my car is not getting any better. I did an oil change and specifically did not fill it up to all the way full so i could see if there was indeed something leaking into there which there is. My coolant level is not dropping and i don't have a leak in my transmission underneath (I checked when i changed my oil yesterday). Yet for some reason im still smoking a thick white smoke. It doesn't smell sweet in any way. There was condensation in the exhaust tips and when i tasted it, it didn't taste sweet in any way either. Tasted just like normal water. Same goes for the condensation on the oil filler cap. I know you guys have told me tranny fluid can't get into the combustion but it is some way, some how. IM NOT LOSING MY MIND. I'm getting really really aggravated because i don't know what to do. Is there a transmission breather that maybe vents into the carb or something? I also have another question, when i put my exhaust on, there was a pipe that went from the cat to the carb area. The kit came with a plate to block that off but i didn't put it on cuz before getting the exhaust it sort of detatched itself from the cat due to rust. Would that being open to the outside air cause me to have a rich mixture? If anyone can help me with anything at all i would be forever in your debt. Im on my knees begging because i don't have too much money (im a college kid) and can't afford to take things apart to not fix the actual problem. Thank you in advance for any input you guys may have.

with out sounding like too much of a dick here , put a motor in it because it seems that is what answer to your questions are. there is no way atf can get into the motor from the trans. the smoke is due to worn internals, my s5 did that alot on cold and hot starts when the oil control rings went and the side seals where worn.

so u think i could just do a rebuild and i would be straight?

posible but finding 12a rotor housings is getting hard to do

whats the likelyhood that my housings are shot too though? It's only got 74k on it, ive done oil changes every 3k or less since ive had it and ive always warmed it up for like 5 minutes at least in the winter. The only thing i could think of it being messed up was cuz i gave it to some guy to get body work done and he didn't know i had a choke and idk how he got the thing started and my guess is he sat there revving it at 2-3k until it warmed up. Would it be more reasonable for me to just get a rebuilt 13b and swap it in there? I'd just need to find another tranny.

If you can swap, do it but keep the old one to practice rebuilding on. Try checking vacuum leaks till you an find an engine. Although in reality vacuum leaks cause an engine to run lean. Has anyone suggested fuel control? I'm not the most knowledgable about the fb but I know they have an electric fuel pump running to a carb. They have to have some sort of pressure regulator, otherwise fuel would be pouring out of the carb causing a rich condition, white smokey fuel smelling exhaust (more fuel smell than normal anyways), fuel to get into the oil, and a bogging and resistance to accelerate unless the pedal is floored, and will cause the plugs to foul.

If you have an automatic, there absolutely is a vacuum line from the intake to the transmission. It connects to the vacuum modulator on the side of the tranny. The first one I ever had fail was on my '73 RX-2. I also had one go bad on a '76 Cutlass. There was no cat on the RX-2, and the result was billowing white smoke at idle (high manifold vacuum pulls a lot of fluid). On the '76 Cutlass, the cat took care of the smoke, and I didn't know I had a problem until the plugs started fouling and the tranny started shifting funny. Replace your vacuum modulator!

Lol I'm glad you posted that, I had never seen something like that on a car and poor blandly has been having this issue for awhile.

+1 1988RedT2



The vacuum modulator is exactly what it is! Replace it! I have a 91' Vert with the same problem.

I guess I need to stick my head in here more often!

Lol indeed.



Oh, and it's off topic but I thought you'd appreciate that I got my first don't tread on me bomber sticker. It'll be the first (and probably only) sticker going on after she's painted

@1988RedT2: you are the man I am forever in your debt. I was about to go out and buy a whole new engine and tranny while I was at the engine. I'm still blowing blue smoke though so I mighthave to get just new seals cuz of all the added fluid into the system I think it might have blown one of the seals. $900 seal kit is better than $2600 rebuilt engine in my book.



@thatpoorguy: my car doesn't accelerate well unless my foot is barely on or all the way on the gas. I guess I need something adjusted or maybe just a tune up in general. I know I don't have an O2 sensor but is there anything that possibly corrects a lean or rich fuel mixture that's maybe broken? Or could the fact that I got the cat delete pipe cause the mix to be too rich?

In order to change the seals you still have to rebuild the engine. Tranny fluid doesn't burn well and residual oil can be burning off causing the smoke. Without a cat it'll smoke more because the engine intentionally burns engine oil to lubricate the apex seals. As long as the smoke isn't overly excessive you're fine but you may want to run some fuel system treatment to break up the deposits left in the engine. For tuning the nikki it's the easiest to do with an O2 and a/f gauge, but you can do without. Turn the mixture screw clockwise till it starts to bog down, then turn counter clockwise about a quarter turn. Turning clockwise leans it out, counterclockwise rich.

Glad to help. And please don't buy a new engine or do a rebuild until you've done a compression check.

Where can I get a compression tester for a rotary cuz I know they are different what would be the psi numbers that would be considered normal? I am burning a little bit of blue but im starting to think it could be less concentrated tranny fluid or otherwise that so much tranny fluid has been in there that maybe it caused a rubber seal to degrade. I know ATF can do a number on rubber soled shoes and tires if left in contact for too long.

And thank you thatpoorguy thats a good trick to know instead of taking it in for a tune. It would be noticably smoking blue and/or thick white everytime I was stopped and sometimes upon acceleration after being stopped. I didn't see a trail following me when I was driving but then agaisours impossible to know unless someone is following you to verify it. It seemed odd though that I was burning oil cuz despite the amount of smoke thati saw I never noticed a drop in oil level. I should tune the mixture when the engine is at operating temp right? Thanks again for the input everyone, the discovery of the fact that i might not need a new engine/rebuild made my day lol.

I'm not exactly sure what else could be causing your smoke, but sounds like it's primarily when the engine is in vacuum. Redt2, are there any other vacuum lines that could be getting engine oil? I don't think it has a pcv valve but I can't really remember.



Yes, the engine needs to be up to temp and you want to make sure the idle is set correctly too before messing with the mixture or it may throw you off a bit. Have you downloaded the fsm's from here? A lot of mazda's specifications and tuning instructions are in it to help walk you through it.

I have the hanes manual for my car but some of the info is a bit off. It told me I take around 5.5 qts. Of oil when I put in 3.5 and I was close to overfilling it. Ever since then I haven't trusted it much besides for torque specs and fluid flush procedures. Mighta just been a typo or that the older 12a's maybe came with a larger oil pan. I'll take a look at what it says for idle and fuel mix adjustment. Otherwise I'll download the ones on here. They might be 10x better than the one I got. It probably is better though cuz it's pretty hard to loose a computer or to get grease all over imaginary pages lol

Cool article here:



http://www.modified.com/tech/modp-10...ion/index.html



More info on compression testing here:



https://www.nopistons.com/forums/top...ster-question/





Regarding the smoking, once you get the mixture about right, get someone to follow you on a WOT run to redline and get them to tell you if it smokes.

Oh so the whole idea is that the gauge isn't supposed to hold pressure in order to check the first puff of each rotor face. Otherwise it'll be the combined compression of all 3 rotor faces. If I understand correctly the "tire stem" valve at the end is supposed to let stuff in but not back into the comb. chamber when it's on. And after I get my modulator and tune it what's the problem if it still smokes at WOT? Oil control ring I'm guessing?

It shouldn't smoke after all that, diagnosing cars takes one step at a time, so change the modulator and tune it and let us know what she's doing from there.

ok will do. It's still cold as hell here in NY hopefully it warms up otherwise im gonna have to nut up and get under there in the freezing cold. I checked my Haynes manual for stuff on the Automatic Transmission it really doesn't elaborate it just says if theres a problem with your AT it means multiple things have failed and to take it into a competent transmission specialist or a Mazda dealer. Nothing on changing the modulator. It should at least have the AT stuff in there in case you wanna tackle it yourself but it'd probably be a whole other book.



today something unfortunate happened while i was getting ready for school. I was warming her up and I popped the hood to check all my fluids. A gust of wind caught my hood as i was pulling it up and i didn't catch it in time. It bent as forward as it could go. Fortunately for me there was no damage to the hood or surrounding area but there are a couple of places that the paint had chipped. Needless to say it made me quite upset. But to end this sad story does anyone know where i can get touch up paint to match the factory color? I have Silver. My car has barely any scratches or chips otherwise i wouldn't bother with it.

I don't have any idea on the paint, but regarding the vacuum modulator, just get a new one (they're like 30 bucks, rockauto has 'em), and go under the car looking for something that looks like what you just bought. It screws right into the side of the tranny case and has a vacuum line coming off of it that runs up to the engine. Ya can't miss it! https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...R#>/tongue.gif

Ok thanks man. It actualy took me 20 minutes to find I was looking in all the wrong places lol and it's sorta hard to maneuver underneath that car. But upon installing the effect was instantaneous. I started her up, no smoke at all. The only problem I may have is that I didn't tighten it up enough it may be leaking a bit. What would be the best thing tp use to tighten it without damaging it? There's no place to use a wrench.

Box end wrench won't fit? What size are the bolts?

There aren't any. It just screws straight in and the whole thing is cylindrical. But now I also have another less serious problem. My car is from NY so it has Cali. Emissions standards. There's a tamper-proof cap on the idle mix screw and also a special tool is needed to adjust the screw. How do I get the cap off? Tried pulling and twisting it. Manual doesn't say how to get the cap off it only provides the part number for the tool needed to adjust the screw.

I haven't been on here in a few months, so I've got a little catching up to do. lol.







Everything you need to know about these carbs can be found at www.sterlingmetalworks.com



Glad someone brought up that modulator before you replaced your motor! https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.gif



As far as that issue with no power unless barely giving gas, or wide open, I would check for clogged jets in the carb. You can remove the small access bolts by the little windows, then reach in with a small screwdriver and loosen the jets. Then reach in with a wooden toothpick, jam that into the jet, and use that to unscrew it the rest of the way and pull it out of the bowl. Use the reverse method to reinstall. That way you don't have to remove the carb from the car.



On the other hand, a rebuild kit is only 30 bucks or so, and it could probably use it.



Anyway, best of luck to you. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.gif

ive been thinking that it might be a combo of the carb and the tranny. I have gas in the oil so i know im more then likely running rich but i'll hit the gas and the rpm's will increase but my road speed won't increase along with the rpm's. the best way i can explain it is like when i have my foot a little on the gas im accelerating but when i hit the gas more it still accelerates at the same pace (maybe a little bit faster) as if i was riding with the clutch half engaged. Once i hit maybe like 2500 rpm's she pulls like a dream though. Also, I checked the tranny fluid (even before i changed it 5k miles ago) and it didn't smell burnt at all it was a little dark if anything. I just went to autozone and got lucas gear oil. I saw stuff for the trans from lucas but no oil so maybe they don't have it in yet but i will check again. I went to that link you posted by the way and it helped me understand the workings of a carb so much better than i did before. I only knew what it said that it was basically a really intricate fuel delivery system. It also helped me understand the whole volumetric efficiency thing and how to make the VE of my engine better. but anyways, based on this new information would you still suspect that it could be the carb alone? I'm about to go buy that Lucas transmission additive which says it would help fix tranny slippage unless the belts are completely worn but that might be the reason why i got an almost mint condition car (it had 60k when i bought it and virtually no rust whatsoever) for $3k.

Yeah, it sounds like your tranny is slipping so I think the Lucas addative would be a good thing to try. Or, maybe you have a problem with the torque converter? Not sure, I hate auto trannys. lol. I trust your fluid level is right? I believe this is checked when hot, and with the engine running. Low fluid level can start the TC and cause slipping, but that's about the extent of my knowledge in that area.



Good luck! https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.gif

Also gear oil is for manual trans, you need ATF. If you use gear oil you can destroy the trans. The clutches in the trans could be slipping and the additive would help with that.

i agree Automatic trannies suck the big one. I added the Lucas stuff and it actually felt like it helped a little bit. The fluid was at a good level before i put the lucas stuff in there. The only problem was the tranny additive was 2x thicker then 90w gear oil and wasn't able to go down the filler tube too well so i haven't been able to get a reading on it. I didn't overfill the tranny, i pumped out about 400mL and put in about the same of the tranny additive. ( the bottle said 12 fl. oz for compact and subcompact automatics which is around 400mL.) I had always wondered why they didn't us 0 or 5 weight oil for AT's but realized that ATF has properties to help the clutches engage instead of total lubrication.



Also, i have found a manual tranny for 200 with the clutch master cylinder. Haven't asked about the bell housing or anything yet. Anyways, is there any way i can check the condition of the tranny without it being bolted up to an engine? The guy lives really close to me so its not like a craigslist scam or anything, i just wanna make sure i don't throw money into this thing if im gonna need a complete rebuild on it. The guy said it was in proper working condition. I would love to trust his word but you know how it is with people these days.

The tranny breaks down lengthwise in three pieces, you still won't be able to see into the gears or syncros but you can check the linkage for play or bends.

Crap that's the fd trans. I need to stop jumping around between the different sub boards, I'm getting mixed up lol

lol its all good. Say though worst case scenario the whole thing needs to be rebuilt. I'm pretty mechanically inclined and i have the manual to walk me through it the only thing i would need are the extra tools necessary to do said rebuild. How much would it cost me around, do you know?

I can't remember how much I got quoted, I ended up saying screw it and got a jdm trans for my fd. The trans shop said it would be over 2500 in parts alone to restore the original oem trans. Snagged a jdm trans for 250 instead had them look at it and they said it was in perfect condition so they only charged me an inspection fee. The original oem trans seemed to shift ok to me except for the fifth gear synchro.

Start watching for a parts car with a manual transmission. You can upgrade to a 5 speed for much, much less than you could rebuild an auto tranny. Then you'll also have all the spare parts you're ever likely to need. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.gif

oh ok thanks. i might just do that, inspect it myself to make sure its good enough for me then buy it and take it to a shop to get inspected to see if its in any good condition. Or pay for the inspection and have it done before i buy it.