After reading the last issue of SnowTech, the question to ralph about the 670 rotary engine smoking till it warms up made me remember that my 500 rotary also acts this way. I went to check mine after it sat all summer and sure enough the oil in the tank was down a bit, maybe 50ml. It also smokes terrible when first started and clears up when warm. My question is, are there any other issues with running it like this, like maybe running lean or hurting something else? I refilled the tank to the top and will leave it sit for a week or two and then measure again if it leaked anymore. Thanks for any replies.

wow. I'd better watch that too.

Left unrepaired that bottom end oil leak could increase and build up causing a hydrostatic lock (oil is un-compressible) which will if your lucky, blow a head gasket or unlucky (usually the case) bend a connecting rod. Follow Ralph's advice and have it serviced or DIY.

Good Luck !!!

What you say Thumbdoctor makes sense. Cause when I went to start it for the first time after checking the oil level, The motor felt real wierd on the starting rope. Instead of the nice pop,pop, pop, the piston should make, it kinda felt like less compression and almost like there was compression both ways a little,if that makes any sense.After three sets of plugs it started and smoked lots. But some of this was fogging oil too. After a good warmup, my pop.pop.pop. was back . I filled the tank and will check after a few days to make sure it's leaking enough to warrent fixing.

I vaugely remember seeing this article too. My 2001 600 smokes more than normal on start-up too.

I did some searching and can not find the cause of this....something about a bad seal maybe?

Anyhow, does anyone remember the cause of this?

Thanks!!!!

My buddy has a 98 Formula Z 670rotary. He noticed alot of smoke and stubborn starting with his. We pulled the carbs and noticed alot of oil laying in the ports, against the rotary valve. We pulled off the rotary valve cover and the engine base was FULL of oil. Turns out the oil pump was bad and was gravity feeding oil into the engine while the machine sat. We replaced the pump (and drained the base) and it ran fine. It does, however still seem to smoke quite a bit till well warmed up. We filled his oil tank and mine (97 Formula 500 liquid which doesn't smoke like his) and ran 130-140 miles. We burned close to the same amount of gas and almost identical amounts of oil.

I thought I would ask once more while I have some time to putz around. I searched Snowtechs site - and it even has archived Ask Ralph articles, but I can not find this particular problem addressed.

My sled smokes like a mutha' on start-up and I really want to fix this.

If anyone can recall the fix for this, I would really appreciate it!

Like a previous reply mentioned, the oil can leak thru the pump. But don't forget that the RV/water pump shaft & bearings are lubricated by the oil injection as well. Those are the 2 extra lines you see going into & out of the reservoir.

Check your antifreeze. If it is milky, the oil is getting past the shaft seals & into it as well.

Several years ago we had a guy w/ a '96 MXZ 583 (funky green graphics) ask us 'doo guys @ a restaurant about the milky anti-freeze. We looked into the overflow bottle & it was a milky green & the injector oil bottle contents looked "odd" as well.

The sled underhood looked poorly maintained (very rusty tuned exhaust, can, etc), so we wondered how long the guy had been running it that way.

Yeah I had to have the seal that revernd is talking about replaced on my 97 MXZ 670...It sucks because you have to totally dissasemble the engine to get to it..I caught it early and there wasn't any damage luckily.

After reading the last issue of SnowTech, the question to ralph about the 670 rotary engine smoking till it warms up made me remember that my 500 rotary also acts this way. I went to check mine after it sat all summer and sure enough the oil in the tank was down a bit, maybe 50ml. It also smokes terrible when first started and clears up when warm. My question is, are there any other issues with running it like this, like maybe running lean or hurting something else? I refilled the tank to the top and will leave it sit for a week or two and then measure again if it leaked anymore. Thanks for any replies.
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After reading the last issue of SnowTech, the question to ralph about the 670 rotary engine smoking till it warms up made me remember that my 500 rotary also acts this way. I went to check mine after it sat all summer and sure enough the oil in the tank was down a bit, maybe 50ml. It also smokes terrible when first started and clears up when warm. My question is, are there any other issues with running it like this, like maybe running lean or hurting something else? I refilled the tank to the top and will leave it sit for a week or two and then measure again if it leaked anymore. Thanks for any replies.
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I had a SIMULAR problem with my 98 670 always smoked after sitting a few days and would leave a substantial oil spill after sitting all summer. turned out to be the oil line fittings on the pump have a check valve in them that was leaking by. Replaced both FITTINGS two years ago , has worked great since no more oil spots REMEMBER ALWAYS BLEED THE SYSTEM PROPERLY

What I meant when I said my 98 670 was laeving oil spots whas when it fired it blew it out the exhaust because the oil was draining into the engine because the check valves were letting oil by. Might be all you need.