I just bought my 91 rx7 last weekend, and the previous owner had it sitting outside for over a year. It has its problems which im aware of(needs a new clutch and brakes)i put the car in neutral since the clutch is to the ground and the engine has over 180,000km on it but it started first crank?!? Ofcourse white smoke came from the exhaust right away which im sure is from the carbon build up? I let the car sit idling and then about 10 minutes later smoke started coming from the passenger side in the engine bay. There is an exhaust leak so maybe that is it? The smoke did not smell sweet whatsoever so hopefully it isnt coolant. Im a new owner and the price was right with it also coming with another engine. If anyone can help me thatd be great!

 

"...smoke started coming from the passenger side in the engine bay"
With the engine running and the hood open, you should be able to get a lot closer to the source of the smoke.
This is not some mysterious internal malady...you have a leak of some sort manifesting itself on the outside of the engine and it should be pretty simple to find.
Besides the obvious water carriers- heater core return line, lower rad hose, etc.- you also have the thermowax hoses on the top of the block (and buried under the intake manifold) which could be leaking and running down onto the exhaust manifold.

Just use your eyes.

 

Could be something as simple as a seeping oil metering pump. The oil will settle on the engine and can burn off if some gets on the exhaust. I would let it run and see if the smoke continues or if it clears up. Inspect the area where the OMP bolts to the engine and see if its oil soaked.

 

Thanks for your replies! I will start it up today and see what happens.

 

[QUOTE=clokker;12354332]"...smoke started coming from the passenger side in the engine bay"

With the engine running and the hood open, you should be able to get a lot closer to the source of the smoke.
This is not some mysterious internal malady...you have a leak of some sort manifesting itself on the outside of the engine and it should be pretty simple to find.
Besides the obvious water carriers- heater core return line, lower rad hose, etc.- you also have the thermowax hoses on the top of the block (and buried under the intake manifold) which could be leaking and running down onto the exhaust manifold.

Just use your eyes.

I will do that today, I am brand new to these rotary engines. I had the hood open and seen where the snoke was so I just shut the car off not taking any risks. Thanks for your advice

 

Yeah, well, you don't have a rotary specific problem that we know of yet, so drop that mindset.
In fact, you'll find that about 95% of what you'll do with the RX has nothing at all to do with the engine and is basic Japanese car tech of the era.

Anyway, any engine can develop a leak and tracking it down is pretty much standard operating procedure.

 

Indeed, these engines are very easy to work on and finding leaks is no different than on any other engine. Keep us updated with what you find!