Ckforker

I think this is the longest the car has sat. Left my car at the airport for 3 weeks while traveling and when I started it, there was so much white smoke I couldn't even see to backup. Left it running as I was afraid to shut it down due to flooding. Eventually it stopped and seems to run normal. After I drove it home stopped and let cool down and restarted and no smoke.

After sitting for a week at the most, I get a bit of blue smoke, but that is normal.

Coolant level is fine and no water in the oil. The car only has 63k on the original engine. Thanks

t_g_farrell

iTrader: (1)

What did it smell like? Check coolant level closely after it gets completely cold again.

Do you have cold start assist?

Its been cold enough that it may have kicked in and squirted antifreeze into your I take. On the SAs it has to be zero degrees for this but for the FBs the temp is higher for triggering it I think.

clintonrumpf

Maybe could have been condensation build up in the exhaust system...My FD sat for 6 months while I was deployed to Iraq and it started up with no smoke. Make sure you check that your engine is getting good oil pressure. Do you by chance run pre-mixed gas?

hat.paradox

This happens on mine, it smokes white on warmup for a bit and then about a minute in it starts to clear up. No problems with my engine, as far as I know, and coolant levels don't really change (I might have a slow leak somewhere though). I always thought it was kind of normal, but I can't be sure.

Hope you get some useful advice, I know mine wasn't too helpful but I thought I'd share my same experience as well!

Ckforker

No cold start assist, I think that was the first mod I did 😛. No smell and I have the right mixture. No water in the oil and the coolant level was down 3oz. After overnight cool down. Filled it up drove it hard and will see what it looks like tomorrow. Took out all the plugs and nothing odd there. Hopefully a 1 time thing and just the 7 being mad the she sat so long....

Ckforker

Seems to be losing minor amount of coolant. Strong pressure in the radiator, thinking it might be the intake manifold o-rings, but nothing leaking externally, so a bit perplexed. I can't imagine what it takes to remove the intake with all the factory stuff on there. Have to try and research any videos on this.

KansasCityREPU

iTrader: (9)

The intake o-rings failing can't pressurize the cooling system. The intake isn't under pressure.

Taking the intake/carb off isn't that hard. I like to take the intake/carb/rat's nest off as one assembly. You'll need a new intake gasket along with two o-rings.

LongDuck

The intake is under vacuum, however. If you're loosing coolant slowly, and it's ot on your garage floor, then it's coming out the tailpipe as vapor. The sweet smell of exhaust will tell you what you need to know. If it's the intake manifold O-rings, at least that's an easy fix, vs. it being coolant seals. The fact that it's leaking coolant now means it should be addressed.

Ckforker

Thanks for all the input. I'm gonna drive it for the next week and then it will sit for another 2 weeks while I travel. I'll look with my borscope in the housings as best I can hand spinning the rotors to see if i find coolant. If I don't see anything, I'll go ahead and replace the o-rings and at least rule that in or out. If it's the internal seals, I guess I've got a large paper weight...

t_g_farrell

iTrader: (1)

It just means a rebuild is in the works at some point. You can try AlumaSeal in the coolant. It sometimes clears up things like this. Definitely fix the orings leaking, its pretty easy to do.

Ckforker

The worst part is the engine has never run this well and any tinkering with the intake will probably screw that up.

Ckforker

Since I'm doing the intake, the car came with an extra water pump and I bought a new thermostat. Gonna do all of it since I have to drain the radiator. Has anyone used Purple Ice? A friend gave me several bottles and have never tried it. Usually not a fan of additives, but temperatures are so important with these cars. Thanks

DreamInRotary

iTrader: (49)

Then don't tinker with it!

I've used Amsoil Coolant additive with their HD coolant in the RX-8 (which is notorious for running extremely hot) and it always kept the temps right around 180, couldn't ask for much better. No idea if that was due to the additive or not though, just replying to your comment.