My son and I recently bought a 1979 RX7 with 92,000 miles on it. It was stored for 8 years before former owner began restoration effort. I think the former owner did not lube the combustion chamber properly before storing because of smoking at startup due to dried out seals. I have heard that smoke at start up is normal.

What is a normal amount? If we start it daily the white smoke is short and not too bad. Letting it sit for 2 weeks and then we get some serious white oil smelly smoke for less thsn 2 minutes. Again, is that normal?

And secondly, car has a one year old Walmart battery and new alternator. But it turns over very slowly before finally starting. If it sits for 2 weeks, then it needs tha battery recharged before it will start. We have not run the car for any extended miles sicne we bought it. We are still cleaning it up and getting it ready for it's safety inspection. Do RX's need more cranking amps than a "boinger"? Is our battery too weak or is there another reason for the slow cranking speed? Do the dried out seals affect the cranking speed?

Thanks it advance. I have already learned much from this website.

 

bump

Any suggestions to my slow cranking speed?

Thanks

 

Well,

I had the same problem but I would wake up the next morning and it would be dead.

I changed the alt, battery, etc. It came to be the wires needed to be replaced (ground & positive).

Oh and the alt belt was slipping too, which will also make the car generate more heat in my case because I guess the second belt was causing the water pump to not function properly.

- Tech

 

Sounds like a weak battery to me. I have a one year old battery that is shot myself.

The white some is most probably a leaking coolant seal. The longer it sits the more coolant leaks into the combustion chamber. If the exhaust smells sweet than it's coolant.

 

I was told the coolant rings or something of that nature are worn out on my car and theres no need to rebuild my engine, just replace those.

I've got a 13B by the way.

Could be a weak battery, go up to RicerZone and get it tested for free.

- Tech

 

well, if your coolant seals are bad, you will need to remove the engine and replace those, carefully inspecting the housings for wear, flaking, and corrosion, the rotors and apex,corner, snd side seals,just to mention a few. you will want to replace all of the o-rings which stop the dowel pins from leaking and you will want to basically do a gasket rebuild if everything is in spec. and is alright to use.

as far as the slow cranking, if the battery is weak, replace it. if you replace the battery and it is still cranking slowly, check your grounds and wiring. if those turn out good, then the starter is junk. replace it.

 

Every running rotary I've owned (4) so far, will lightly smoke and be a bit smelly when its been started up after sitting for a while. Its perfectly normal. Heck, even an RX8 will smoke a little for a minute or two if it hasn't been started up in a few weeks. If it doesn't clear up after a few minutes, then you've got other issues to attend to but I would definitely do a full tune up first.

Rotaries don't really need batteries with higher cold cranking amps but it helps for those cold winters. My old battery had ~450 cca's and it cranked fine until my battery crapped out on me. New battery has 550 cca's and starts up a little easier.

 

a mazda rx-7 truly consumes its oil. a metering pump on the front of the engine actually injects oil into the chamber to lubricate the engine internally, so white smoke on startup is actually ok. smell the exhaust... if it burns your eyes, its running too rich adjust for leaner run using the screws on the carb. haynes manual gives you exact specs on how. a sweet smell indicates as posted earlier on this thread is yes a coolant seal. it means nothing. replace the battery, and the altenator and the belt for 100 bucks? if that doesnt fix your charging issue, replace the cables. both for a cost of 10 bucks? still not fixed? check for knicks in the return power line from the altenator to the battery. its in the pack of wires coming from the altenator on the back... running along with your 2 distributer wires, clipped along that black plastic thing attached to your a/c compressor. you just replaced your entire electrical feed system. there cant be any more issues after this. theres nothing else left to check.

 

Sometimes it smells like coolant but for the most part it smells like gas and it usually will sit there and do it for 10-15 seconds and then when I start to go down the road it stops and doesn’t smoke again.

It happens randomly (the smoke) sometimes it will do it, some times it won’t, I cant figure out any patterns.

The ignition is bonked in my steering column and I’m having the hardest time trying to find someone parting out a SE with the part so I think it could be contributing to my problem because It'll sit there and turn over once and then the connection will stop and ill have to push it back down and it'll finally start.

The coils are new (PS20 Blaster - VB) and the wires were BOSCH and new spark plugs so I don't think it has anything to do with those.

Just in case though, I'm going to be buying new wires and some MSD stuff because it wont hurt anything to do so.

- Tech

 

well, the SE ignition is the same as any other model rx-7 as far as i know. its normal for hte engine to smoke a little on start-up. so, dont worry. you'll always smell oil when you drive and when it's idling because it is oil injected, using and oil metering pump. the more throttle you give it, the more oil it will inject.

 

Well,

See what gets me is that I tried the press the pedal once before you turn it on and it does worse when I do that.

The smokes big enough sometimes where I cant see behind me to back up out the hatch...it's not a puff.

I'll get a video soon enough of it.

- Tech