help! white smoke out of engine bay
 

Hey, I just finished replaceing my drivebelts today, and started the engine to see how it goes. Engine turns on fine, but after a few minutes, white smoke started to come out of the engine bay, as I look under my car, I also saw smoke comming out of the catalyst converter, and exhaust, but Isnt rotary's supposed to smoke during cold starts? but my main concern is the smoke out of the engine bay. What could this be?

It could be a number of things, generally white smoke that smells sweet is coolant. But i cant see why it would start after you changed your belts.

it smells like gas smoke. And my car's been always smoking on cold starts, So I thought it was common for rotary's to smoke out of the exhaust when cold. But this time I had the hood open and saw smoke comming out of the header's area of the engine bay, and I also saw smoke comming out of the cat converter. :confused:

you probably have a leaky hose

as the engine warms up

whatever is leaking starts to burn as it comes in contact with the block

i bet its coolant from a heater hose...

Is it a turbo model? The turbo models have coolant passages that pass from the housings, into the lower intake manifold. When you bolt on the lower intake manifold, there are two o-rings, one for each passage, that seal the coolant that passes through. If the o-rings are bad, then they leak, and when they leak they drip right onto the exhaust manifold, creating white smoke. Even a drop ever couple seconds will make a noticable amount of smoke.

There are other things to. If its oil burning, it could be the turbo oil lines (gaskets) are gone, or that the oil injector copper crush washers are failing, or the banjo bolts are lose, causing oil to seep down the block, down to the exhaust manifold.

I think honestly with any high milage seven, the best thing to do is a full intake/exhaust manifold gasket rebuild. Take all the parts off, have them cleaned, and buy a gasket kit from atkinsrotary for 180 bones to replace all gaskets.
Not exactly the easiest thing to do, especially if you know nothing about the seven, but for me, its the first thing im doing when I get another one. Just assures a longer life with even fewer hiccups down the road.

it's a non turbo model. 1991, with 108k. After the warmup, the smoke goes away though. My car has always been smoking during warmups when its not driven for a few days, but never seen smoke comming out of the engine bay area.

theres smoke coming outa my engine bay too. Gona take it to the shop in a couple a days.

The smoke comes out after like it fully warms up. It smells like exaust. its spewing out near my turbo. ill tell you what my mechanic tells me.