I upgraded my starter yesterday and only jacked up the driver side. It was a quick job so I didn't think it would be an issue. But after letting car back down and giving it around 30 min I started the car. It had been flooded a few days before due to bad starter and some work we done on it. Anyway I noticed the car was smoking heavy and fluid dripping on or out of manifold. Went around to the back and it looked like it had rained in driveway behind the exhaust pipe . I don't know what to do . The fluid has a combination of smells not just gas or oil. I need help please. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'm thinking condensation. Does it continue to smoke or stop once warmed up. What do you mean by" dripping on or out of manifold?"

 

It was about a 3 foot long on 2 foot wide spray of liquid on ground. I didn't let it warm completely up due to the smoke under hood. I didn't know what the problem was and didn't want my car to burn down so I cut it off. Looked under car to find out where the smoke was coming from and saw liquid dripping from where cat and manifold bolt up .

 

Well I was just wondering if anyone could help me here .. I'm afraid to run my car since I don't have any rotary mechanics around here .. 😒

 

Was the weather humid? Nothing should be dripping out of the manifold, since it should have a gasket.
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Just make sure it's not gas, if it isn't you can run the car as long as you watch the temperature. It could just be condensation. There isn't much in the way of fluid that can go through your exhaust And not prevent the car from starting at all.

Plus you say it was flooded, so there's residual fuel that needs to burn off.

You can pull the spark plugs and see if there are any deposits on them to be sure.

 

Thank you Loki.. I was wondering if having it jacked up on one side cause the gas and fluids to rush to the other side and leak into manifold

 

 

Literally no fluid can possibly get into the manifold even if you turn the car upside down. That's why I'm thinking condensation.

 

 

Possible but unlikely The car starts so it's not flooded in coolant. Guesses are not helpful.

 

Thank you so much for your help and time. I appreciate it very much.

 

Ok so we dropped the cat and the fluid I was talking about if pure antifreeze. Dumped out about 4 cups of it . Now what!!!

 

 

Doh! Didn't not expect that. You win this round, Jake.

I don't see how this could have been caused by jacking up the car, did you have other problems before that?

 

So the antifreeze is in the cat?

And what kind of antifreeze are you using?

 

Well while I was replacing thermostat... Found a gutted thermostat ring and gasket.. no thermostat. So how and why did it run so long and what kind of damage is caused .. help!!!

 

So my theory of the thermostat being stuck open allowing coolant to pass into manifold is out the window seeing that there isn't a thermostat . So... Any ideas!!

 

Sounds like a coolant seal failure (this would be as close as rotaries get to a bad head gasket).
Is your coolant level dropping? Have you done a block test yet?

 

That would have the same effect of having a stuck open thermostat, so your car would never warm up.

I am struggling to think how a thermostat can become like that. I would do a flush for sure and see if any debris is present.

 

Thank you for the info and I greatly appreciate the quick response. I will be working on it today and I will update the outcome.

 

The thermostat "didn't become like that". The thermostat probably failed closed and the person "fixing" it just removed the wax motor section.

If it failed closed, the car would overheat and cause the coolant seal to fail.

 

There is no way that wasn't something a person did to the thermostat. It has had the center cut out of it.

As previously said.... likely it failed and was causing the car to overheat.... so the "mechanic" removed the obstruction. Likely it had overheated numerous times before the genius figured this was the best way to fix it... at that point the coolant jacket seals had already cooked and now leak....there is no alternative to a rebuild.... and hopefully things didn't get too cooked or the coolant didn't sit in the chambers for too long... or you will have a rusty useless mess inside

 

Replaced thermostat and coolant.. no more coolant leaking out exhaust.. no coolant in oil.. car cranks , runs, idles, car drives perfect. Drove it for an hour yesterday and no overheating.. and now coolant level is staying normal. No smoking either.. fans operating normally..I tried to upload video but it wouldn't let me. Thank you guys for all the help and info I appreciate all the shared knowledge.