rx7girl619

Alright guys, here's my story...
I've been driving my 87' NA FC for about four years now. I've been really good on keeping up with basic maintanence and she's been running like a champ...till now.
About a month ago I started getting white smoke coming directly from my engine, not the exhaust. The engine would only start smoking after driving 50 miles or so. After short trips, like the 15 mins I drive to work didn't seem to phase her. I was totally perplexed. So i took my car to a reputable rotary mechanic here in San Diego and they did a compression test that turned out fine and suggested that my spark plugs and s.p.wires be changed. After that the car ran fine.
That was two weeks ago. Last night i was sitting at the drive thru window at jack-in-a-crack, idling perfectly, and the all of a sudden... white smoke again. Not a lot, just enough to tell me something else is wrong.
So thats my long *** story! any help or suggestions would be appreciated. btw...

• my FC has about 116 miles on it
• It dosen't smoke at start and has no problems starting at any time
• Idles fine
• has no type of condensation under the hood
• overflow bottle isn't boiling over
• engine temp stays normal
• smoke does smell somewhat sweet

HELP ME!!!!

Molotovman

iTrader: (49)

Well, Open the hood the next time it happens. If the compression check was good, and the car runs great until it happens. You may have somethign that leaks when it heats up. Check all your coolant hoses. One might even have a small hole in it. How new are your coolant/radiator hoses?

Blackguy

easy blown coolant seal

Kenteth

sure its white, I was thinking the OMP might get stuck open at stupid times. Otherwise I'd have to say a seal someplace. I get white smoke on startups, goes away in a couple minutes and then everything is 100%. As opposed to the overflow bottle overflowing, are you having to add fluid to keep it to spec level?

Ahh sweet smoke. Means either coolant consumption, or you're paranoid and love the smell of rotary power.

Speaking of which, do you still have the cats installed? This may have been an ongoing thing and the cats are finaly unable to keep up with the smoke produced.

Goodluck.

fcfdfan

Try something cheap and easy first. Replace your thermostat and see it the problem stops.

You could have a thermostat that is failing intermittently and pressure and heat could be building, resulting in intermittent releases of pressure in the lines somewhere and getting steam (not smoke). The incident while idling at Jack may be a clue on that.

Don't trust your temp gauge.

Get your coolant system connections and hoses carefully inspected.

Good luck.

Molotovman

iTrader: (49)

Ahhhh, yes. If you catalytic converters are origional to the car, It's time for new ones. The older they get, they start to clog. They bog down the engine, and performace, and Can cause smoke. Investigate them first.

Kenteth

Um? What are your credentials. There are more, FAR more things that could have happened that could cause the burning of fluid to produce white smoke. Go back to the other forum where you fit in. I'm not saying its *NOT* a coolant seal, but theres just as good of chance a heater core hose is leaking on to her exhaust manifold than there is a coolant seal burning coolant at idle on a warm engine.

Not to be an ***... but who the **** are you?

EDIT: you're the same guy that tells other people that rotaries are unreliable and they shouldn't buy them, aren't you?

Molotovman

iTrader: (49)

Oh yeah, And thanks for posting a readable informative topic. We usualy get somethign like "Help, My cars broke and it smokse when i drive it too much!!11!!1!. What's worng with It?"

Good Job being smart. It'll result in your problem being fixed faster.

-Ian

Kenteth

Its funny, if the author's nick had been rx7boy619, this thread would sit for about 2 hours before anyone else had replied :P

rx7girl619

*all of my factory hoses were replaced two years ago

*yeah, every couple of weeks it falls below the low level

*I replaced the thermostat about 2 months ago after an overheating incident.

thanks for all the help guys!

SDrotary-FC

bring it on by i cna take a quick look at it- chris @ spd racing 760-787-5759

WonkoTheSane

iTrader: (2)

I'd recommend taking her for a run for 20-30 minutes, then doing a THOROUGH inspection of the cooling hoses.. one probably has a leak and is slowly dripping onto the block, somewhere... Although, the rest of the guys do bring up a very good point about the stock cats, I wouldn't know much about it, though.. I ripped mine out

rx7girl619

i think i'll do that. 760... oceanside, right?

lgjp2631

my car did the same thing.it was the black plastic adaptor on top of the thermostat housing.where the so called radiator cap is.mine had a very small crack and right before my thermostat opened it would squirt and smoke.good luck, jason

Kenteth

Welp, put those two together, and you may not like the result.

You're probably not burning coolant too fast, so its not a big issue. I'm putting off my rebuild. I've been burning coolant for about 2 years now, with over 25k in that time, and I can still pull *VERY* hard past 8krmp (from the mods).

The spark plug change probably did help some. The coolant will eventualy build up crap on the SPs and can cause a shitty spark and rough/low mpg.

There are "quick" fixes that some people swear by, and others swear not to do. If you've got the money, you can rebuild and streetport now and theres a good chance you can reuse most everything in the engine (cept seals) and the rebuild wouldn't bee to hefty. If your compression is good, most the parts should be in great shape yet.

On the other hand you can ignore theres a problem like me and about 2-3 years down the road you may have to be replacing apex seals or a housing. I still have wonderful compression, but keep putting the rebuild off.

Goodluck eitehr way.

BTW: I did do a "quick fix" last year. It stopped the coolant from burning for about 12 months. I will probably due it again this fall before winter hits.

Anyhow, in all reality, the problem you're facing right now is what I would consider minor in my experiences with the seven. Its not a huge issue (IMO) Until you bellow smoke at every high rpm shift



All things aside though, you coudl just have a heater hose leaking on to your exhaust manifold :P