1st Generation Specific (1979-1985) 1979-1985 Discussion including performance modifications and technical support sections

gotta quick question

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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 01:09 PM
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From: suffolk, va
gotta quick question

before getting my 85 rx7 back from my dad and brother, they put 20w-50 oil in it, stop leak oil, and 80w-90 gear oil in it. the reason for all this is they said "oh lets use thick oil." but after recieving it back from them the car now smokes really bad, adn now it wont even start. i believe it wont start because its so cold outside adn the oil is so thick and wont allow the car to even attempt to turn over. when i turn the ignition it cranks but wont start. what could be causing this.
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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 01:38 PM
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Probably flooded. Dump about an ounce of Seafoam down the carb and try again.

Drain all of that **** out of the oil pan and start over. 20/50 is fine, and if you are leaking or burning oil then you can use a quart or two of Lucas heavy duty oil stabilizer in place of regular oil. Stay away from gear lube though... Also, make sure you don't overfill it (this will increase the smoking due to oil burning).
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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 01:40 PM
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Welcome to the Darkside. Use this link to find the FSM for your car.
http://www.wankel.net/~krwright/cars/rx7/manuals.html

Get a Haynes manual for your car as well. You said it was an '85 but you didn't mention what trim level (GS, GSL, GSL-SE, etc) or engine (12A or 13B) that you have. We need full detail when you ask questions.

10W-30 motor oil will do just fine. The rotary engine squirts motor oil into the chambers for lubrication of the apex seals. Having gear oil in there will cause a problem. Drain that engine and stick in some normal motor oil.

+1 on the engine being flooded. Not uncommon. Also, ditto on SeaFoam. That's good stuff.

Welcome to the money pit that is the RX-7.
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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 01:45 PM
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sorry for not letting yall on all the details of the car. it is a 85 12a base model rx7. thanks for the info that yall have given me so far. i will try the seafoam, adn deffinitly drain out that oil asap.
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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 03:52 PM
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After you use the Seafoam, the car will produce lots of white smoke. This is normal, as the Seafoam is burning off, so don't worry too much. Should last about 5 - 10 minutes, depending on how much you used. Dump the rest of the can into your gas tank after you get her started... It's like Colon Cleanse for your car.
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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 04:03 PM
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LMAO Colon Cleanser?

Wow, that's the funniest crap I've heard today!

But it works!
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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 05:54 PM
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just in case some missunderstood what i said before, the the car when it did start before the winter was smoking real bad, it was smoking bad even after it was in operating temps. but sometimes it smoked but sometimes it didnt. could this still be what some of yall said it could just be flooded?
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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 06:04 PM
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No, flooding only makes it more difficult to start up the motor. Once the motor starts up, your exhaust will puff out some smoke but it'll go away after about 10 seconds. That's how it is on my -SE, not sure how it is when it comes to carbs.
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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 06:08 PM
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in the cold weather (0 to -15C) my 85 GSL will smoke (white ish) for about 2-5 minutes, but after that it will go back to its regular slightly blue tinged exhaust
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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 06:19 PM
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the smoke is like a big cloud of white smoke, ex. it smoked all the way from my house to the gas station which is like 3 miles away. and was still smoking when i got to the gas station. so could this be do to the freaking gear oil that my brother adn dad put in the motor?
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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 06:27 PM
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Motor oil burns blue. Rich fuel mixture burns black. Coolant burns white.
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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 06:40 PM
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yeah but the thing is im not loosing any coolant, so i dont think it could be coolant
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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 07:55 PM
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From the sounds of things, your motor is shot. More than likely the oil rings (or springs?) are bad and that's why the engine is smoking.
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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 08:08 PM
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yeah thats what i was thinking but just didnt want to come to the conclusion of my motor being dead. and it only has like 90k miles on it.
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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 08:21 PM
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Originally Posted by blubulit
yeah but the thing is im not loosing any coolant, so i dont think it could be coolant
A coolant intake o ring leak can be very small and take a long time to show a loss of coolant and gives the white smoke. It could take 4 months or so to loose just half a resivour tank of coolent. Cold weather will amplify the white smoke of a coolent leak.

If you're not running premix then that gear oil is being injected into the combustion chamber with the engine oil; I don't know how well gear oil burns but I would think not so good. Get rid of it. 10w30 is fine.

Always start with the simplist/cheapist solution first. I would reccomend:
1 change oil asap.
2 search "white smoke" or "intake o ring leak" and if you think you have those symptoms change the intake coolent o rings. It's cheap but time consuming if you do it yourself.
3 get better advice
4 look forward to a rebuild.
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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 08:42 PM
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With gear oil being of a much higher viscosity, burning it off properly will be a problem. I'm sure you've seen just how thick that stuff is. Now, imagine that being forced through the oil injectors so that it can try to be squirted into your chambers.

Scold your dad and brother for putting that crap in there. And, tell them that if you do need a new motor, they're paying for it because of their stupid mistake. Gear oil into a rotary engine......now I've heard it all.
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Old Dec 1, 2007 | 09:12 PM
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yeah when they told me that they put gear oil in the motor i was like "wtf gear oil? wut were u thinking?" so i think im gonna first change the oil, adn then check out the intake o-rings then go from there.
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