i have an 88 se and for some reason it wont start...it turns over and sounds like its gonna start but it wont and a little bit of white smoke comes out the exhaust but i noticed it smelled a little funny?....anyone know whats goin on?

 

if it smells sweet, it's coolant. That's not good at all. It's probably a vacuum leak somewhere. I had the same problem a little while back (no smoke, though).

 

I would say its a possibilty you coolant seals have gone bad and are leaking coolant into the cumbusten chambers. If its your original motor it could be time for a rebuild. It could be flooded as well. Try to pull the main fuse and turn it over with the gas pedal down. Put the fuse back in and try and start it. If that dosent work, pull the spark plugs and clean them. There's a good chance they will smell like gas. turn the car over without the plugs. This will get the fuel out of the chambers. Make sure you leave the main fuse out so it dosent spark. Then try to start the car. After that I really dont know.

 

bro i have the same exact problem!!.. i was driving the other day and my car backfired 3 times and just turned off on me.. i can tell the motor is flooded bcuz u can smell it.. and wen i start the car (which is very hard) i have 2 hold the gas pedal down.. and wen it starts it begins let out white smoke from the exhaust.. ima try 2 do wat u said dave thanks..

 

I dont mean to be the grim reaper but I just had my engine rebuilt. It worked for a while but plan on a rebuild down the road. I did get 150,000 out of my original so I cant complain. Good luck guys.

 

Same thing happened to mine when I blew mine. I had oil AND coolant in the engine! Time for a rebuild bro-ski.

 

thanks guys.. my engine has 112k miles on it.. do u guys recommend i rebuild the n/a or go turbo?

 

Thats up to you. If you are not sure I would get it checked by a skilled rotary mechanic. just to make sure its blown or going. It will cost more for a turbo upgrade. DONE THE RIGHT WAY!! (just wanted to save some retorts from the masses) I just had a rebuilt installed for $2500. I do have the t2 tranny and rear end. The motor I had installed is turbo ready. Just need the cash. It's up to you if you want more power get a t2 engine rebuild. You will need the T2 tranny, rear and clutch to make it operational. You can do the rest later. T2 tranny is better. The gear ratio is higher, no need to downshift to pass someone on the highway. Also, it's durable as hell.

 

so its got bad water seals?...how much is that gonna run to get it rebuilt if i did it my self? and is there any temporary thing i can do to fix it? im hurtin bad if you know what i mean lol

 

blown water seal? T2, have you done a bubble check?

Instead of pulling plugs if you are flooded, just pull eci inj fuse, and crank for 10 secs, will blow all the flooding out.

I was also thinking based on some coolant and starting issues (white smoke) that I was blown. 88 has a starting issue, when at operating temp will only start at WOT. 10 bucks for some injector cleaner - solved? Not exactly, but it starts a heck of a lot better and with a lot less smoke.
...
Just my 2 pennies...

 

Probably just flooded. And no need to pull fuses or spark plugs. To clear the flood on all but the most radically flooded rotary engines, you simply hold the gas all the way down while cranking.

Do not ever pump the gas pedal on a Rotary engine double more so when starting a flooded (too much gas) rotary engine.

And the people in this thread that suggested he rebuild his motor, without even a compression check should not be posting at all. Post bad information such as that is against 2nd gen technical section rules and can result in banning.

 

i had this same problem (coupled with hard starting that became worse). a compression test was done prior to teardown, the car wasn't making enough compression to start on two of the rotor faces per rotor. a teardown showed the apex seals had carbon locked.

the deflodding procedure that icemark suggested only works on s5's, not s4's. however, try the manual deflooding procedure. also check to make sure you have the holy trinity: spark, fuel, and compression.

 

thats funny!

One way to be certain about the coolant seal before you tear down is to smell the oil on the dip stick. If it smells like anything other than oil, you've got some internal problems that need to be addressed.

 

No again, that is incorrect. It works fine on S4 models as well (and fuel injected S3 models too).

Please read the owners manual. Gee, Mazda says in the S4 owners manual the same exact proceedure... So does that mean that Mazda screwed up by publishing how to de-flood 4 years before the S5 models even came out.


If this thread keeps getting so much mis-information it will be closed. DO NOT POST IF YOU DO NOT KNOW.

 

ok i read the second last post before mine and i thought when it was flooded the oil will smell like gas, if someone could correct me i would be greatly appreciated.

 

You guys REALLY need to listen to Ice on this one. It is probably just flooded. I took mine to a dealer when this happened to me the first time. They told me that my engine was gone and that I needed a rebuild. I got about 80k more miles outa that engine before it DID finally die.

Check the FAQ for how to clear the flood. If it starts to happen a little more often, then put in a fuel kill switch, or get a Rtek chip. (switch is cheaper) I drove every day for about 3 years having to use the fuel cut switch to start it when ever it was warm. Hell I still have to hit a switch to start it now (different flooding problem) but it is fine.

Un flood it for now and see if it does it again any time soon. Remember how you unflooded it so if it happens again you won't be stranded.

Good luck

 

Often a side effect of flooding is that the oil will smell more like gasoline. However Flooding will not always result in the oil getting diluted.

 

ok i havent done any of this stuff you guys have said but just to refresh everything so it doesnt go in the wrong direction...its an 1988 se 13b n/a and the problem is i stoped at a gas station one day and came back out and it wouldnt start no matter what i did so i gave up for awhile...after a few months i start messin with it again and when i turn it over it just sounds like its gonna start but never does like its not getting spark or something and while im turning it over i little bit of white smoke comes out the exhaust (BARELY ANY) and i noticed it smelled i little funny so i had this crazzy idea to pull one of the spark plugs and have a friend turn it over while i hold a lighter to the spark plug hole (dumb i know) but nothin happen so im stuck...any ideas? i would really appreciate it

 

Its flooded, check the FAQ for the fix.

 

ok nice thats awesome news....so how do i de-flood it?

 

In the FAQ for FC sticky thread found at the top of this section, it covers how to clear a flooded car.

The simpliest method is simply holding the gas pedal all the way down (without lifting or pumping at all) while cranking.

That is the factory method as outlined by the owners manual found in all '84 and later fuel injected rotary engines.

If the engine is radically flooded, then you can remove the EFI fuse and crank to clear the flood, clean or replace the spark plugs, then start normally. But this method should be the last resort, as 99% of the flooded motors will be cleared simply by holding the accell pedal all the way down while cranking, regardless of series of rotary powered car.

 

where is the efi fuse located?

 

stand over your driver side fender, and look directly down... should be a fuse box right in front of you.

Ice is soo right on this one... i have s4 tii, same way i deflood mine.

 

ok i took the EFI fuse out and de-flooded it and put new plugs in it and finally got it started!but after i got it runin, it runs like ****!...i have never seen so much white smoke in my life and i took it down the street and it had NO power whats so ever, i would floor it and it barely go. and when i brought it back in it was over heated...is it still flooded?

 

Not if it overheated.

If it overheated, you need to do a compression check to check motor condition.

But the motor is probably history if it overheated