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Dear Russell

To check it out if it is the rad or the eng block you would have to take the rad off and pressure check it in a tank of water this will tell you where the leak is. It may be a busted seam on the tank something simple to repair.

Regards

Ed Klepeis

----- Original Message -----

From: Russell Duffy

To: Rotary motors in aircraft

Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2006 11:06 PM

Subject: [FlyRotary] Re: Frozen coolant...

I suspect the radiator is cracked somewhere. Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? Can this do damage to the engine block? The radiator is custom and will not be cheap to replace, and it will take a while, and the plane is an 8 hour drive away... :-(

Sorry to hear about the trouble Dave. I haven't heard any stories of rotaries freezing, so I don't know what usually breaks, but I do know they have some freeze plugs just like piston engines do. I'd have to bet that it will blow one of those before it will break the block. Unfortunately, some of those are pretty darn inaccessible. While you're looking for leaks, take a close look at the oil for signs of coolant. Nothing good could come from that, for sure.

Maybe you'll get lucky (relatively speaking) and find a split hose or something easy (relatively speaking) to fix. Good luck with it.

Rusty (and speaking of relatives...)