OK, so my car still likes to randomly smoke out the exhaust... my friend says it's white smoke but I see some blue in it... it's really getting old. It won't smoke for a day or so and then it just decides to, so I'm thinking something must be wrong. It follows no pattern that I can find. I may have just got done driving it and it'll smoke or maybe it's been sitting all day, it doesn't seem to make a difference...

What can I check? If it's "white" it's running rich, right? And Blue is oil? I just changed the oil last week... new filter, new oil, it has new gas in it, I just filled it up when I put the oil in it last week... 3/4 a tank left.

What is up with this smoking business? It isn't like it's a LITTLE smoke, it friggin pours out the exhaust like a fire-breathing dragon smoking a cigarette, HELP!!!

iSP33D-for-J3SUS

 

black is running rich, white/ steam is coolant.... its probly oil

 

Bah... maybe I can post some video and you can say whether it's white / blue / rainbow smoke or whatever...

iSP33D-for-J3SUS

 

white is coolant, blue is oil, what is the operating temp of the motor when it smokes? sounds like bad oil or coolant seals.

 

Does it smoke at idle? Constant poreing out? Smokes going down the highway filling the sky?

If it does run out and smell it.

philiptompkins - FYI running rich will allso cause white smoke

Coolant will be the easiest to diagnose. Do a coolant compression check at any auto parts store or in the morning check your coolant level then check it again latter.

Have you ever checked the PCV" Did they put to much oil into the car? The car has a line that runs from the oil to the intake and then burned.

 

does it only do it on startup?

Alot of oil can be white/grey. There is a major difference in the smell betwen coolant smoke and oil smoke. Does it smell like anything in particular?

How is your coolant system? any bubles into the overflow bottle? overheating problems?

 

It does have a very distinct smell to it, nothing like gasoline at all... what might it smell like and perhaps I can pick from a list of choices... my best description right now would be... "sweet".

EDIT: Also to answer other questions, it only does it on startup and only on certain starts. It usually does it if I haven't driven it that day but sometimes I have and it still does it...

iSP33D-for-J3SUS

 

http://www.fc3spro.com/TECH/PROBLEMS...MOKE/smoke.htm

 

You have a failing coolant seal. Sorry :-(.

Good thing is it makes a good addition to a blog :-)

 

Greeeeeaaaat sounds like coolant smoke... fan-freakin'-tastic... the previous owner just rebuilt the engine in 2002 (or rather he had it rebuilt) and it runs so stinkin' good other than this smoke on startup... what should I do?

Like I said, the engine was just rebuilt by Rotary Performance here locally and it only has 16,000 miles on it. N/A s4.

iSP33D-for-J3SUS

 

You are going to need to tear the motor down to do it properly, sorry. The good news is all the seals should still be good. Just tear it apart with care. You can clean evryhting nice now do any mods you want and spec out the seals. They should be fine but now you get a good indincation of how well the parts were upon last rebuild. Buy a new oring seal kit and replace all the ruber seals and gaskets. If the apexes and springs are good then you can reuse them. Should be a couple hundred dollers is all.

Or you can bitch at the shop the did it last and see if they will rebuild it.

If they wont rebuild it and you dont want to buy all the tools you need. You can take it apart rent a lift and all and have RP there locally spec out the seals for you. They will maybe do that for free seeing the condition of the motor after only 16k.

 

Let's say I don't do that, what's gonna happen?? I can ignore smoke on startup if it means NOT rebuilding my entire engine. What's the worst case scenario of me driving around with this thing the way it is... it's been like this for about a year and I haven't seen anything go bad or poop out on me yet...

iSP33D-for-J3SUS

 

The seal will just spread larger and larger and larger till you have no choice possibly sustaining internal damages. It will start to flood out every time you turn the car off just to get gas. Then you’re pulling the EGI INJ fuse each time you want to turn your car back on. The cooling system will become more compromised as in blowing coolant out the overflow starving the system it will begin to heat up to rapidly and over heat on you easily or often, and allow air into the system creating pockets and some times stop flow through the motor causing quick over heating.

You can go to the auto parts store and grab 2 cans of BARS stop leak or block welder. I prefer the bottles with copper beads in them. Run this through the engine. There are specific instructions depending on the bottle used. Basically you drain the coolant fill with water and degreaser; I like to take the Tstat out during this. You cycle it then drain and repeat many times till all coolant is out and you no longer see bubbles from the degreaser. After that fill with just water and the stop leak and follow instructions. It does take allot of effort.

The down side to this is a mess to clean upon rebuild, and it don’t last forever.

 

bluuuuuuuue don't tell me this... *sigh* I guess it's about time I bought the DIY-RE 13B video, eh?

iSP33D-for-J3SUS

 

Do the stop leak trick. Order the DIY vid and start preparing and buying tools you need. Buy the time the seal lets go again you should be just about ready to rebuild it.

Invest in a 3 foot pole ;-) a 1/2 or 3/4th breaker bar I suggest 3/4th get a 1/2dr to 3/4th adapter a 54mm socket at sears. Now the best advice of all get a good 600ftlb impact gun should cost between 180 to 220$. Someone posted a few days back a earthquake impact gun this strong for 100$ from harbor freight.

Also get a craftsmen socket set with ratchets in 1/2 in 3/8dr and a set of box wrenches.

That’s about all you need.

 

Well, I know the suck-it-up people are gonna have a fit but bring it back to Rotary Performance, provided you paid them to do the work, and let them take a look. Coolant seals are not consummable items and should last a lot longer than 16k miles.

If it is a defective seal then it may be covered under warranty on the seal, including the labor cost to replace it. Or it may be defective workmanship and the guys at Rotary Performance fix it for free. Even if you bought the car with the motor in it, they may still cover their workmanship for the sake of good pr. ~rich

 

Here is what I found - the ACTUAL mileage on the engine is 41,000 (big difference though N/As should last 200k plus...) Rotary Performance had a one year or 12,000 mile warranty on it and I meet neither of those criteria.

Oh the things you find when searching through car papers... haha...

There really isn't much else to do. Rotary Performance isn't responsible, they have no idea how the car has been driven since they rebuilt it and I don't know how the previous owner drove it before I bought the thing in 2004. So I don't wanna yell at them for something that isn't their fault - if I were in their shoes I wouldn't help me out. Sad, but true.

It's a darn shame too, the thing runs like a dream... but oh well... can't help what ya can't help. I'll be rebuilding it in... oh... what's reasonable? 8 months - a year? If not in the next 6 months... booo.

iSP33D-for-J3SUS

 

dont be sad...to tell you the truth...im looking forward to the day my engine blows...cant wait to lose my rebuild virginity

 

Do a streetport!

 

wow... we must be some hardcore ***** because its amazing most people would trash a car that has a bad engine and is from 87 or so.

god I can't wait to drive mine !!!

 

hey if your going to rebuild if invest in the racing beat flywheel tool its lke 35 bucks and works wonders. also the flywheel stopper helps alot. forget the dowel pin remover not worth it run to homedepot and by a treaded piece of metal its like a foot long and bend the end and put the slide hammer on that bad boy works good.

 

but until you do that please be sure that it is a coolant seal/ oil seal... I have had many 7's that slightly smoked at start up and it was nothing but running rich unyil warm up. Did you take out the cats whn you got your exhaust? This does not sound like a terminal problem yet. I would take it to the place where it was rebuilt and see what thay say first.


I totally think that you ae being a little overdramatic about this. Dont freak out if your car is smoking a litlle at start ups. mine has 20k miles and does it from time to time.

 

Again no need. The bolts from the motor mount thread right into the dowl pins they are a 14mm. The flywheel stoper is needed for reassembly of the flywheel as a impact gun should not be used. The stoper can also be cut from a pice of steal. The stoper is also available from mazdatrix for $25

 

I had the car evaluated today by my friend who works for the city fixing all their emergency vehicles and whatnot and he doesn't think it is a coolant seal. He thinks I'm running rich and / or I have some moisture building up in my exhaust near the header. I'm not rebuilding this thing unless there is persistent smoke or signs of other problems. Right now this engine runs extremely well. It's smooth at idle and on accel / decel - if it sin't broke, don't fix it. I'll deal with a little smoke every now and again.

iSP33D-for-J3SUS

 

sad to say i to cannot wait for my 7 to let loose... nice streetport here i come!!!
and ive never built a motor... for less than 1,000 bucks...meh...why ot... if it blows... ive spent my money on dumber things... glad to see yo think its not the ccolant seal !!!!