Today I'm talking about smoke and not the kind that causes cancer, or a yellow teeth. But it will get you pulled over by the cops. I'm working on a 2008 Mazda CX-7 AWD with 15,000 miles. Last month I was given a repair order with one complaint " heavy smoke from exhaust, was pulled over by cops while on test drive." So I took the vehicle out for a ride and to verify the complaint. So while on the test drive the truck was smoking like a steam train but with a thick heavy white smoke.
After getting the car back and checking for anything that would be obvious like maybe a coolant hose leaking or something cracked. Didn't find or see anything out of the ordinary. So I went to my Macbook and looked on Mazda's site and found a TSB (technical service bulletin) about heavy smoke from exhaust. Click on the information, I find out that Mazda has found the coolant seal inside the turbo has a malfunction and is faulty which causes the coolant leak down into the exhaust creating a lot of smoke.
So I call Mazda's hotline and talk to a tech and he tells me to replace the original oil with 15W-40 full synthetic. I take care of that and have one of the technicians that works about 40 miles from our shop so I figured it was plenty of miles to burn off an excess coolant that might be still inside the exhaust and has to be burnt off. The next day I get the CX-7 back and my co worker tells me the truck didn't blow any smoke so I call Mazda and they clear the vehicle.
A couple of days later I get the car back with the same complaint. Vehicle still smoking after oil was replaced. Now I know I have to replace the turbo charger as an assembly. After all that exhausting work and clean, quality repair. I took the CX-7 out for a test drive put 20 miles on it and happy to say I don't see or have any smoke coming from the exhaust. Just to be sure and wanting to be able to sleep good at night I ask the boss if I could take the truck over night to verify that there is no chance of coolant leaking down into the exhaust after sitting over night. Woke up the next day and NO smoke.
Glad that is over with. Hope this was helpful in any way.
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