hey guys,
1988 vert w/ TII engine.
I am so mad right now. I was driving to autozone to buy a new shifter boot after having a long day putting my brake pads in. I was boosting around on the way there and at one point, i floored it in 2nd gear and the rpm's just stopped at 6.5K, and wouldn't go any further. I quickly put it in 4th gear, chilled for a minute, and tried it again. Then, i tried to redline it again and it was just fine.

So i get to autozone and they were closed. I went to start the car and POOOF, a cloud of white smoke came from right where the turbo is. The car never actually started, it just turned over. I first thought i blew the turbo, then i thought it must be the apex seals. At this time i was about to cry.

So, i called up my friends and they all came there, put the car on the jack and i went under, i found a few drops of coolant dripping down on the ground, but i couldn't find where it was coming from. I tried to start the car and it started up just fine this time, but there was a little bit of white smoke coming out through the exhaust for a couple of minutes, but there was white smoke (coolant burning off hot metal) in the engine compartment too.

The autozone guy opened the door and helped me a little, and he thought it was the heater core. He said it was like $90. My friends were debating on if there was a seperate heater core for the turbo and another one for the heat inside the car, so i was wondering if it does infact have 2 different core's or just one?

I was also wondering if it sounds like its a heater core at all, or what it could be.
One of my friends said i must have cracked a coolant line going to the turbo.
I'm so confused right now, so ANY help would be appreciated.

 

its hard to say without knowing where the leak is comming from, i don't think its the heater core bc its inside the car.

 

ok, so the car must only have one heater core then right?

If so, it can't be the heater core because when i turned the air on, i should have got smoke inside the car as well....

whats the best way to find a leak then? It seems to be coming from the bottom of the car, around the turbo area.....

Thanks for reading the super-long thread.

 

Use a leak detector dye with UV light or something like that.

For me, all I did was replace EVERY hose/ clamp and suddenly no leaks! You'll probably find a couple bad hoses or clamps in the process.
Some picture:
http://www.mazdatrix.com/bhose2.htm

 

thanks, i'll think (by looking at that website) that it would be my Engine to Heater (at Firewall) hose....

 

ps. it would cost $140 to replace all the radiator/coolant hoses!

that sux!

 

Two heater cores for the turbo? What?!

Anyway, your car has ONE heater core. It's located in the center of the dash right behind the stereo and logicon. Mazda installed the heater core then built the entire car around it, so it is NOT a simple job to replace (requires dash removal).

A leaking heater core would not cause white smoke out of the exhaust. It would cause coolant to leak under the dash, or steam to build up in the car (on cold days).

There is a heater pipe that runs right by the turbo. It goes from the rad to the firewall. At the firewall it connects to a rubber hose that connects to the heater core. That rubber hose has probably failed. It's a high failure rate item because it gets baked from the exhuast.

As far as the rest of the hoses go, if they have never been replaced, replace them all. $140 is nothing considering that if any one of those hoses pops then you're stuck.

 

thanks for clearing it all up. I was working on the car for 3 hours trying to find the damn leak, and it seems like one of the 4 tiny hoses that goes to the intake manifold, i think (behind the intercooler) is leaking. Thats not the big leak though, i am suspicious the leak is coming from the waterpump gasket. I will defenately check the heater-core hose, but i will spend some more time tomorrow cuz i'm off work!

Thanks alot for the help everyone! I hope i find it soon!