xia0w0ng

I just got my car back from the shop after getting my engine rebuild and turbo put it. It's got new rotors, new housing, street ported, and roughly 400 miles broken in. However, every time I start my car, a bunch of white smoke will come out of my exhaust...it goes away after I drive it for serveral minutes. The shop told me that eventually this will go away after about 700 miles. Does any of you have the same experiences? What's causing this problem?

Thanks

revhardallday

iTrader: (1)

coolant seal?

gusfd3s

probably a bad coolant seal, is you coolant water still fresh after 400 miles? do you have to fill it often?

i think you will have to open the engine again and replace the bad seal.

charlies7

iTrader: (4)

WTF?! Its not a coolant seal, have any of you guys watched a engine idle with a bad coolant seal?? Its like a freaking mosquito fogger. It is prolly just condensation in the exhaust system that burns off when the engine is totally warm. Dont worry about. Just drive the car and enjoy the new rebuild. These engines arent as tempermental as you think . Always check your fluids.

onemeansaturn

I was wondering the same thing since I have a stage 3 RotorSports Racing engine in my car with under 2,000 miles and I get some white smoke upon start up, but once the car has been warmed up, it stops. With a blown coolant seal, I would think you would see smoke all the time, right?

Joe

dubulup

revhardallday
&
gusfd3s

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classicauto

iTrader: (3)

premixed?

xia0w0ng

Yeah, the smoke do go away after the engine is warm up. Will this every go away though? I would hate to have to warm up the car for 5 - 10 mins before I can drive it out...

onemeansaturn

From what I have read, you really should allow your car to warm up for a while before driving it anyways. It's a pain, but it's just one of those things. I don't know if the smoke upon start up will ever stop... I'm too new to rotaries to have a good answer.

Joe

t-von

iTrader: (8)

They are tempermental if not assembled correctly. An improperly installed coolant seal wont always leak at 1st until it goes through enough heat cycles. You need to consider all the potential problems before you make that conclusion that it's not coolant seals. It's very easy for the factory coolant seals to twist or get pinched during installation. Not all rotarys will run like you describled with bad coolant seals. It all depends on how bad the leak is. From what I read of the original posters problem, I can pretty much guarantee it's his coolant seals.

The reason for the white smoke is the pressure from the coolant system forcing the coolant into the combustion chamber when the engine is INOP. This will happen in small amounts causing the white smoke effect during startup when the coolant is now being burned. Once burt out, the running engine will act like normal cause the coolant leaking in isn't enough to notice. It only takes a couple ounces to get white smoke. Some people in here need more education on the subject.

xia0w0ng Pressure test your coolant system, then get back to us.

xia0w0ng

Thank! I'll do that asap. I'll keep you guys posted.

Topolino

iTrader: (2)

Have to agree with t-von. Mine had the same coolant seal problem at around 100k miles. White smoke for the first few minutes of startup. Didn't seem to cause any hp issues or similar as the car ran fine otherwise. But it was a tad bit embarrassing each time I started the car; especially after sitting at the airport parking lot for more than a few days. Anyway, at 145k miles, I decided it was finally time for the engine reman; including most of the typical bolt-ons. Also replaced the turbos with '99 spec ones. Voila...no more white smoke at startup. And a lot faster, too!

revhardallday

iTrader: (1)

dubulup so ur 100% sure its the coolant seal?

t-von +1

tdazmansFD

iTrader: (1)

I had a cracked iron that caused my engine to puff white smoke on startup. It had all the signs of a bad coolant seal and would go away after it was warmed up. I thought it was the seal the entire time. Either way, it was rebuild time.

I could also pull coolant into the combuston chambers when pulling vacuum at high RPM's.

The best thing you can do for now is to keep an eye on your fluid levels and or pressure test your system. After you're able to diagnos the problem, Take It Back To The Shop That Performed The Work To Make It Right.

shadoe

RX-7's also ave crazy fuel pumps if there is some fuel sitting int you exhaust from previous flooding whie smoke is gonna happen purhaps your fuel pump is letting too much in when youre staring up thus partially flooding your engine and the white smoke could be gas burning otherwise its probably your coolant seal