Is it bad?

[dakeos]

Hi everyone, new guy here.

Just need to know from those in the know whether my situation with my new FD is as bad as i hope it isnt. Got it just before christmas, took a bit of a gamble on it, and got it cheap.
Anyway took it to WGT to have them give it the once over, compression test etc, and he said the readings were very good, all 8\'s and above and the engine was in pretty good nick, so i was pretty chuffed with it for a while.

Today, nipped out to the shops, car was runnin fine, always warm it up, check for any problems every morning, then decided to open it up a bit on the dual carriageway, cos i dont drive it like a madman usually.

All of a sudden out of nowhere coolant light comes on, warning sound etc, engine starts smokin like mad, smelt like coolant , pulled over straight away, waited for pick up. Coolant all over the road.

Got home, engine started up straight away time after time, no problems, but theres a lot of white smoke out the exhaust, doesnt smell sweet like coolant tho, and had been coolin down by the raod for a while waiting pick up before startin it up. Tried to put more coolant in, but seems to be pourin out somewhere forming a big puddle under the car.

How bad is it?

[banned advertiser]

Difficult one to tell, sounds like its ok if you caught it early.
Probably the AST has split or its a hose.
Only one way to find out, fix the leak and run her, keep careful eye on temps, or run it to WGT and let them pressure test it.

[dakeos]

Thanks for the quick reply, just had one of those really crap days today. As i say, i pulled over immediately as soon as the warnings went off and shut it off, only started it up 2 or 3 times after that just to have a look, but each time started no problem at all.

[Martiny]

Lets hope its an external leak. There is a plastic bottle called the AST and these are prone to split. You should a metal one, just ask any of the supporting vendors here. If its not that, its most likely a hose.

Fill it up, then start it on the drive, and see if you can spot where its coming from. If you can at least tell us which side of the car its leaking, we can tell you the likely places to look.

[clive]

Hi everyone, new guy here.



Got home, engine started up straight away time after time, no problems, but theres a lot of white smoke out the exhaust,
How bad is it?

Hi dakeos, Real sorry to be the bearer of bad news but if you have white smoke coming from the exhaust then it means you have water going inside of the engine  and it will need a rebuild

It is possable that a water seal failed and the resulting pressure in the water system has blown a pipe of either the feed pipe to the AST or the feed pipe out of the AST to the tank on the inner wing
 ( the AST is the small tank in front of the engine with a rad cap)

I would now attempt to drive the car any more but it maybe worth you knowing that if you are in either the RAC or the AA and you have home start tell them it needs to go to a specialist and they will take your car to WGT free of charge.

 ( BTW a discount for both is available through MRC for its members)

[nikp]

I may be on the wrong track, but can\'t a turbo failure produce white smoke too?

[clive]

I may be on the wrong track, but can\'t a turbo failure produce white smoke too?

Hi Nik,

Yes you are right but Turbo failure will produce lots of white oil smoke where the seals and bearings have failed and the oil is being sucked straight out of the sump up the Turbo drain pipe and out of the exhaust.

I have rebuilt engines that have had this happen and in no time there is no oil in the sump and the Big ends / main bearings and crankshaft have died so badly the pistons have hit the head !.

Good thought but the symptoms described above are water related so the Turbos will not be the problem.

[nikp]

Fair enough then!

[dakeos]

Ahhh nuts, well thanks tho guys for the diagnosis. Kind of already prepared myself for the worst anyway. Booked it in to WGT on friday, just let them have a look i guess so i know for sure.

Time to scrounge them pennies.

[davegttph1]

Yeah white smoke from the exhaust usually relates to steam, so there must be water going somewhere into the engine but you say the coolant is going onto the road so its an external leak not an internal one so there is hope yet. Just Dont drive it and make it worse.

Good luck.

[JamesFD3]

Almost certainly coolant O-ring failure,loads of white smoke from the exhaust especially when starting from cold and coolant levels go AWOL.Compression testing is all very well but only tells half the story of the engines internal health.

[dakeos]

Well was plannin on a rebuild sometime this year, but was hopin to get a bit more out of it before it died. Looks like rotary repair are offering a pretty good price for a budget one, or would it be more sensible to get the standard rebuild for teh extra cost?

[JamesFD3]

If you have the car booked in on friday with WGT,let Pip have a look and he\'ll quickly diagnose the problem and talk you through the options you have,Pip can tailor a rebuild to suit your budget and you can have some mods done such as porting etc at the same time if you wish.There\'s alot of options you can go for,your RX-7 will be in good hands....

James

[dakeos]

Got it checked out by WGT today, and turns out it was just the hoses that went, saved myself a couple G. No more white smoke either. Lucky so n so hey.

[J.j.]

Got it checked out by WGT today, and turns out it was just the hoses that went, saved myself a couple G. No more white smoke either. Lucky so n so hey.

Must be such a relief for you, time to buy some shining bits.