Alright, I just recently picked up a '79 rx-7 and it's got a couple problems. First of all, upon starting it spews thick white smoke that smells of antifreeze....after a bit of running the smoke goes away, but every time I start it up it smokes pretty badly. Also my dash is all messed up....the gas gauge doesn't work....the tachometer and the volt meter are switched so it reads tachs when the car is off and volts when it is on. The temp gauge works though. Any ideas?

 

your engine probably needs rebuilt. That antifreeze is either from your coolant seals inside the engine may be leaking. It COULD be the coolant o rings on the intake, but this sounds more like the coolant seals inside the engine.

The way you can see if the intake is leaking coolant is just take the intake off (drain the coolant first) and see if the intake ports are whitish. Also, replace the o rings. be sure to scrape the surface on the aluminum housings first so they have a good seal. put it all back together and if its still doing it, its probably the engine.

 

Thanks for the help.

 

Probably the internal water seals. There is a good 'temporary' fix available. Cf. my experience with the fix about 6 months ago: search for 'prestone' in the title (subject) and 'bliffle' as the author. Worked for me.

B