White smoke
 

Hi guys, great website.

I have had my RX8 for 5 months now, at first had trouble hot starting, I replaced all leads, coils and plugs but still would not start hot, ended up changing to uprated starter motor and hey presto ran and started like a dream. Anyway ran great for 4 months and I noticed it struggling at 5000 or over rpm, gave it some revs last Sunday and struggling again but this time loads of white smoke came out of exhaust, I immediately let go of revs and pushed clutch in, the engine stalled and I came to a nice easy stop. I gave it a few minutes and turned it over and it started immediately and there was a couple more seconds of smoke then it cleared up, I drove it home nice a slowly and no problems or smoke at all, once I got it home I gave it some revs for e few minutes and no smoke or issues at all. I have gotten in it this morning and again no issues - Do any of you experts have a clue what this could be as it runs ace again. Could this be a carbon build up cleared, there are no noises or anything else unusual out of engine or exhaust. Thx Degs

White smoke is an indication of coolant leaking into the rotor housing. I had an engine that has a small leak that caused it to sputter for a minute or two when first started in the morning. It ran fine the rest of the day. Mazda replaced it under warranty.

Coolant leaking
 

Hi
Thanks for reply
Would a coolant leak cause the engine to struggle for power at higher revs, I am unsure regarding mechanics. If so is this a big fix, what needs doing. The engine starts within 2 seconds of turning the key so no spluttering at all in the cold mornings. Thx Degs

Was the smoke coming out after you had been driving for a while or right after you cranked it? For a little while after cranking, especially in winter, it its not unusual to have steam coming out of the exhaust that can be confused with white smoke.

white smoke
 

Hi
I had been driving for appx 5 minutes, it was definately smoke. I forgot to mention in my first post that after getting the new starter motor 6 months ago it started great hot until 2 weeks ago when it started struggling to hot start again. I have used it all last night and started great cold this morning on my way to work and no smoke at all, just confusing me why it starts and runs ace now ??????

Thx D

When the car is cold. Before you start it. Look in the coolant tank under the hood. What color is the water in the tank? If it's red or green ....good. If it is dirty brown-black you most likely need a new engine. Check your dip stick and let us know what you see.

Coolant
 

Hi

Thanks for reply

I have just had a look at the coolant and it is fine. I checked my oil whilst I was there and there is slightly too much in there, I struggled to read it 4 weeks ago because of frothy mixture but topped up anyway because the oil light flashed on when I was driving hard. Could too much oil cause the problems I have been having (hot starting after refuelling, pulling back at high revs and a bit of white smoke once). The temperature here at the moment is minus 7 most days, can you tell me do I just top my coolant tank up with antifreeze or do I put water in aswell, it is at the low mark on the tank. Sorry about all the question as not very mechanically minded.

Thx

Chang the oil.

If coolant is going into the oil, that is why the oil is over full.
Leaving water in the oil can lead to bearing damage.