Odd White Smoking
 

My car smokes alot when i start it and idle its thick white but when i hit it it stops pretty much compleatly, only starts to smoke again when I let off do u think its my seals?or my turbo?

Search around, I remember someone posting an example of blown coolant seals. The smoke was white and really thick, way beyond just condensation. If it's black, then it's oil. but you only usually see that when boosting, if it's your turbos.

It does smoke a little black smoke when on the turbos but that just excess gas. I just recently put a midpipe (cat-delete) on and it started smoking thick white smoke alot????? I wonder what it is?

white = coolant
black = running rich
grey = oil burn through turbocharger or engine oil in combustion

on start up - say, 30 seconds of condensation is ok... beyond that, and in your case, your coolant seals are probably going. stop driving it and getting 'on it' now to avoid overheating and warping you engine - that'd make it useless for rebuild.

is it an easy fix

Depends.IF your coolant seal is done then r to the e build.

If it is coolant seals, fixing it requires a rebuild, since the engine has to come completely apart to properly fix it.

Search for "coolant loss" or similar threads to see what else can cause your symptoms, and possible temporary fixes, such as block sealers.

Also alot of the time when I shift the car will backfire pretty good??? Dont know if that has anything to do with it....

you drive a rotary with a midpipe and i assume no airpump?
backfiring is normal in that configuration.

by the way... when you increase RPM and airflow air is pushing into the coolant system rather than the other way around. this is why when you get to decent rpm the smoke stops.

odds on, your engine needs a build... may as well get on to it.

i don't think the 30 second rule is proven. depending on temperature and humidity a t the time of startup the "smoke" will either be lighter/thicker and vary in time.

Does the white smoke smell sweet? Has your low coolant light come on? Have you checked your coolant level?

I hate to say it, but it sounds like your seals are going out. My car blew thick white smoke on start-up when my seals were gone.

Do a search for:

"bubble test" for a good way to test to see if your coolant seals are shot.
"block-weld" or "O-ring fix"for a last ditch effort fix to buy you some time before you have to spring for a full rebuild of you motor.

Good luck!

isn't hydrocarbon test better? everyone mentions the bubble test, compression test, watching the smoke, smelling the smoke. but hydrocarbon test is the only test that will give 100% results isn't it? or is it not as accurate as im making it out to be

I just resolved my bit of extra white smoke problem. Turned out to be blooked coolant lines that go up to the auto choke. Both intaking and outgoing coolant pipees where clocked. This resulted in my rotary never ideling right so extra fuel was being mix with the gas. This is where the smoke came from. Now my care runs fine in all departments.

ya my car has been rough idling and ill check all my coolant lines but where is the auto choke at so i can check it out first.

The chocke is locakted just behind the upper manifold. If you are looking from the front it is at its right. You will see a coolant line going to it. To see if it is bolcked just remove it a start the car. If coolant does not run through it it might be blocked.

Also I change the whole tempreture sensor there because it was blocked too. After I also found out the the return pipe was blocked too. This is located under the intake elbow which from the intercooler goest to the upper manifold. You will have to remove the elbow to check it out.

All this work was done with my specialist thought remember. I do not have a photo at the moment but I will try to find one if you want.

After fixing all the smoke disappeared and the car now idels perfectly at 850rpm every time. The blockage was caused by the accumulated rust due to the car being on stop for a long time before I bought it.

i had that same problem i think it would be your seals i first ruin one of the turbos cause the car ran out of oil. it was consuming alot of oil the day before i put two quarts in. Then we put new turbos in and i had a hole in a hose, i forget were it was but it was leaking boost and would make the BOV sound when i let off the gas. *sigh* i miss that sound. well anyways we fixed that and then the engine was getting full boost. then the engine seals blew, because the no oil weakened the engine. also it scortched my rear rotor housing so i gotta get another rear rotor housing, but hey i get a souvenir to hang on the wall :)