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Is my car burning coolant? (video)

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Old Nov 11, 2003 | 09:37 PM
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From: Owego NY
Is my car burning coolant? (video)

I just put a motor in my 86 from a parts car I had.


The motor was sitting in my parts car for an unknown amount of time.

I then put it in my 86 and got it running. It has been there for a few months and I have been running it every once and a while.

The motor has no OMP and I am running pre mix. A full tank of pre mix (16 ounces of 2-stroke oil and a full tank of gas) has been in the car for the past three or so months.

The car has no catalytic converters.

The smoke has been gradually getting worse.

http://www.rit.edu/~jar5968/Mvi_0009.avi

The smoke does NOT smell like coolant.

What could it be?

Thanks,
Jason
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Old Nov 11, 2003 | 09:52 PM
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The Only SlidinRX7
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Well I hate to say it, but that's what my car was doing when I blew my motor. Before that though, the water seals broke and was leaking coolant into the motor big time. For a quick fix I used some block weld and the problem went away. I'll try and find some old footage of my car blowing smoke, that way you can compare.
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Old Nov 11, 2003 | 10:06 PM
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From: Owego NY
Originally posted by SlidinRX7
Well I hate to say it, but that's what my car was doing when I blew my motor. Before that though, the water seals broke and was leaking coolant into the motor big time. For a quick fix I used some block weld and the problem went away. I'll try and find some old footage of my car blowing smoke, that way you can compare.
What did it smell like?
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Old Nov 11, 2003 | 10:26 PM
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looks like you could be leaking coolant? check all lines and seals for leaks. after ran turn off motor and squeex lightly on the coolant line to see if any thing is visably leaking.
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Old Nov 11, 2003 | 10:48 PM
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Looks like it's burning oil to me...
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Old Nov 11, 2003 | 10:51 PM
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Remove your leading spark plugs and see what theyre covered in.
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Old Nov 16, 2003 | 10:02 PM
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From: Owego NY
Originally posted by wan
Remove your leading spark plugs and see what theyre covered in.
Good idea.

I tried it. There was no Coolant on the plugs.

I did not notice an excessive amount of oil on them either. If anything, just a lot of fuel.

Could the car just be running really rich?

...And if it is burning engine oil, where could it be coming from?

Some more info on the engine:
It is an S5 motor made to work on an s4.
Resistor Pak bypassed
OMP removed

It runs like crap when it is cold (runs rough and the idle will fluctuate.)
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Old Nov 16, 2003 | 10:36 PM
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check the TPS, it may be bad.
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Old Nov 17, 2003 | 08:35 AM
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From: Owego NY
Originally posted by ViperKillerWannabe
check the TPS, it may be bad.
According to the FSM, the TPS is within spec. (although, it is a fairly broad spec.).
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Old Nov 17, 2003 | 04:00 PM
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From: Owego NY
Anyone know what it could be?
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Old Nov 17, 2003 | 04:09 PM
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Sweet smell = coolant

Check out http://www.aaroncake.net/rx-7/cooling.htm for a rundown on how to test for internal coolant leaks.

Could be alot of things...What does it smell like?
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Old Nov 17, 2003 | 11:35 PM
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From: Owego NY
It doesn’t smell like coolant. But it isn't blue like I would suspect oil to be.

If I where to guess, it smells more like oil, but I can't be certain.

It does not have exhaust gasses in the coolant that I can tell (My last motor did though. That is why I replaced it with this one). Thanks for the link. I’ll give it a closer look tomorrow.

Could premix start to settle after a couple of months?
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Old Nov 18, 2003 | 01:20 AM
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I had blown coolant seal once and I used some of that "Stop Leak" stuff for radiators. It was a good patch for the problem til I had everything I need to rebuild the motor. Before I used it, the car would not start if it sat overnight because the coolant would flood it. I would have to pull the fuel injector relay and crank the engine to blow all the coolant out, then try to start it normally. If I pulled the spark plugs they were covered in coolant. I was sure it was a coolant leak and as soon as I used the stop leak, all the problems went away.

Since you are not 100% sure what the problem is, this is what I would do. Get a bottle of stop leak from walmart. Get the one that is designed for a 4 cylinder engine. Put it into your coolant system as instructed on the bottle. Drive the car around for about a bit and see if the smoke goes away. If it does, you know you've got a broken coolant seal. If the smoke does not go away, then it is oil from the oil control rings on the rotor.
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Old Nov 18, 2003 | 02:44 AM
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looks like its gonna blow to me, isnt smoking the common side effects of a motor about to go out?
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Old Dec 17, 2003 | 10:15 PM
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From: Owego NY
I’m going to bring this one back from the dead.

I am pretty sure it is oil, but for the time being, lets just say it IS oil.

Can anyone tell me where the oil is getting in to the combustion chamber?

And, if I continue to drive it like this, is it going to do anything to be motor besides fowl plugs?

Do you think the motor has another summer left in it?
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Old Dec 17, 2003 | 11:08 PM
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If it is oil, then it is most likely oil o-rings that are leaking, as I can't think of any other way for oil to get into the combustion chamber. I am not 100% sure, but I don't think it'd do too much harm to the engine.
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