Hey Guys,

I have a problem with my 85 gsl-se that began around a month ago. I went to start it, this november when the weather began to get colder and my car wouldnt start. I figured it was the cold and continued to try, but nothing happened.
THe next morning I went to start and same deal, i checked the oil...and it was a bit low, and i do have a constant oil leak...so no big surprise there. I added a quart of oil and a couple more tries, the car starts up. But, there was alot alot of white smoke coming from the tailpipe. There isnt any water coming out, although I checked because I thought maybe I had blown some sort of head gasket and radiator fluid was leaking into the engine.

Any suggestions? THe engine runs smooth, and there's no cutting out when I rev it.

Thanks so much you all.

Also, if it is the head gasket what type of experience with engines would be required to fix it myself...ie at minimal cost?

 

These engines have coolant o ring seals. They wear out over time and you get this seapage into the engine. Did you overheat the motor by chance. Best bet if the car will start/run is to live with it for now. You can try the "block seal" method posted on this forum or just have the motor rebuilt.

 

This happened to mine after I flushed the radiator. I ended up just rebuilding it and porting it. I have never taken apart or worked on a car engine before but I have worked on small engines like snowmobiles and go karts and I thought the rebuild was easy, I just used the haynes manual, and your going to have rebuild it eventually if its smokin. I think the rebuild kit is about $200 but it depends because you might find other things wrong that you will want to replace while you got it apart.

 

As cpa7man says, the rotary engine uses O-ring seals, not head gasket(s). I have an engine in my garage waiting a teardown due to the same type of symptom; as I had overheated it and coolant would then seep into the spark plugs. Although it was a slow seepage, over a period of days it would really build up enough to smoke screen the front yard.
Worser case could actually be a fissure in the water jacket interior if overheated and stressed enough.

 

or you coulda overfilled the oil... it gets sucked into the PCV system and smokes like a ****, seemingly at random. check you oil fill level, it shouldnt be above "full" on the stick.

then check you plugs.. oil soaked plugs will indicate oil sucking problems, clean or wet/sweet smelling plugs indicate coolant consumption.

furthermore, if the coolant seals are shot, you should be able to get some bubbling out of the rad cap if you open it while its runing (start COLD FOR CHRISTSAKE!)

 

i have a fog machine on wheel. first i thought it was burning coolant so i took out the coolant and just add water, next morning, same smoke came out, same thickness color and smell. i notice im loosing alot of oil. could it be the oil but white smoke = burn coolant.

 

I was just about to ask this same question- I have the same problem- only when decelerating from 5k+ does it let a out a big cloud of white smoke- but does not smell like anti-freeze- more like carbon- I will try to see if it does the same while driving I just rebuilt the stock carb (car was sitting for 5 years) - could this be just carbon deposits that are coming out just now that the engine has been sitting for so long?

 

Just drove the car- no white smoke past 5k RPM- but the car does not feel fast- engine rpms are going up past 4K now- but I dont feel the punch that I remember from my old rx7?- replaced the fuel filter when I dumped the 5 year old fuel in the tank- maybe I should replace it again?