoses should be done by someone that knows what theyre doing. letting joe shmoe get in there may cause problems. the vacc system is complicated and takes time. let a pro do it. . . unless you are up to the task. its not a brain teaser. . . just tedious and easy to mess up if you dont pay attention.



if i were you, id contact your nearest rx7 mechanic/shop. not the dealer. and ask them what they think. theyll give you a quote and youll puke afterwards. hahahaha. . . thats some cash youre about to shell out!!!



paul

rotary speedster

Take off the intake pipe that leads to the throttlebody and check for oil, yourself. If it has enough oil in it to be leaking, then the car would be smoking all the time.

From your description, there does not seem to be anything wrong with your car. The coolant buzzer was coming on from the loss of coolant and the overflow tank was pushing coolant out from being full.

DaedelGT

To add what others have said. Oil in the lines is not nescesarily a sign of bad turbos. I know many people with less than 10k on their stock twins and they all have a small coating of oil in the various intake pipes. If the turbos were near to going out you would see smoke from the amount of oil.

Kremlar

Hey guys - thanks for the reply...



I guess what triggered the whole oil thing was that my mechanic said there was oil running down the driver's side of the engine block.



Now, he may be rotary/twin turbo ignorant, but he's not dishonest. Could there be another reason for the oil leaking down the engine?



Again - thanks for the help!

rotary speedster

Try to find out where the oil is coming from. There are a couple of places that it could be, maybe the where the oil sending unit goes into the block or the oil filler neck?

DaedelGT

Or the MOP/lines.

Kremlar

MOP = oil metering pump?

rotorbrain

the OMP is on the copletely opposite side of where he said its leaking from.



paul

DaedelGT

Woops, I mis read.