ReQ

smoking!, why is my gsl-se smoking -.- i did the pseudo compression test, puff puff puff etc... problem is i dont know if its right, the "puffs" arnt that close together, 3 strong puffs, but they are spaced apart and i have to hold the key over until it hits 3 then let go... if i keep holding it, keeps "puffing"....

when i pulled the top plugs, one at a time, each pulg was soaked in something, like a mix of gas and oil, that isnt normal.. is it? (newb)

i checked the coolant, has droped any in months, and no bubbles when running, the smoke has a blueish tint, smells nasty.. not quite like oil.. but it waters your eyes like its running rich, its had running problems for awhile, weird idle... doesnt really surge, just sorta moves up and down slightly, around 700-900rpms, and if you slowly get on the gas, it climbs up good too about 25,00rpms.. then it will sorta drop, or bog and not go any higher until you get the pedal closer to the floor... then it revs like a bat out of hell

smokes all the time, when you crank it cold or hot, idle and driving, sometimes once it warms up the smoke stops while your driving, not always, but just about everytime you shift from 2nd to 3rd.. when it isnt smoking, it puffs some smoke then it stops

it also shakes at idle, not noticeable unless you are sitting in the car.. it feels like sitting in my racecar at idle, a 2.2 with a 550 lift cam... almost rocks you to sleep, then when the idle does that weird bouncing thign, you can fell it in the car when it sorta bumps, and hear it in the exhaust note

to my (limited) knowledge of this car, the only problems i can see so far are these, the little connecting rod from the OMP to the TB was bent, wouldnt even move, i straightend it out so it actually moves now, if its suppose too i mean..., and the airbox had some nasty black tar looking crap in it, and the MAF was gummed up pretty bad, i did my best to clean it without taking it apart, but im not sure its fixed

the rats nest looks to be in rough shape, i think whoever owned it before me was screwing with it and ddint know what he was doing


i did my best to search the forums and learn what i could about why they smoke, but in the end im still no closer to knowing what to do, im afraid ill just have to tear it down and rebuild it to find out what exactly is wrong, trouble is im on a limited budget at the momment, due to other cars, and i need my rx back on the street, because im out of a car to drive right now, so i want to get it fixed, if possible, without a rebuild (probably wishful thinking)

hope i gave enough info, if not just ask

P.S. what do i need to do a proper compression check

Kentetsu

Is your temperature gauge working correctly, or is it always showing a cold engine? I've heard that a bad coolant sending unit can make the SE's run very rough and rich.

However, I'm not positive that the sender that runs the temp gauge is the same one that talks to the computer to control mixture...

As far as the compression goes, as long as you have three strong evenly spaced puffs of air, then you are probably fine...

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

1, How's the fuel mileage?
2. How many miles on the engine?
3 .Is this a new problem, or has it been on going?
4. Have you checked your leading/lower plugs?
5. Did you get 3 even puffs out of each rotor?
6. Have you ever had the injectors proffesionaly cleaned?
7. Have you checked to see if you are getting spark on both leading plugs?

The top plugs usually have some fuel/oil on them. Check the lower plugs, they should be a tan/brown color, they probably aren't, post what they look like.

The smoking sounds like it is running rich and/or burning oil,( it should burn some but not that much).

ReQ

temperature gauge seems to work, it warms up normally after running for alittle bit, reads normal while driving

gas mileage.. im not sure, havent driving the car enough really, my dad mainly drove it to work, i drove my neon -.-, it got abuot 13-14 mpg the last time he put gas in it i believe, may be wrong, not very high but mileage but its pretty high and hasnt been rebuilt in alot time that i know of

the running problems always been there, the smoking is somewhat new, started uot just when you first crank it alittle, and running it hard and shifting at higher rpms, anything about 6k it would puff smoke, now its like i said, always 90% of the time

3 even strong puffs on each rotor

injectors havent been cleaned at all lol

all 4 plugs hit good

ill check the leading plugs tomorrow


another thing i forgot, the oil psi gauge was being alittle weird, i dont know if its normal for rx's but on boingers i know the oil gauge doesnt bounce like that, it just surges up and down at idle, give it the gas and it goes up over 60psi then drops back down halfway between 60 and 0 on the middle notch, then surges back and forth around that mark

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

If the oil pressure is mimicking the surging idle, don't worry about it. Run a can of Seafoam through the engine when the gas tank is down to less than 1/4 full, that will help clean the injectors and the rest of the engine internals.

Since you found gunk in the air cleaner and the maf, you may want to take the maf off and inspect it. Clean if needed, be careful and do not damage the door.

Next time the oil level is low, add some Lucas Oil Stabiliser and add 1 qt. of it your next oil change.

Kentetsu

Wow man, you took the words right off my keyboard! The Seafoam treatment (run it at a strong concentration) will yield a number of benefits for you, even if it doesn't solve this specific problem. In my opinion, the Lucas is a great idea even if you don't have any issues at all. Great stuff!

One more thing to add, have you made sure that the oil level is not too high? Also, I remember reading something on another forum (Toyota). After cleaning the MAF sensor, you need to clean the little "bulb" like doohicky that hangs down inside there with a Q-tip and alcohal. Apparently the cleaner can effect the readings that it will get. No sure if this applies to the Mazda unit or not, but might be worth checking out anyway.

You don't have any major vacuum leaks do you?

ReQ

when i first go the car it wasnt running, put oil down the spark plug hole and turned it, fired right up after that and filled my yard with smoke, we ran an old can of seafoam through it, not sure if it was any good still, seemed to run like brand new after that, for about a week

i think it may just be running rich, i hope anyway, im building up the nerv to start playing with stuff to try and get it tuned right, going to make one of those twin testlight things and pull the intake tube/MAF and TB off then clean it all and check everything

im not sure if it has any "major" vacuum leaks but i think it might have some, i sprayed some stuff with carb cleaner while it was running to see if i noticed anything, i may take a closer look at the lines, im just not sure where they all are

ill try the seafoam and clean it out more hopefully tomorrow if i have time to do all of that

thanks for the help so far guys

KeloidJonesJr.

iTrader: (8)

heh bowls. You need some...

ReQ

if you cant say something helpful..., well you should know where im going with that

and... bowls? is that an attempt to relate "bowels" to "*****"?, because having a set of bowls between ones legs would be rather uncomfortable


or maybe i misunderstood



anyway, i pulled all 4 plugs this morning, all of them were black, the leading plugs smelled like gas and had oil on them, cleaned them all up and fired it up, didnt want to stay running, had to give it gas to keep it runing, didnt smoke much at all


it sounds like it does have a vacuum leak somewhere around the airbox, and if i blockoff the hole in the airbox with my hand it doesnt effect the idle at all... sounds like its coming from below the box, the airpump belt has never been on the car, wasnt there when i got it, could that cause any of this?

Rotor13B

Heh, That would explain alot. If your running the stock exhaust and don't have the airpump hooked up, You probably either fried the cat(s) and it's not doing it's emissions work anymore or there clogged up with fuel/oil soot. It's more likely they colapsed on themselves and are choking your engine, This would explain the eratic idle and smoking. Dissconnect the cats and see if the idle problem goes away. Just be forwarned it's gonna be loud!!!

As for the OMP, That rod should move up and down in relation to throttle position. You need that oil going into your engine to lubricate seals and help compression.

ReQ

it is the stock exhaust, but the main cat was clogged when i got it, took the exhaust off and knocked the guts out, guess i should do that to the rest of the system? ill try unhooking the exhaust and running it, and dont worry im use to loud things, and if my neighbors didnt complain about me doing burn outs up and down the road infront of my house with a open header 383... cant see why they would care about this

never thought of that though... thanks

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Trust me, these little rotarys are louder open header than a 383. And yes, I had one back in the 70's, when I still had hearing.

ReQ

update:

i pulled the pipe out with all 3 cats on it, the first precat was empty, the main cat was empty, the middle precat... was so blocked water would barely leak through it when i filled one end up, so im guessing i found the problem

fired it up with the pipe removed, no smoke unless the rpms get turned up above 5k, dunno why but oh well, its driveable again, very loud indeed, but still nothing compared to my the noise my modified street-stock made, even my outlaw 4 modified with a 2.2 chrysler is louder, then again the exhaust system is a custom header to the 4" OD 21" long exhaust pipe, thats it... sitting inside the car you need ear plugs, outside the car its still painful to hear standing by the car


anyway, thanks for the help, im replacing the cats with a pipe, no emissions checks here

85rotarypower

Well, there are 2 different coolant temp sensors these cars. 1 is for the temp gauge inside the car and the other is for comunicating to the computer. The one that sends a signal to the inside temp gauge is located near the oil filter pedestal, while the other is located on the water pump housing, near the thermostat.

Rotaries are in fact very loud. The first time I ever started the original 12A in my 82 it was open exhaust manifold in a garage. My god was that thing loud. Both me and my dad had ear plugs in and it was still extremely loud. By comparison, it was probably as loud as a funny car 40 feet away. If you've ever been to a pro drag race then you know just how loud that is.

ReQ

i have been around racing all my life, when im standing next to my racecar screaming at someone and cant even hear my own voice, its a loud car, when i revved my 13B with just a manifold to 6-7k and could still talk to my dad by simply yelling.... well you get the idea

even though that isnt a fair comparison, racecar against streetcar, but i also visit the dragstrip alot and watch the toyota starlets with rotary engines make 6 second passes, on the line when they turn them up they are painfully loud, but its still more of a highpitched scream, rather than a deep chest thumping roar like a v8

but still, i prefer the sound of a rotary, i love that banshee wail they have

85rotarypower

This is basically the kinda condition I was talking about. I was yelling at my dad to shut it down but I couldn't even hear myself yelling.

ReQ

i want my 7 that loud, well one of them, i just got an 87, im probably going to do all the work on it that i was planning to do to my SE, first gens are rare here, never even seen a one here so i dont wanna ruin it

i hear that a bridge port makes them louder, is that true?




back on topic for a momment, my 7 still smokes when you rev it up, only smokes some when you shift driving, i drove it up the road through second and third shifting at about 5k and it hardly smoked at all, at idle when you rev it that high.. smokes like a bit*c... once it comes back down... no smoke, whats going on here?

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

Oil control o-rings are on thier way out, most likely, unless it is is running overly rich, then it should be backfiring.

ReQ

its always backfired, when i first got it there was no smoke for the first few weeks, even with the backfiring, then little by little.. started to smoke between shifts, mainly from 2nd to 3rd


how can i fix it running rich? or tell if it really is

chedda_j

turn down the fuel mixture screw on the side of the carb. Driver side. Turn it all the way in, then 2 1/2 - 3 turns out. I cant see it running that rich.

Kentetsu

That will only adjust the idle mixture, and it only applies to carbs... In your case, I'm not sure what the procedure would be. I would recommend that you post another thread stating that it is for "tuning an SE". That should draw the experts in for you.

As far as the smoking goes, make sure that you are not overfilled with oil. Too much oil will result in bad smoking. If level is correct, replace a couple quarts with the Lucas and it should help out a bit.