Just got home and pulled into the driveway. Noticed a somewhat sweet smell and looked in the rearview mirror. Smoke was billowing out of the Drivers side exhaust pipe. Blue/white in color - not heavy, but more than enough to notice.

Car ran fine and didn't pop any warning lights at all.

Anybody seen this or have any ideas (Rotary guys: I need your help!)

Thanks

Ted

 

If it smells "sweet"...better check for an internal coolant leak inside the engine. That "sweet" smell can be a sign of burning antifreeze inside the combustion chamber. Short of pulling the plugs, check to see if your coolant overflow bottle level has fallen. If this is the case get it to your dealer, but you would be safer having it towed.

 

I have no info on the possible cause, but I wonder: If it was a coolant leak wouldn't you expect to see smoke be coming from both exhaust pipes? (Just trying to understand things.)

 

Well - I just started it up again and watched it go. Let it idle as well as revved it to 5K or so about 3 times.

Ok - smells like burnt coffee, but the amount of smoke has decreased significantly and the smell has disapated a lot but is still there.

Nothing is stuck to the exhaust itself (plastic, etc...)

Maybe a small amount of oil (had it changed about 500 miles ago by the dealer) made it down the exhaust before it was screaming hot and then once the things got rolling heat wise it started to burn off a bit causing the smoke.

Anybody have any other ideas?

 

Normally coolant smoke is sweet smelling and almost an almond color or at least tinted light yellow, however if you state it smells like coffee and is blueish gray then my opinion would be oil related...pull the plugs and tell me what you see and I will be able to give you a better idea.

I know it is gettting colder outside, but if you could putt the car in somewhere that is temp controlled and crank it....just hold your hand up to the tailpipe and tell me what type of residue was left. Coolant and oil both will leave a residue as they exit. Placing a piece of whie cardboard willproduce same effect if squimmish about placing hand near tailpipe.

 

Man, just take it to the dealer and let them look at it, but it sounds like you are about to join the new engine club.

 

Hmmm, sounds like maybe one of the prematurely burnt cat issues....

How long have you had your car, and how many miles? Alot of the 8's had similar smells when they were new due to chemicals in the cat burning off from the factory.

 

It's normal for exhausts to smell in any new car. The exhausts are covered with chemicals called pickling to keep them from rusting on the lot so the car still looks totally new when you buy it, however, those chemicals do not cause smoke. The burnt cats have caused a little smoking in some cases, and stinky, but mostly people have been finding steel wool like material hanging out the tail pipe and that's a burnt cat. The smoke that he describes, in a reciprocating engine, would be a cracked head most likely; in a rotary, I would guess a damaged side seal or a warped rotor housing, and there were a couple of engines who reported those sorts of problems very early on in the production run. I have no idea what is wrong with this guy's engine. All I know, whatever it is, it isn't his problem. It's between the dealer and Mazda to get this guy an engine that works right, but that's just my opinion.

 

15 Months - 8500 miles...

No smoke this morning, still a faint smell.

 

S&$T...

Well - going to the shop monday morning to see if it is a bad engine/exhaust/whatever... Service manager stated he had not seen it before, but...

Ill let everyone know the outcome

 

well...

Quote for the Service director at Morries Mazda here in Minneapolis

"We had on in last week that had acorns in it that smelled and behaved JUST like this. There was a squirrel in the area that had put acorns in the exhaust for the winter"

Um ok....

Toasted the exhaust completely - great...

Time for the RB Exhaust if the exhaust is toast

Ill let everyone know the final outcome

 

Final outcome from the Mazda Dealer...

"Nothing wrong with the car. It just smokes and smells bad. Something must have been put in there and you will have to drive it to get it out or burn it off"

uh - so Mazda says that nothing is wrong, but the car still smokes (out of only 1 pipe) and has an awful smell once the engine is up to temperature. Sounds not fixed to me...

Anybody have any ideas? I think a trip to the local exhaust shop is in order next as I wish I had the time to take it all apart myself...

Acorns my A$$....

 

Are you sure it's not one of those Minnesota Gophers form the U of M?

 

If it only smokes out of one pipe, then it rules out any problem upstream of the rear muffler. The squirrel theory (whilst bloody funny) has some merit. That, or one of your buddies is messing with your mind.....

Don't have access to a borescope do ya? You need to see up that pipe to find what the cause is....

Gomez.

 

Well, my 8 has this problem. I start it up and 1 minute later this thing smokes like a god damn freight train! It is thick as hell and the CEL blinks. I also think it is side seal damage. My car during this past summer will overheat like a bastard if it is over 90 degrees out. Anyhow I am going to the dealer this week for the 2nd time about the misfire (blinking CEL) and now smoke from the tail pipe.

 

Wow, I can't believe you would drive around like that. Sounds like more than a misfire if its smoking that much and overheating. Time for a new engine.

 

It is my only car. and mazda said they could not find the problem.

 

Gonna be removing the exhaust tonite to see what I can find. Got the go ahead though to get the Racing Beat Cat Back though

I wanted to upgrade the exhaust - didn't need to...

 

Well....

Your never gonna believe this one...

Corn - Yes - you heard it right - Corn was in the baffling of the muffler itself.

We Got the corn (again I say CORN) out of the entire system by actually hooking a shop vac up to the exhaust flange on the main pipe and sealing the one side of the exhaust that did not have the corn rattling around in it...

Turn the shop vac on stand the muffler up and shake the hell outta it and you get one heavy vac attachment...

We found a 1/2 eaten corn cob in the garage the car lives in. I didn't find the little BA$t@!d that crawled up there, but I hope one of my cats did...

Anywho - smoke problem solved - go figure...

Here are the pics to prove all of the stuff I just said.

Also - here is a link to a little mpeg that we made - shaky, but has sound

Movie

My back hurts and I need booze now :D

Later all

 

LOL! So, any idea what kind of critter it was? If a pack rat, ya better set traps and keep an eye on your underhood wiring. Pack rats love to chew it...

 

Tis' the season..as the local wildlife search for a warmer nesting place..

After a few years in the industry I am still constantly amazed (along with owners) when I find dog food in the intake..Hood insulation chewed off and spun into a nest under the manifold etc.

Critters sure love to eat the insulation off of wires as Omicron pointed out..

This spring we had a customers beautiful 93 Rx-7 in the shop and the mice had eaten the entire wiaring harness and most of the vacuum hoses..that was not a good site..

 

Here in MN - it will be down to about 20 in the next night or so. We don't usually have many critters running around here either. Lots of cats in the neighborhood keeping the little critters at bay. Also - pellet guns are just SO much fun

Just to end the evening on a sparkling note though - my Defrost switch cracked like so many others out there - just to push me to the point of awe F#%*!!!

Oh well - bed time it is. Need sleep to critter hunt tomorrow

 

Wow- that's pretty wild... nice investigative work! I love the K&N shop vac! :D

 

Hahaha...I still reckon it was one of your mates .

 

Another place to check is the air box, those critters love to climb up in there and use the filter materials as a nesting spot, esp. those big boxes like we have. Could even be where your friends digs are, not in the garage but totally mobile w/you!