Morning all,

When I start my 7 and drive it while cold, it smokes grayish white. Once warm is does not smoke!

Oh yeah the car has no cats....any help would greatly appreciated

One more thing when I turn my wheels sharply, I hear a clunking sound...thanks again

 

Yeah, that's normal for a rotary, few minutes of smoke is OK,

The clunking sound comes from you power stearing, make sure you got enough oil in it, my PS is doing the same thing for a while now, it got plenty of oil but the rack and pinion is gonna need to be replaced soon or later...

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks for the reply I was hoping that was the case.

Do you know how much it is to replace the rack and pinion?

 

I have these exact problems too, I usually smoke in the cold for 5 minutes or so though but after it warms up its fine. Is 5 minutes safe or is there something I should look into? I know its running really rich.

 

Mine smoked when i first got it, after a month or so of driving it regularily it went away. Maybe cause you park it outside and it gets alot of moisture?

 

I'm with slimXP here, I have the same problem... 5 minutes of smoke, and considering I average 10 miles/gal I would say I'm running quite rich too (new o2 to go in when the DP goes in).

Here's one piece of advice I got off the forum, and I'm not sure if it applies to you, but my car also idles over 2000 until it gets warm and that makes for even more smoke. Someone here said to start it in gear and just leave your foot on the clutch for the first 30 seconds of starting it. If I do this it idles normal and of course it puts out less smoke.

 

I don't know how much it will cost to buy and replace the rack and pinion but we'll find out when it gets messed up...

4-5 minutes of smoke warming up is perfectly normal, my car smokes even up 10-15 m. when is realy cold and I didn't start it for few days.

 

Thanks guys for the replies. I will hold the clutch in and see if that helps. No one knows about the cost of R and P. Looks like I may be the 1st to find out

 

You don't need to hold your foot on the clutch for 30 sec. to disable the accelerated warm-up, all you got to do is start your car in 3rd gear (of course you need to press the clutch) and once the car turns on just throw it on neutral and remove your foot from the clutch...

 

I see alot of smoke on these cold NY days, but the car is parked outside and not used every day. I always hit a traffic light 2 minutes from my house and feel bad for whoever is behind me.