Smokin 2nd Gen
 

To me the car smells rich, but now im convinced its burning more oil than usual and its smoking a lot as of recent as well.

Add 2 quarts of oil in 2 weeks time frame. Car smokes mostly when first started. After the car get to running temp it doesnt seem to smoke as bad or in most cases stops smoking all together. Whats seems wierd to me is it smokes real bad when accelerating through 2nd gear. 1st doesnt seem to smoke, but once I hit second a it smokes real bad till I hit third. Then stops smoking again once I'm to 3rd. Again once the car seems to get up to temp the smoking stops or if it does smoke does so very little.

The smoke it white in color. Coolant levels arent drop and gas mileage isnt decreasing, but is eating oil pretty good.

Almost forgot. Second Gen 89 GXL N/A

it sounds like it could be the side seals ... but that's just my first thought. don't condemn them until we've exhausted all other options.

for starters, answer these questions:
how many miles?
has the car ever overheated?
how easy is it to start when hot?

The car has 147,000 miles on it.
To my knowledge the car has never been over heated. I did know the previous owner and she took very good care of the car and she never mentioned it ever heating.
The car starts easy rather its cold or hot. Only time it ever has trouble is if say I pule it out of the garage to give it a bath and turn it right off. It will general flood when I do that. Other than that. No starting problems.

Pretty similar to my issues.

Take a look at your plugs, are they coated with oil? Try starting the car up, shut it off as soon as it is somewhat warm and smoking... does smoke STILL come out of the tailpipes after the car is shut down?

I havent looked at the plugs yet, but the car doesnt continue to smoke onces its turned off. It smokes right at first start. A small puff of smoke. Done that since I've owned. Its not till I hit second gear while driving the car that it starts smoking again. I can start the car and let it idle and it won't smoke. It only happens when I hit second. Sometimes I wonder if the clutch is causing the problem as dumb as it sounds. Its the original clutch that came in the car and it is shot. I have the replacement clutch ordered. Just waiting for it to get in. I'll check the plugs tomorrow to see what they look like. I'm not to worried about the engine. I'm in the process of building and engine for it right now. I just need the current engine to last till I can replace it with the new one.

Then I need to decide what to do with the old one. I might rebuild it too and save it as a spare race engine.

Ok, the spark plugs are dry, but I'd say my oil issue may have been found. I now have oil all over the inside of the engine bay. The car is parked now. Any ideas on where to start looking.

Check the oil pellet. Also, drain your oil and check it out. Some times the oil gets really thin if u do not change it. Thus allowing it to seap out easier....making smoke. If not then your oil control rings are shot.

If the smoke is black it probably fuel.

Check fuel pressure
Check to see if u might have a leaky injector
Check to see if MPG is crappy.
Check O2 sensor.

No its not the clutch.

I finally found the problem. Its at the thermal pellet. The parts came in today. Should be fixed here in the next couple of days.

What was the problem?
 

What exactly was the problem, 'cause my '86 GXL is doing almost the exact same thing. Was it just the thermal pellet gone bad?

Well I thought it was the thermal pellet, but its still doing it after replacing it. Probably the only fix is to rebuild the engine.

if it smokes when first started its your OIL CONTROL RINGS... I saw a rebuild with FC3S.ORG with DAVE AND CRAIG... if the OIL CONTROL RING is bad it seaps oil in the chamber while its at rest... then when you hit 2nd gear its probably with your OMP... its pumping too much oil in there... just rebuild the motor and get a brand new OMP...

Oil control orings are shot, it's rebuild time. Had that problem with my last motor, last time I experiment with other people orings instead of stock mazda replacement. Mine start to smoke after 35k on the last rebuild and when i took it apart, the oil control orings were shot, very hard and brittle, won't mention were I got the orings from.

Is there anything I can do to get the oil control rings to last a little longer until I can get my spare engine done. Something to soften them up a little bit.

put some mmo in ur oil and run 20w50...what im doing until i can afford a rebuild....helps mine a lot...

-Pat