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Old Mar 22, 2023 | 09:06 PM
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Edgar Garcia's Avatar
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white smoke

hey guy I have a rx7 1988 when I turn her on she blows white smoke alot I think it might be the apex seals but I dont feel less power but I also think it could be my coolant seals on my engine. Could someone help me out
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Old Mar 23, 2023 | 05:33 AM
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Originally Posted by Edgar Garcia
hey guy I have a rx7 1988 when I turn her on she blows white smoke alot I think it might be the apex seals but I dont feel less power but I also think it could be my coolant seals on my engine. Could someone help me out
You need an engine rebuild, any experienced mechanic should be able to diagnose that as coolant seal failure.
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Old Mar 25, 2023 | 12:59 PM
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From: Mommy’s basement
White smoke usually means one may have a water seal leak. Blue smoke usually means burnt oil possibly Apex seals. Yours does not sound like Apex seal failure to me.
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Old Mar 26, 2023 | 11:25 PM
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I had the same issue, the longer it sat between starting the more white smoke it would poor out. I pulled the engine down and it was a coolant leak. If yours is doing the same then you should look into coolant leak issues.
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Old Mar 28, 2023 | 03:27 AM
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rebuild the engine
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Old Mar 28, 2023 | 11:07 AM
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Originally Posted by Laura78
rebuild the engine
meaning you’ll tear down the engine and see what’s usable and will probably need at least one new or used iron.
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Old Mar 31, 2023 | 08:18 AM
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welcome to the board.

as has been said already, it's probably your coolant seals.

other things to use to confirm are:
- coolant loss (with or without signs of a leak),
- sweet-smelling exhaust while smoking,
- excess pressure in the cooling system while the engine is running,
- exhaust (combustion products) in the coolant,
- coolant in the chambers (remove the exhaust manifold and turn the engine by hand),
- coolant in your oil and/or vice versa.

keep in mind, they don't all have to be present.
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Old Mar 31, 2023 | 09:00 AM
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From: Mom’s basement
wait... I had an FC with 170k. would smoke like the devil when you first started it up.... ran strong...even the rx7 guy I sold it to was impressed.

oil rings I think i was tp;d...but it had no bearing on the engine other than burning some oil.
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Old Mar 31, 2023 | 06:35 PM
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From: san diego
Originally Posted by ATC529R
wait... I had an FC with 170k. would smoke like the devil when you first started it up.... ran strong...even the rx7 guy I sold it to was impressed.

oil rings I think i was tp;d...but it had no bearing on the engine other than burning some oil.
I understand why you said this, but this is not the same trade-off scenario. Burning oil is less detrimental than burning coolant. Burning coolant can obviously lead to overheating, but also deterioration of the irons. Either a coolant seal has broken and/or the iron has worn/eroded.

Even when building an engine, compression seal gaps can be loosened to allow for higher temps and power in trade off for burning oil.

Sure the engine might smoke like crazy when cold with blown coolant seals, then stop smoking when warm and still have the same power level, but internal deterioration is occurring. The same is not said about oil seals.

I just wanted to make this clear to not mislead the OP.
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Old Mar 31, 2023 | 08:09 PM
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From: Mom’s basement
Originally Posted by DR_Knight
I understand why you said this, but this is not the same trade-off scenario. Burning oil is less detrimental than burning coolant. Burning coolant can obviously lead to overheating, but also deterioration of the irons. Either a coolant seal has broken and/or the iron has worn/eroded.

Even when building an engine, compression seal gaps can be loosened to allow for higher temps and power in trade off for burning oil.

Sure the engine might smoke like crazy when cold with blown coolant seals, then stop smoking when warm and still have the same power level, but internal deterioration is occurring. The same is not said about oil seals.

I just wanted to make this clear to not mislead the OP.
coolant leak is no joke, but I have not seen him say he is loosing coolant.

does the smoke go away after warmed up?
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Old Apr 22, 2024 | 08:43 PM
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From: Ware, MA
Tons of white smoke

Hi, the first time white smoke occurred on my 88 GXL was when I first had a flooding issue.

After finally starting, there was so much white smoke that it poured out of my garage and drifted down the street!

The next time it occurred was at the Mazda dealership when trying to restart my car after doing some maintenance, white smoke filled the entire shop area!

After many years it occurred to me that the only thing that causes white smoke is "coolant".

So, somehow when trying to restart the engine and it floods due to low compression, that pushing on the throttle pedal somehow gets the sub-zero system to inject it's 90/10 antifreeze mix into the engine!

My thoughts are that if the engine starts normally and you have white smoke, there is a minor coolant seal leak that occurs after engine shutdown. A heat soak condition that pushes some coolant into the engine after shutdown if there is a small failure in the coolant seals.

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