I am interested in a 1988 RX7 coupe with 125000 miles. Original owner says motor never opened up.

Owner says that sometimes there's a puff of white smoke when cranked. Not always, but sometimes. Is this a sign of major trouble to come?

Upgrades include strut tower brace, KYB 4-way/8-way adjustable shocks, cross-drilled rotors, Racing Beat headers, silencer/downpipe, K&R air filter, secondary exhaust ports wired open, CFC-free AC upgrade with auxillary fan. Blaupunkt CD. All synthetic fluids. Body and paint better than average, interior very clean, power windows, etc.

Price around $1700. Should I walk (or run) from this car?

 

It's leaking a bit of coolant into the combusion chambers. Could go a long time like this, could die next week. If it's been doing this for a while without getting much worse, it'll probably last a while.

 

Seller never mentioned adding coolant which I assume would be necessary if it were leaking into the combustion chambers. Is this a death sentence to the motor or an inexpensive fix?

 

Actually, there are plenty of rotarys out there that do this. Mine did just every so slightly and I never added coolant either. All it takes is a drop, really.

 

Well, owners trying to sell their cars usually exagerrate to their benefit... A puff might actually mean, covering the whole neighborhood... Anyways... after starting my car, sometimes it does the same thing, but its usually that its a bit flooded..

 

At this stage, its nothing to worry about. Theres no way to fix it other than a full rebuild, though. Until you start adding coolant everytime you fill up with gas, your ok.
Take my advice, though: If you start having to add a lot of coolant and you have thick white smoke when you start up, think about a rebuild. I let mine go too long and overheated the engine and ended up cracking the endplates around the coolant seals. I still had to get a rebuild, but they couldnt use the endplates.

 

Mines got a 145K miles on it. I got it for $300 There was clay-colored mud in the coolent passageways, among other things. I suggest dont buy it unless u want to go through the joys of rebuilding it. And I wouldn't pay that much.

 

1700 aint too bad, but its what I'd pay for a S5. What is it, a GXL?

 

Seems there is a wide range of what people think is an acceptable price for a 1988 RX7...the one I am looking at is a $1700 GXL with a 125,000 mile unopened motor.

I'd like to see what $300 gets you and what $4000 gets you!

This post was started with my "how bad is a puff of smoke on startup" question. Any thoughts or experiences will be appreciated.

On the other hand, if you know of a nice 1st or 2nd gen RX7 in Florida let me know!

Haven't owned an RX7 for about three years, thanks to this forum for getting me interested again.

 

^ yeah us rotor owners are notorious bargain hunters. But typically the ones to be had under 1k usually need some work before they are daily drivable.
Check out the thread I started about how much we purchased our 7's for.

 

A puff of smoke at startup is NORMAL and is not necessarilly a sign of any engine trouble!!!

Mine started to puff at 100K, now at 200K it still does the same thing.

 

hey i know u! i went to check out that yellow terd u were selling, ended up buyign a vert on my way home,, sorry i wouldnt give a grand for ur ride

 

if its a small puff then its usually normal. do the hold at 4k test that is a more telling sign

 

Mine has ~10,000 miles on a rebuild and it does this every morning.

 

BACK FROM THE DEAD
mine startes when i put the turbo on it..espically with the tII ecu... im guessing its either runnin really rich (10.1) or the turbo is about shot....

 

I met a guy who bought an '87 sport for $600 - it came with 5 lug rims and a blown dowel pin seal on the engine... $600 has cost him a quart.5 of oil a day until he can rebuild.

My car puffs white / grey when started cold. Some is prolly a rich mixture and the rest is prolly the condensate that collects in my exhaust as it cools. ~rich