xkhang146

1988 10th ae.

i was coming home from work and cruising at about 70. there was a stupid truck messing around with me. i decided to drop into 3rd gear to pass, all of a sudden i hear this mad *** hissing sound (i think it was turbo, i dont know) . i look in my rear view mirror and all i see is white smoke from my exhaust. i pulled over and let it cool down. still gushing out white smoke. luckily my house was only about 2 miles away. i basically walked the car home.

from the looks of the smoke, i believe that i have blown a coolant seal. (i think)
anyone have any ideas of any other possible issue...PLEASE!!!!

anyone know of any rotary shops near statesville, nc area?
and also estimated cost of engine rebuild?

thanks.

xkhang146

starts up fine but once the car is warm, it starts puffing white smoke.
also when i got home, i checked the coolant reserve tank, was almost completely empty.

i got a bad feeling its gonna require a rebuild.

Dr-Zine

iTrader: (1)

from the FAQ

"I think my engine has been overheated. How can I check to see if the coolant seals are good?

Fill coolant system ALL THE WAY UP (engine cold). Make sure that the fluid level is as high as you can get it. Leave the filler cap off. Remove the EGI fuse. Crank the motor (it should not start). If you get a LARGE amount of coolant coming out of the coolant fill, its safe to assume your coolant seals are blown. Also, a good indication is a fuel/exhaust smell in the coolant."

Turbo II Rotor

iTrader: (2)

Sounds like the turbo coolant seal went, That would explain why it only smokes when warm(hot exhaust) and you did not say it over heated.

cmanns

You're prolly right, when the engine was cold it'd smoke with a bad coolent seal also I don't think the coolent seals go bad THAT quick.

You prolly just made this guys day since he wotn need a rebuild

xkhang146

so u guys are saying this isnt a cause from a bad coolant seal?
turbo coolant seal? so would that require a turbo rebuild?

heres some more info: the engine and turbo was rebuilt at the same time by a previous owner, approx. 30k miles on both

thanks

Go48

iTrader: (7)

Try these guys:
RotorSports Racing, 465 Russell Farm Rd , Kannapolis, NC 28081-7968
Phone: 704-933-6222

Cost of rebuild or reman can vary greatly depending on the shop doing the work, but you're looking at a few thousand at least. You can also ship your engine to RotaryResurrection (http://www.rotaryresurrection.com/) for a reasonably-priced rebuild or you can pay more and have it done "locally".

If you are mechanically inclined, you may want to do it yourself. This is a fairly simple engine and there are a number of DIY videos available that walk you through the process. Buy a video and see if it is something you would want to tackle. One such video on DVD can be had from www.rotaryaviation.com.

xkhang146

ok..tried the Fill coolant system ALL THE WAY UP (engine cold). Make sure that the fluid level is as high as you can get it. Leave the filler cap off. Remove the EGI fuse and crank. as Dr-Zine mentioned.

whenever i crank it, i can see coolant bubbling from the filler port.

the car still starts but smokes white.
dont know if its the engine or turbo

Sideways7

iTrader: (7)

I honestly don't know much about the turbo system, but it doesn't sound like you have a blown coolant seal in the engine. Withe a blown coolant seal, it will usually smoke like crazy on start until the coolant is burned off, then not really smoke any more. It would also cause the overflow tank to, well, overflow since the coolant system gets over pressurized from combustion gases.

xkhang146

well, when cranking the car on when cold, i does smoke like crazy. does the overflow tank overflow immediately?

xkhang146

yea i think this is prob the closest rotary shop.
but i would like to find out if it is something else before deciding the rebuild the engine.
thanks

xkhang146

i wouldnt know if the turbo coolant seal went bad. i does also alot smoke when cold. i dont believe the car overheated. when all this happened. the temp. gauge was only at 1/4. that should be normal temp.

Shainiac

iTrader: (7)

Sounds to me like an internal coolant seal failed.
The smoke you are seeing on start up is actually coolant that has seeped through the blown cool seal into the combustion chamber when the motor is off.
Ive gone through a couple motors with this problem and each one would smoke when left unattended for more than a couple minutes.
Also, when the motor is running, compression gasses leak into the coolant system and over pressurize things.
The most common symptom is a gushing coolant overflow.
Coolant is pushed out of the system and replaced with air, so the motor will begin to run hot also.

Depending on where the coolant seal failed and how bad it really is, these symptoms can vary a bit.

Osirus9

iTrader: (10)

I have pretty much the same problem. No smoke on start-up, then once the engine gets warm, tons of white smoke. I thought it was the turbo, but I just got a brand new BNR stage 4 and it still smokes. I looked at the secondary fill cap for "champagne bubbles" while the car was running and there was nothing. This is on a fresh rebuild and it started randomly during the winter.

xkhang146

so i will be probably gonna take it to the rotary shop sometime this week or next and have them check it out. more than likely im probably gonna need another engine rebuild if it is the engine coolant seals, huh?

cmanns

How's your oil pressure at idle? I had some low weight oil? When we changed the oil to proper weight the oil pressure now sits alil above 20 at idle and the smoking stopped, rarely smokes blue in high rpms now too.


Does the coolent gush out or do bubbles just come out? If its just bubbles I'd say its the turbo coolent seal (I wouldn't know) but I did alot of looking into blow coolent seal when my car was smoking badly, I saw a video example and it GUSHED out.

couldn't he remove the coolent from going into the turbo then start it and see if it smokes and if it doesnt then its the turbo? idk if you can do that but hey a suggestion lol

xkhang146

yeah...i checked and it just bubbles out of the filler, it doesnt gush out.
i also did notice just a little bit of smoke coming from around the turbo area when the car is on.
im not sure if its the turbo causing that or if it was just smoke out the exhaust being everywhere.

i dont get what u are meaning by this.
thanks anyways

Delicious

what he means is cutoff any coolant going to the turbo and start it and see if it smokes, and if it doesnt then its prob the turbo collant seal....


I dont know if thats right or if you can do that, but thats what he means

xkhang146

ok thanks for clearing that up for me.
i wouldnt have any idea how to do that...lol...cutting coolant from going to the turbo
well if it was the turbo coolant seal then would it also cause to smoke immediately when cranked cold or warm?

Shainiac

iTrader: (7)

The gushing coolant I was referring to was after driving the car.
When doing the bubble test by cranking the car, the water pump doesnt push enough water to actaully spew any coolant, thats what you can do it with the cap off.
As long as there is no air in the coolant system before hand (as in you just filled it and havent bled it), then any bubbles would indicate a blown coolant seal.

RX-7tII88

iTrader: (1)

My Car is doing exactly this, and pretty soon I am going to be stripping it down to figure out where it failed. I've been doing alot of searching. Anyway, I want to ask where the seals are that I could check first, maybe something that could eliminate me totally ripping the engine down. It has a recent rebuild, probably less than 10k miles.

Thanks,
Sean

Shainiac

iTrader: (7)

[QUOTE=RX-7tII88 maybe something that could eliminate me totally ripping the engine down. [/QUOTE]

Sorry to break it to ya, but the seals are internal. It is the inner coolant seal that always goes out .
There are 4 inner (orange) and 4 outer (black).
They are located within grooves on the face of each iron.
The problem when they go out is that they sometimes tend to take a piece of the iron with them.

Heres a pic of my last motor I tore down. The housing is just pivoted enough to see the iron, and it's kind of tricky to make out what your looking at if your not very familiar with the internals of these motors.



How this helps clarify a bit.

RX-7tII88

iTrader: (1)

Bah! I don't mind the work so much, just hope nothing is broken..

Shainiac

iTrader: (7)

Well, if it is, irons go for relatively cheap used.

xkhang146

ok well today i turned on the car let it sit for awhile. i noticed on the turbo it looks
like wet spots (i think it maybe coolant) along the lines toward the end of the turbo near the part connecting to the downpipe.

would this be any chance anything close to the turbo coolant seals?
and also cause it the smoke white as hell out the exhaust?

if it is the turbo coolant seal blown, then what would be needed to fix this?
maybe a turbo rebuild or new turbo?

im still hoping its not the engine...im freaking out!!!