Looked at a GSL-SE that I am considering buying and observed the following. It has not been driven in a while, just started occasionally, so the gas may be a bit old. Also the exhaust pipe is broken about a foot in front of the muffler. Temp was about 30 F.

A little tough to start and I needed to give gas for a while to keep running. Whitish gray smoke a start up and lasted for a couple of minutes, then no smoke. I driove it for about 10 minutes, waited about 30 minutes and restarted it. There was no smoke, fired right up but needed to give it gas for a few seconds and then it idles fine.

This is a car I am really interested in buying but certainly don't want to dump a bunch of $$ into the engine in the near future. I need the opinions of some more advanced RX gurus to help me out as to potential problems. Any things I should do? i.e. start it again tommorrow AM and look for smoke, etc.

Thanks, Bill

 

Sounds good so far.

They'll all smoke like hell in the conditions you describe.

Just tell owner you want to check compression and do it. Then you'll know if the engine is good or not or somewhere in between.

 

don't mean to hijack, but i've heard you can't use a "regular" compression tester for the rotary...what exactly do you need?

 

THe car is now 400 miles away, it was a long drive to check it out, so no way I can make a compression test now. The smoking engine is the only big concern. I need a little more input before making the decision.

Thanks, Bill

 

first generation rx-7's smoked from the dealers lot. The smoke should clear up after a couple of seconds. White smoke indicates a coolant leak however and is not the normal start up smoke, which is caused by oil.

 

I have a 1980 12a with 89k miles. Mine smokes exactly like you describe. Only in the cold weather. In warm weather nothing. I keep the sub-zero tank filled which indicates that it is doing it's job. The sub-zero fluid is a 90/10 mixture of antifreeze/water that is injected during cold startup. Hence the white smoke. I never get smoke of any other color than white at startup.

 

Well, I have an 84SE and have the same issue that you described with this car in question. Something to think about is that the issue could be due to the car sitting for a long time, combined with a bit of flooding due to improper start sequence. Both of these lead to smoking on startup.

To start an SE, push the accelerator all the way to the floor, then LET OFF completely. Now, turn the key and let it spin until it starts. There is no 'pumping' or anything that you can do that will make it start faster/better. Fuel injection doesn't have 'accelerator pumps' so you're just throwing off the A/F mixture if you're pushing on the gas pedal at all. The reason why you press it ONCE is to reset the 'cold-start' cam on the primary throttles - this will work like a choke on cold start so that the engine will idle a bit higher and warm up faster.

Now, to the smoking;

My 84SE (185k miles) smokes on startup during cold weather as a result of worn out oil control rings. These are the rings that go around the eccentric shaft gearing on the sides of the rotors. When they wear out, the oil from the eccentric shaft and rotors is able to seep past the rings and into the vacuum space of the intake charge. This results in blue/white smoke with a distinctly OILY smell. As the engine warms up, the seals expand along with the rotors themselves, and put further pressure on the oil control rings - sealing them off from oil flow. This is why it only smokes on startup.

My problem came about from putting MMO in my oil; prior to this, the car never smoked at all - warm weather, cold weather, didn't matter. Now, it always smokes on cold start.

Oil control rings can only be replaced through complete teardown and rebuild, so this isn't something that you'll want to overlook in a potential purchase. There are a lot of engines out there that can be swapped-in, however, so ensure that everything else on that SE is in proper order, and the engine you can tackle at some future point. If it runs well once warmed up - you might have a keeper.

Good luck, and report back,

 

Thanks to all for the great feedback, I don'yt think that the smoke is a major problem based upon the input I am getting here. Keep any relavent ideas coming they sure are appreciated.

based upon the feedback I am probably going to buy the car, means a 400 mile trip with truck and trailor but for the 7 of your dreams that is a small price f=to pay. It is in need of some body work and interior work although overall it is in good shape. I will post pics B4 and after.

thanks, Bill

 

Happy to see we are going to have another FB owner here in Iowa.

 

He already owns an 83. I sent you a PM Bill. Again, if you need any help just let me know...

Ian

 

Again thanks for the help. Here is what i asked the owner to do. Start the car and then wait a couple of hours to let it cool down and start again. He e-mailed me letting me know that it started right up both times, the first time cold and rainy and it smoked for short time. Later in the day when it was warmer and not rainy it didn't smoke at all. Says it did not smoke at all in the summer or even up to Thanksgiving. It appears to me that the car does not have a significant problem and is likely a good purchase.

Again any input on this is greatly appreiated, as many of you know how to interpret these better than I do. I look forward to additional input from the forum as I restore this one as well as my '83 GSL.

Thanks, Bill