Burning Coolant, Part 2!
08-20-2003, 08:53 AM
#21
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LOL, you got that right Chase! And Pengaru, you're right...I barely touched the primary ports. Just did a bit of cleaning on them and opened up the face ever so slightly. Did all the major work on the secondary side. I figured the Cosmo primaries were fine as is, and being larger than the FD's ports, I left them alone for good idle/low/midrange and decent gas mileage. I pulled about 24mpg driving across Florida some time back (not much boost). We'll re-assemble with the new o-rings today. Thanks to everyone for the input!
08-21-2003, 05:29 PM
#22
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Just a little update, the shop said they didn't see any 0-ring damage at all and since these things come apart when opening up the engine, I couldn't tell either. But we've both agreed that it's no longer leaking from that intake port. They were planning on going over everything with a fine tooth comb and assembling the engine today. I haven't heard anything "bad" from them so I'm assuming everything checked out. We're reusing everything except for the rear rotor bearing and everything looked just fine aside from the leaking coolant. :-)
I still believe it was an o-ring issue. It's hard for me to say if the rings were damaged however. They're going to re-assemble the engine on their bill not mine so that's a plus. It really bothers me (and them) that there's no definite smoking gun/evidence as to why it was leaking. Guess we'll see. Another bonus is that it gave me a chance to do a custom install of a 25 row Mocal on the passenger's side. I managed to mount it within 1/8" of the oil cooler vent opening and position it so that the entire duct and the slot below (FEED II front end) is filled with the oil cooler. Essentially the entire cooler is getting a direct shot of air without the use of an extra duct. I also managed to do a bunch of little stuff to improve the long-term reliability of various components.
I still believe it was an o-ring issue. It's hard for me to say if the rings were damaged however. They're going to re-assemble the engine on their bill not mine so that's a plus. It really bothers me (and them) that there's no definite smoking gun/evidence as to why it was leaking. Guess we'll see. Another bonus is that it gave me a chance to do a custom install of a 25 row Mocal on the passenger's side. I managed to mount it within 1/8" of the oil cooler vent opening and position it so that the entire duct and the slot below (FEED II front end) is filled with the oil cooler. Essentially the entire cooler is getting a direct shot of air without the use of an extra duct. I also managed to do a bunch of little stuff to improve the long-term reliability of various components.
08-22-2003, 08:01 PM
#24
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One thing we didn't think about (but Nick at N-Tech Engineering did) was measuring the housings. Apparently they can shrink around the spark plug area due to extreme heat/cycling. No word on what my "numbers" were but the plates checked out ok (no leak either, imagine that!).
Michel
Michel
08-24-2003, 09:40 PM
#25
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Well we're going to replace the rotor housings front and rear. They say they're in spec, but for the life of me we can't figure out where else they'd be leaking. So two new rotor housings overnight air. The apex seals, solid side seals already have 3K on them. Think they'll be ok?
08-26-2003, 05:49 PM
#26
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Plans changing...with new housings costing a minimum of $525 EACH, we're taking some additional steps to test the engine. We're using new, reuseable 0-rings which many shops are now turning to including Pineapple. The engine will be assembled tomorrow w/o e-shaft and rotors and the cooling system will be pressurized to 40psi. A Jaytech adapter will be put on the front plate and sealed off on one side and pressure introduced on the other. Pineapple pressure tests all their motors overnight before being sent out. IF there is some sort of leak, the entire unit will be placed in water to see which housing is leaking. If nothing leaks, it was an 0-ring issue and the engien will be reassembled.
08-27-2003, 02:10 PM
#30
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Vasoline really shouldn't be used for coolant O-rings on assy. Use Hylomar, & use teflon ecapulated silicone O-rings for the inner coolant seal (which it sounds you already have).
Vasoline will make the O-rings swell so if you have to stop for whatever reason the O-rings are gone. If you go too slow & don't notice the O-rings swelling you can get them pinched...
The Hylomar will hold the O-rings in place much better. Good luck with things this time around.
Vasoline will make the O-rings swell so if you have to stop for whatever reason the O-rings are gone. If you go too slow & don't notice the O-rings swelling you can get them pinched...
The Hylomar will hold the O-rings in place much better. Good luck with things this time around.