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Car Starts, then Dies... White smoke and burnt smell...

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Old 02-02-08, 07:41 AM
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Car Starts, then Dies... White smoke and burnt smell...

Hey all,

Up until now, my Rx7 has been running pretty decent. I had some idle issues, but I more or less stabilized those... I've recently run into a big problem though.

My car starts fine and will idle for about 5-8 seconds, then start to slowly die. If I don't keep on the gas, the engine dies out. There seems to be some whitish smoke coming from the engine bay and a burning smell... (that can't be good). There's also white smoke coming out from the exhaust, but since it's 5:40AM, I'm not sure if it's just because it's cold outside. Nonetheless, there's enough white smoke from the exhaust to say it's not normal... I've searched, but to no avail. Any advice? Thanks in advance...

- ss

Edit: I started the car again to see if I could see those symptoms again, but it ran and stayed running. It idled at 1200-1300 though with some backfiring (I think it's backfiring, at least). The exhaust was shooting out white smoke again. Hope this helps the diagnosis?

Last edited by SureShift; 02-02-08 at 07:44 AM. Reason: Update with more info.
Old 02-02-08, 09:59 AM
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This sounds like what I think it is...
Coolant seals are going out! White Smoke is caused by burning coolant... Time for a rebuild.
Old 02-02-08, 08:31 PM
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Yup, i agree with him. Just happend to me, had the horrible smoke, then she would just crank then kinda start but just die. Perfect time for a port and seals
Old 02-03-08, 05:07 PM
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I just got this issue and a while back my car died and got it towed to my buddies garage and then let it sit for a month.

then yesterday i started it after about an hour or trying and i put it in drive and then died......lots of white smoke- wasnt like steam either. so did coolant seals go?

last month when the car died, it sounded liek something was grinding, talk to me people?

and when i leave the key in, my idiot lights say my fan and add coolant....what ya'll think?
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