So I'm so confused on what is happening I have a na 88 vert with 126k original miles and it's ran fine in the past but now in the last 2 months it sounds so bad on idle. For what's happening if I let it sit any longer than say 5 days and attempt to start it, it will start but sound like a wrx crying, I'll have white smoke that smells horribly like gas and the idle will be between 200-600 and will try it's hardest to cut but if I give it just a little bit of gas and let it idle at say 500 rpm it will start to jump in rpms (200 to 500 then 500 to 800) then it will catch and smooth out at 1000-1200 like it's just starting to get fuel or something then it will run perfect after that???? I can drive it and shut it off and start it right back up with no issues at all, any ideas on what's happening? Any ideas even the smallest will be of help

What I've done so far...

Changed spark plugs.

De-flooded it multiple times in hope of it just being leaking injectors.

Listened for compression (no real one just yet).

Put New gas in it.

Comp checked the rad to see if I had blown a coolant seal

At this point I'm just so confused on whats going on idk if it's just a blown apex or side seal that's expanding and creating compression after idle or it just something else that's blowing my head open

 

The white smoke and smell of fuel after sitting for an "Extended period of time" but then cleans up after revving with no loss of power leads me to believe you have a small coolant seal failure. The revving allows the chamber to be cleared out and fires right back up after thermal expansion. The rough low idle leads me to believe the fuel is being mixed with the coolant from sitting causing the smoke/incomplete burn. I would expect this problem to get progressively worse until you start seeing blow by into the coolant systems, as too much of the seal is gone to be closed up by the thermal expansion of the irons and housings.

 

Thanks for the quick response, any way to do a temp fix for the coolant seal bf I replace it? I've heard of some sealers and stuff but I've also they can damage the engine so any suggestions?

 

There are a number of coolant seal type products but I haven't seen anyone report good results and some can lead to other small passageways becoming clogged up. The least harmful one I've heard of is ground pepper. I had a similar problem 5 years ago and the engine made it 4000 miles before the seals, one each chamber, became so bad that the car would overheat within 15 miles of driving as the coolant was being forced out the overflow and overflowing the coolant expansion rank. During that time the bad start / idle problem kept getting worse and then top end started stumbling also. Earlier signs were the coolant sensor going off during startup and the coolant be low by ounces, then cups, then pints, etc. No other problems were found during the rebuild and during disassembly a large amount of water was in each chamber.