help! I just started up the new motor I swapped in. It cranked and started just fine, but it dumped out clouds of white smoke.

So, just to confirm, does this mean I'm sucking some coolant into the intake somewhere?

The coolant tank level did go down but that could have been from a coolant bubble filling.

How do I troubleshoot this? I don't have a clear reference for which coolant hoses go where. I've checked the engine manual, the service manual and the parts catalog. There are parts of it everywhere but not like a diagram of how coolant flows through the engine ancillary systems.

H

 

Start it up and let it warm up......then see if it continues. Often there is strange smoke etc on startup and if it never occurs again you are good.

There is no easy way for coolant to get into the combustion chamber...it is either leaking through a housing seal...or it's just a fluke.


Heater hoses go from drivers rear cross the firewall in the hard line....to the firewall...back from firewall to the lower water inlet that angles back. The one that faces forward with the small T on it goes to the overflow bottle...and the small hose goes to the throtle body line that comes from the back of the passenger side of the engine to the TB...then to the inlet fitting. The only other coolant line goes from the overflow on the rad to the overflow bottle small nipple. The rad fitting is easy to break on that one so be careful

 

Thanks. I rechecked as many of the hoses as I could. They look fine. And they'd be really difficult to cross up, most are different sizes.

Here's a video of the smoke. It smells like burning coolant but the coolant level in the reservoir hasn't changed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeCenckFd_o

H

 

bump

 

could very well be a leaking seal between the iron and the housing around the water jacket.

 

Thanks. I'm thinking it's an engine internal issue, too. I'm just hoping that somebody posts something that I forgot and it's a simple fix. I really don't want to swap the motor again.

Do you think there's anyway I could have plugged a coolant line into something in the exhaust path?

 

If you can rent a coolant pressure testing kit from your local auto parts store, you should use it.

Best thing to do is remove one of the spark plugs from each rotor, and then pressurize the system. If you have a leaking seal internally, then coolant will probably eventually come out of one of those holes with the cooling system pressurized.

And no, I doubt you could have done something as goofy as hooked up the coolant line to the exhaust system. Stuff like that only happens in the movies.

BC.

 

Excellent idea. I'll pressure check it today.

I was just hoping it was something goofy. That would have been easy to fix. I also spoke to the lead mech at the dealer. He said if overfilled with oil, this could happen. So I'm going to do an oil change also. The other thing that'll do is show me if my oil and water are mixing. I may drain the coolant as well.

This sucks. I'm supposed to be done with this thing. And I'm doing this swap as a favor for a friend. I guess no good deed goes unpunished, eh?

H

 

The real question that should be answered:

Is it actually a "NEW" motor?
Or is it a used motor from an unknown source?
Or, is it a "Rebuilt" motor from a vendor or Mazda?

BC.

 

You're dead

 

I guess I should be clearer. It's a Mazda reman. These are the one's they put in the car for warranty replacements. This car had 150k on it so it didn't qualify for the warranty replacement deal.

So here's a story, though. The motor came with two funky exhaust studs. They were a different pitch than what came off it. So, I went back to the dealer to get replacement studs or bolts - whichever they had. They had neither. So I suggested we just pull a couple off one of the cores they had in stock. They agreed.

While pulling the studs, the mech helping me said that the core we were pulling these off had 5 miles on it. It had been a warranty replacement core that they swapped into a car and it didn't survive the test drive around the block.

Nice, huh?

 

Well, the bad news is that you are one of the unlucky soles who paid for a bad rebuilt motor from Mazda.

The good news is that you get to throw a major fit at the dealer, and at Mazda USA to get you a much better quality unit than the hunk of junk they tried to pass off on you.

I highly recommend getting Mazda USA on the phone, and get more for your money.

BC.

 

Yes give them a call. Also they will be trying to blame it on you since you installed it.