bigfish13515

i will set the background for you. My 91 non turbo 7 has now 75,230 miles on it. Since the beginning of the year, here have been some real issues happening with it. One day out of the blue, the add coolant light came on, and you all know how annoying those are. So i pulled over and checked the overflow reservoir and radiator, both full. So i disregarded it. Over the next month, the add coolant light would go on about 5-8 times when i drove it every day, and i was only driving it 5-20 miles. Also at this time, my car was having a bad smoking problem when i started it, it might have had some to do with the cold weather of santa rosa (north of san francisco) but i wasnt sure. Lastly, there was a very high and rough idle for the first 10 minutes i was driving it (some more background info, when i drove it up from home in san diego beginning of january, my car would idle at 1500-2500 rpm, this is after driving for 3-4 hours on the freeway, it was rather odd). I took it to a guy who only works on rx-7's and miatas and he was very adamant on a new motor, and i wasnt very pleased with that being the only solution. So i took it to another guy who said he worked on it all day to fix the idle and he did, it is back to normal now. Both of the guys said something about the apex seals, and i also called a guy in california and he said apex seals as well, but the car was driveable without a problem, that i just had to be worried about smog. So anyways, one day, the add coolant light went away, and it was gone for about two months, and then one night i decided to put part of my original intake back on to make a cold air box (i have an aftermarket intake), and it must have done something because the add coolant light would go off about 15-20 times in a 10 mile span. So i took the piece of plastic that directs air to the factory air box off and the problem with the add coolant light went away. Also, for the past few weeks so, when i start the car, i have to give it a lot of gas immediately or sometimes it will die, or it really sounds like it will. Also, every time i start the car, even after warm, it smokes, and it smells like gasoline. It smokes a lot after it has sat for a couple of days. Yesterday i had a scare though, i was in a parking lot and had only let my car sit for about 15 minutes, and when i came out to start it, it wouldnt start. It normally takes about 3-4 cranks before it turns over, and it just wasnt going. I let it sit for a minute or so, and tried it again. I did this about 4 or 5 times. The battery was fine, no corrosion or anything, so i tried starting it again and this time just kept the key all the way turned, and kept pumping the gas, and it turned over after about 10 seconds. I dont know if it is the alternator, i am really not that mechanically inclined. The thought still keeps roaming in my head of a new engine. SInce then i have started my car a few times now and still, it takes aboutten seconds for the car to turn over, followed by a big puff of smoke. So my questions are: Does andone have any ideas that could help? If it is apex seals, is an engine rebuild in the future for me? If so, are there any people in san fran area that people have gone to before that they trust, or rather, if people in this area have done them before and would like to do one again with me I know FC3S.org has used J-spec engines for pretty cheap, but i still dont want to jump the gun here, ANY advice anyone has would be great, thanks!!!

~eric

Wankel7

That wire for the coolant buzzer runs by the intake. I would trace along that wire and look for a break.

JAmes

HuggyBear

well if its cranking over its likely not the alternator.

if your worried about a new engine or any selas gone take it to a mazda guy and have it compression tested. or take it to your local 7 guy. also what color is the smoke when it comes out. white or blue. i believe blue is running rich, and white is burning oil.

and id put that funnel going off the airbox back on, you dont want to suck in hot engine air. youll see all that in the way where its "designed" to suck cold air up from the the front of the car. you can take all that plastic crap out, it serves no purpose and ull get more cool air flowing that area to be used.

if its just running rich it should be a matter of making an adjustment under the hood thatl take a couple minutes. if its burning oil like mad youv probly got a bad seal in there. hard to say.

hopefully you got a couple of ideas to help you out now.

seveninphilly

iTrader: (7)

White is coolant

HuggyBear

how would coolent get into your rotars to shoot out the back as exhaust?

turbotwista

blue smoke is when you are buring oil.

It sounds like your engine is having a problem with compression one of the things that I have read is if the car is hard to start after running for a while (like shut it off wait five min. then start it back up) if it doesn't crank right over than you apex seals are about to go. I would have a compression check done to make sure. Also the gas smell is it form the exhaust or under the hood? If under the hood check your PD they have a tendecy to leak and start engine fires. Well hope it is something stupid like a vacuum line GOOD LUCK

Roy James

If you have a bad coolant seal/coolant o-ring the pressure from the coolant system could leak coolant into the combustions chamber or the rotor housing and when the engine fires up it burns it out as a white smoke. black is rich, blue is oil.... damn there needs to be a write up on this... correct me if im wrong

HAILERS

Of no help to the author, but the blue, white smoke thing........I know what you are saying, but in my opinion its not a reliable method, because.......each engine that I rebuilt, when started, billowed huge clouds of white smoke that did not end for thirty minutes or more due to an excessive amount of oil and vaseline that I slather on the innards. White smoke. CAn't see the house across the street kinda white smoke. A fellow named Green has seen the same thing when he rebuilt his engine and his buddy had put the oil control rings in backwards. He posted a picture of huge amounts of white smoke. Black smoke.....too rich. Blue smoke...oil. White smoke.. oil or gas, or water, your choice. Just my thoughts and observations. Not being argumenative, just what I've seen in the past. There is one piece of advice for ERIC. I am of the understanding that a 91 model car can be unflooded by holding the gas pedal fully to the floor and cranking. Thats not so on 86-88, but is true for your car. Pumping isn't something that you should do. Just hold the pedal firmly to the floor. Here's hoping someone will pipe in and say that is a true statement. I only have 86 thru 88, which cannot be unflooded in that manner. Also I doubt very much bad apex seals would have cause a high idle after your long trip. Would do just the oppostite. Sounds like you need a tuneup by a reliable person with knowledge.

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

People need to realise that it's not white smoke, but white steam that signals burning coolant....

FWIW, blue=oil, black=fuel, white (steam)=coolant.

As for the problems with your car, can you perhaps post it in a point form list, or something more easily understandable? Huge run on paragraphs with little punctuation and poor capatilization are very hard to understand, and will make most readers turn away...

This is just a wide guess (since I was unable to understand what you were trying to say) but it sounds like you may have an intake leak (vacuum hose), stuck injectors and a bad coolant sensor.

Of course, it may also be coolant seals that are dead or dying...What does this white smoke smell like?

Roy James

Accually... Steam is an invisible gas, the whiteness you see is accually water vapor

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

LOL...True....

Cardiovoid

Hi,
My 1990 GTU is putting out a light colored smoke the stinks of fuel and raw fuel manages it's way out the exhuast pipe.
I checked the plugs, and it looks like the back rotor's plugs are not firing (they look like new).

It seems unlikely that part of the lead coil and part of the trailing coil would go out. Does something send a signal to the coils to tell them when to fire?

Or is this a sign of a bad seal resulting in no compression and the rotor not firing?

Thanks,

Cardio