Dragueur

now this shop says it is my oil sending unit that is leaking oil and not my oil pan gasket(says i have a paper one)

and my radiator is not leakin..it is leakin from the radiator cap(says the seal is warped)

and he says that is from my engine oil seals goin bad?? and now i need my engine rebuilt?

sounds correct?

clayne

What shop is this? That sounds like a bunch of BS.

Beast From The East

I'm local and want to know what shop, too.

Beast

Dragueur

Beast...you should know him...
Checkpoint.....
thats the only rotary shop i know in Sac..

BigIslandSevens

iTrader: (4)

What was the original problem? I guess a leaky oil pan ? As others already commented. This smells fishy. Get a hold of a member you know locally and find out where they go. ( Like Clayne, Although i think he does alot of his own work, he might know of one. FWIW: Where is Racing Beat or Mazdatrix in realation to Sacramento?)

silver93

You'll find quite a few owners have oil leaks under their cars. More often than not, it is around the oil pan gasket.

If I were you, instead of spending a lot of money with a mechanic, I would invest in several things:

1. a cheap jack and jack stands ($40)
2. a couple of cans of Gunk engine degreaser
3. a new radiator cap.

Jack the car up, use the jack stands, and spray down the underside of the car with Gunk. Wait 10-15 min. Hose it all off with water. Replace the rad. cap.

Drive around for about 10 min., come back and park the car on a flat, dry and clean spot. Wait as long as needed (an hour, a day) until you see some drips on the ground. jack it up, and look up for your leak. now you should be able to figure out where it comes from.

As for your engine needing to be rebuilt - ask yourself these questions:
1. does it start?
2. does it seem to have pretty good power (like it used to or should)?

If the answer is yes - tell him to shove the rebuild.
When your car shakes like crazy, or smokes like crazy, then worry about a rebuild.

Dragueur

about 8 hours...down south

Beast From The East

The oil sender units goes bad all the time, and are a source of leaks. Did Chris put flourescent dye in the oil and run the car for a day, then use his black light and special goggles underneath (you should be able to look and see, too.)? If not, then do it to confirm the leaks. He's done this for me a couple of times.

You'll see dye from every leak, not just the sending unit. The sending unit is something like $40.

Now, if your oil control rings have gone bad, you should have excessive oil consumption, with blue tinge exhaust. Use this link to read up on oil and coolant ring failure:

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Garage/5903/QA.html

Follow all the links and see if you have any of the symptoms. If you do, then Chris is right. If you don't, just fix the leak and monitor.

Why did you bring the car in? Just for the leaks, or for other symptoms?

Chris isn't perfect, and he knows that. He and I have had to reason out a couple of things in the past, but he's right much more often than not.

Beast

Dragueur

thanks for the tip....this thing is for my WARRANTY..just trying to make them pay for the lil stuff before my warranty expires..


as for the last 2 questions..
car runs fine..boosts perfect...had a boost leak in the higher RPMs cause my check valve to the chamber(the one under the y-pipe broke in two..i have a new one on there and it is fine(thats what the mechanic said..I havent drove it yet)

but car is fine...

Dragueur

I brought it in for warranty work.. on my leakin coolant and oil problem and control arm bushings...

Chris says he is puttin some yellow stuff and testing out my motor rite now.... i dont know about the dye for oil leaks though.

Beast From The East

OK, good. That's the dye I was talking about. Let him know you'd like to take a gander through the googles if you can get down there.

Now, who's warranty work? Was this Checkpoint's work that is warranteed, or someone elses? Or do you have a third party extended warranty?

Also, what about those other items - blue smoke on startup or under boost (you can see it in the rear view mirror)? How many miles on the motor? Any excessive oil consumption?

More info, please.

Beast

Dragueur

its a aftermarket extended warranty when i bought the car.
76K miles

no blue smoke on start up or driving...just the regular white/disappearing ones...

there USED to be oil drips on the ground overnight...but it hasnt been drippin lately(over a month)? and a couple weeks ago...drips of water started dripping. but thats stopped too...

Dragueur

beast...too bad ur always busy...i wouldve had you and Ed take a look at my car for me...

wrankin

In addition, other places that are known for problematic oil leaks are a) the oil filter pedestal, b) the engine mount bolts (that go through an oil passageway), and c) the turbo oil lines.

-bill

Beast From The East

As far as looking at your car, I'd have just told you to take it to Chris anyway. I'd like to be more active with the local 7's, but I'm already up to my eyeballs in aligator's with other things (work, wife, golf club, Past Master of my Masonic Lodge....the list goes on). That's why I pay Chris to take car of my car.

Anyway, back to your issue. As other's have mentioned, oil can leak from all over on this car. The dye will tell the tale. Pull the plugs - do they have oil on them or other oil-related buildup? That's another way to check if your oil rings have decided to take a vacation....oil will get into the combustion chamber and foul the plugs. Any hard start issues?

Unfortunately if your motor has 76K miles on it, that's about the outer end of stock motor longevity. Yes, there are some who will tell you they got a bazzillion miles on their motor, but the norm for 3rd gen stock motors is 60 to 80K. Will your extended warranty cover the rebuild (or a big chuck of it?)? If so, and Chris can definitively prove you need a new motor, then you may be able to come out of this relatively well.

Anyway, if you don't have any of the symptoms, or it looks like things are just beginning to go, let Chris know that you want to wait and see. The worst case is that he's right, and as you go further along the car will let you know if the oil rings are going. Just be prepared with backup transpo, because the rebuild process can take a while.

Let us know the results. I'll continue to stand by Checkpoint (now called Autonomic Performance - I think it's a bad name and I've let them know it), but they are human and can make a mistake. Sometime they have suspicions that don't turn out to be the problem. For instance, my speedo stopped working. We just assumed the speedo unit went bad (happens all the time). I spent $150 for a used one, put it in, and it still didn't work. WTF? Now we do a more thorough check, and find out the f'ing gear in the tranny is broken and I have to crack the tranny. Sure enough, the damn gear was in two pieces, so I now have a nice back-up speedo just sitting in my garage. Was I disappointed? Sure, but it wasn't the end of the world.

Keep us posted,

Beast.

Dragueur

warranty will only cover $3K....

have not checked the spark plugs yet....Chris didnt mention it? I will ask when he calls.

yeah..autonomics...but their reciepts says ANtonomics..

Dragueur

dont they have compressin checks to see if the motor is goin out also?

Beast From The East

A compression check is also a good idea, just didn't know if you wanted to sport for it. Requires a special compression check tool, which of course they have.

Oil on the plugs is usually when the oil rings have REALLY crapped out. If the car's running ok then it may not show up.

If you're willing to pay for it, I'd do it. That will also help confirm your engine health.

3K is pretty good - depending upon the condition of your housings, that covers much of a rebuild. However, you'll be surprised at all the 'other' stuff that should be replaced while you're there (hoses, the engine harness get's really brittle and that may need replacing, housings if they are worn, oil injectors, clean your fuel injectors, etc.). Doesnt' make any sense to rebuild the motor and then blow it again because your injectors need cleaning. That's why a 'good' standard rebuild cost upwards of 5K. You can do some stuff on the cheap, but you need a bit of luck for some of the pricier components (housings are $600 apiece, and the harness is $800). As a Mazdaspeed supported individual I got some good price breaks for my components, but then there was the custom porting, the dowel pinning, and everything else I did.

Anyway, sounds like you just need to get the leaks fixed unless the compression check shows a bad problem.

Also, it's been so cold recently it's not surprising that you're not leaking as much oil. Now that overnight temps are coming up you'll probably see oil spots on teh driveway again (unless you fix them).

Beast

Dragueur

thanks beast.. I am just gonna have Chris check to see if my warranty company will cover my oil sending unit... and have chris just replace my radiator(fluidyne), oil gasket, and my bushings.... I will just wait and see when it gets warmer to see if there is anything else that can be wrong and if i start seeing blue smoke in the mornings and more oil drippings, then i might/will possibly look into a rebuild.



thanks everyone else...





will keep everyone posted...