Oil puddle exhaust
 

I went to start my '82 12a this evening after putting on a new alternator and belt and it cranked a lot then finally fired with a poof of smoke out the exhaust then i revved the motor a couple times and it hit about 3000 then slowly dropped and sputtered off. I tried starting it again, same thing happened and then I heard a dripping sound, like water dripping off a kitchen sink from the carburator area. When I went to the back of the car there was a little puddle of dirty dirty oil accompanying a wide spray of it on the garage floor. Kind of freaking out because it ran fine this morning before i did any of that. Also it's some very old gas in the tank, could that be a problem?

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

just removed the gas line and then put the line in a clear container, then turned the fuel pump on and the gas is dark dark green in color, still smelling very potent though. What's on the ground is more black, but runny like gas, not thick like motor oil, plus the stuff on the ground smells like gas.

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

could be that the gas that got into your exhaust soaked up and dissolved some carbon that coulda been in your exhaust or cats. that would cause the gas to be black that came out your exhaust.. i would drain the tank too. green gas doesn't sound too good to me.

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What do you think the chances are that somethings wrong with the motor?

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

black smoke ain't too bad if it only happens once. if its habitual i'm pretty sure it is a rich mixture issue.

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

it shouldn't be too bad. drain the tank, and maybe replace the filter while you have it empty. refill it and run some seafoam through the motor. engines probably just not clean from sitting too long. and my bad about splitting the posts, didn't see that you just posted.

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

Yeah it's an '82 FB 12A with a stock nikki carb, but it's in a '74 Rx3 Wagon so I wasn't sure where exactly to post it. But the gas has been sitting since around 2010 (the year on the tabs is 2010 so I'm assuming it was driven sometime around then). Anyways the wagon isn't compatible with the rats nest emissions solenoids so we removed the rats nest and connected the wagon's emissions hosings so the carburator most likely needs adjustment but I'm waiting til I get my transmission mount to try driving it around a bit. I drained all the gas I could from the front end until foam started bubbling out the fuel line, then sprayed some carb cleaner into the car and left the fuel disconnected, then ran the motor dry and it stopped blowing black stuff. Tomorrow I'm gonna grab som seafoam and new gas!

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

lol yea that'll work. i would definitely re adjust the carb when you get the chance. if it needs it. might have just done that cuz it was sitting for a while. if you don't want to fill the whole tank to put the whole bottle of seafoam in, you can mix it 1 oz per gallon of gas. cleaning the carb was a good idea too. the dripping sink sound could be something in the carb being stuck open. i think my 83 does the same thing. i just picked it up recently and noticed that theres a raw gas smell from the engine compartment. the free flow of gas would definitely explain how it managed to drip out of your exhaust lol.

i'd also check the plugs. when mine fouled on my 84 it sent smoke flying everywhere and would barely hold an idle. it was running on one rotor lol.
and yea i would say this would be your best bet to go to for anything engine or carb related. from what ive been told the FB 12a's are different from the earlier ones

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

Think I got it fixed with some new gas!

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

sounds good. def sounds like it was idling a little high though. i usually set mine to 1500 or a little bit under. idk if the rx-3's have a manual choke but the FB's do. other than that it sounds perfect. i'd still do a seafoam treatment on it. always good to have a nice clean, carbon free engine lol.

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

Yeah it definitely has a massive vacuum leak somewhere cause i had to remove the rat's nest to make it compatible with the rx3 electrical and emissions stuff so that was with vice grips holding the choke open haha. I hate vacuum leaks so very much so in a month or so after I pay taxes and take care of some other things I'll register and insure the car and take it down to a local shop that says they've got a rotary guy. It only has a pre-silencer on it so it sounds like a lawnmower.

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

you could buy plugs to plug up all of the metal tubes. the only ones you really need are the tubes for the leading and trailing distributor vacuum lines. theres also a hole underneath the OMP hookups on the carbs where the sub zero start assist would be attached. if that isn't plugged then you will def have a massive leak

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

I followed a guide for rat's nest removal off rx7 club i think which had me plug a couple and run some vacuum lines with a couple t-fittings and we kept a little valve (purge valve i think) it told us to, then we blocked off the air pump hole with sheet metal, a gasket, and some jb weld and put a plugged hose on the omp thing but didn't clamp it down. Is it safe just to plug everything except the distributor lines without the 'purge' valve? Might you have a picture of such a set up?

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

I've never seen anyone use any type of purge valve but look in the FAQ's in the 1st gen specific section, I think one of the threads on the rats nest delete has a link to pics and directions so I would see what it says. It even has the part number for the belt which can be used to delete the air pump pulley. I think the lack of a purge valve is fine. The vacuum is only designed to pull at a diaphragm or something of the sort so it shouldn't be anything crazy strong to where it would need it. I have heard that plugging lines with a hose connected to another line into the carb is bad though, so don't do that.

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

Hmm everything I have on there seems to be set up right according to that rx7carl tutorial, perhaps I'll just take it to a local shop here in Ellensburg, WA, they say they have a rotary guy. No I seem to have another problem and forgive me for not starting another thread but if I run it for more than 2-3 mins it starts smoking like crazy and it seems to be coming from a few places: underneath the carb, evaporating of the thermal reactor, and from the coolant lines going in and out of the car. It doesn't smell like burning fuel to me, but there's quite alot of it: more time running: more smoke. Does antifreeze evaporate? Do you think somethings leaking out of the carb?

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

yes and coolant evaporating smells sweet like a syrup. how's your temp guage reading when it starts doing this? Is the coolant level dropping? I'm not sure if coolant runs through the stock intake on the first gens but the fd runs coolant through the throttle body to help with cold starts so the fb may have something similar.

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

The temperature reads about a quarter of the way up, haven't checked coolant level. It's not leaking obscenely like onto the ground. I believe the fb has the sub zero start assist thing that drips coolant into the carb

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

if there is a plate that cover the thermal reactor then that could be one source. there is insulation on that plate which will eventually burn off with age causing thick white smoke. happened to me once. but like thatpoorguy said, if it smells sweet, then its antifreeze. if not then its more than likely something else.

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

82 shouldn't have a thermal reactor though so its prob off the exhaust mani. and if you have that cloth type pipe that goes down to the exhaust mani, then thats how the smoke would come from the heat blocking plate into the carb snorkel.

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

yeah it's a real thick white smoke coming off the top of the exhaust manifold, but i could have sworn it was called a thermal reactor. It only has cloth type pipe going from the radiator to the heater core then back to the engine block

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the 79-80 rx7's had thermal reactors. the rest of the 1st gens had cats. pull the plates that surround the exhaust manifold off. the cloth type pipe that i was referring to connects from the neck on the carb snorkel to the exhaust manifold plate. it is there to draw warm air off the exhaust mani for better cold weather starts. sorry for the confusion. with that said, its the bottom plate that you want to take off from around the exhaust manifold unless the top plate is doing it too. very easy. 8-10mm bolts if im correct. just get the car lifted up on the passenger side, go under and find where the exhaust should hook up to the block and there will be the plates surrounding it.

when it happened to me, it wasn't bad or noticeable when i was driving cuz the intake sucked in most of the smoke. but when i stopped it billowed out of the hood and smelled like musty and wet smoke. the insulation prob wears out and defects from getting wet.

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Sad... "Thermal Reactor" sounds so cool. Yeah that hose you're talking about confused me a little. Mine's a plastic ribbed one like a hose on a vacuum cleaner and goes from the top of the exhaust manifold plate to the bottom of the nose of the air cleaner (it's also old and cracked in a couple spots). My dad came up this week end and I started it up for him, turned it off after a couple minutes, then about a minute later smoke started coming out and he says it looks like it's coming right out of that hose. So there's just rubber insulation on those plates that's probably burning off? I have a set of 12a headers somewhere that maybe I could put on, the guy who gave them to me made them custom though and it's just a whole bunch of little triangles welded togeather. Plus I don't have an exhaust manifold gasket lying around.

Re: Oil puddle exhaust
 

its a fibrous, cotton like pad. could prob even be asbestos which would suck cuz i inhaled a whole bunch of it lol. i'd definitely get the headers on when you get to it, its a lot better flow than the exhaust mani. but yea just pop the bottom plate off. it bolts to the exhaust mani if i'm correct. the only reason they are there is to direct heat over the exhaust and up the pipe to the carb. no need to take off the actual manifold so you're not gonna need the exhaust gasket until you decide its time to put the headers on. i'm glad i could help you out with that. as far as i know, i'm the only one that has had that problem.