Leak of Death
 

Since i purchased my seven (1984 GS) back in september, it's had an oil leak at the joint of the front iron and front rotor housing, which i've read is the dowel o-ring, and can't be fixed(properly) without pulling the motor.
So this weekend i'm planning on pulling the motor out and attempting to rebuild it over the next few weeks(or months...who knows), and was just wondering if there are any special tools needed, or any particular tips and tricks that would help make this as smooth as possible?
I plan on downloading the factory service manuals from foxed.ca either tonight or tomorrow and looking through them to try and see about rebuild info.
I'm mechanically competent and have disassembled/resassembled several motors, just never a rotary.

~Devon

There is a fix for this that seems to work for the people who have tryed it. You may not beable to rebuild that engine. has it been rebuilt ever, how many miles are on it? alot of times the housings are worn out and need to be replaced. these are kinda hard to come by these days. you may just want to fix it and keep driving it. i don't know if you can undo the cheap fix to properly repair it. but it only cost like 15 bucks or somthing.

read this first:
https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-archive-71/engine-interesting-dowel-pin-oil-leak-fix-864358/

Stu Aull
80SG
Alaska

Or even before doing the epoxy job try adding some No Leak, a product by Golden Eagle. This stuff has amazing restorative properties, I've used it to virtually stop a severe O ring leak on one of my 12A's, which gave me another 50,000 miles without a serious leak. Also just recently I used some to stop a serious problem with leaking oil control seals on another 12A that had been sitting for a few years. That one went from 1 qt/500 miles oil consumption to normal in just a few weeks of treatment on one bottle of the No Leak.

I read it, and think i'm gonna try it this weekend (although attempting a rotary rebuild would be interesting)

I'm just wary about drilling into the rotor housing, is all...

I'd rather do a rebuild. If it already runs fine, it will run fine again after the rebuild. All it costs is a gasket set and some time.

Car runs fine, it's got 65k on the odometer. If i do rebuild it though, i don't have a dd, unless i switch the tags back to my jeep, which has a bad tranny..so idk

Yea if you do a rebuild (for the first time) quickie or properly your car will be down for some time. If all flows well, as a compentent mechanic you could be done in 2-3 days. I'd like to get it down to 1 day myself ;) but you personally might need a tool you don't have or something stupid that could hold you up even longer.

Haynes manual & soft seal kit is a must.

i'd love to get it done in 2-3 days even, but my only day off from both work and school is sunday, and i get home at about 9, so it's probably gonna take a few weeks. any special tools i'll need, beyond various hand tools?

Hey Devon, do me (and you) a favor and try a bottle of that Golden Eagle engine treatment before you go tearing down a 12A with 65K on the odometer (that's hardly even broken in for a 12A, they usually go 150,000+).

Like I said, I've had great success with this stuff fixing O ring leaks and oil control ring problems, it's a really neat solution for rotaries that works amazingly well - I'm not the only one whose reported good results.

Your low mileage and your O ring leak are probably related, the car hasn't been driven much and the O rings have stiffened up and are leaking a bit. The Golden Eagle stuff does a great job of reconditioning the material in the O rings, causing them to soften up and swell a bit, which usually cuts down or eliminates the leak.

If this doesn't help after 500 miles, then you know you need the rebuild. If it does work, you're done.

Look at it this way, $6 and 6 minutes to give the engine treatment a shot. Or $600 (probably more) and 6 days (probably more) to do an engine rebuild.

Also do us a favor and report back here if it works or not.

Ray

Ray I'm going to take your advice toooo. My 85 smokes like a banchee if I don't start her for a few days.

let us know the results Devil!


- Ray, might give the Eagle a try on my dowel leak too!?
Stu Aull
80SG
Alaska

So it looks like the Golden Eagle idea is going to have to be put off for a week or so, seeing as I blew something out in the clutch system, resulting in the car losing all clutch fluid while trying to go to my night classes, which really isn't fun. And unfortunately, because of my work and school schedule, my only free day is Sunday, so I'll let you guys know if I get it fixed and put in the Golden Eagle.

~Devon

probably the slave cylinder. they often leak when the piston inside has a bad seal. couple that with a bad dust boot and its imminent disater and dot 3 everywhere! just order a new slave cylinder and hose and replace them. its best to also replace the clutch master cylinder while you're at it but if cost is a factor, you can replace the clutch master cylinder at a later time.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mazda...Q5fAccessories

http://images2.carpartsdiscount.com/...e_cylinder.jpg

or:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MAZDA...Q5fAccessories

https://i.ebayimg.com/04/%21BbkP1wgB...w%7E%7E_12.JPG

In the mean time you could add some of that No Leak, warm it up and let it soak. By the time you get the slave fixed your oil leak might be gone too.

Just a heads up... My slave on the clutch system leaked out all it's fluid on a beater I been bringing back to life. I filled it up with fluid and tried pumping the pedal it all came right back out.

Turned out the pilot bearing slipped off the fork and wasn't sitting right allowing the rod on the slave to over extend and lose all the fluid. End result I had to drop the transmission, but at least all the parts were still good / reusable.

Before I just replace the slave cylinder, I'm definitely going to add more fluid and see if it is just leaking fluid out every time i depress the pedal or what. I don't wanna replace it and then find out it's a perfectly good part, ya know?

~Devon

if the slave is leaking u'll be able to tell by pulling the boot back.

So, I lost my job over the weekend, which has pretty much halted any work on the rx7, until I get another job. However, I did pick up a bottle of the no-leak, and it's going in today, since I can still run the motor, even though I still haven't gotten to take a look at the clutch issue.

~Devon

Let us know how it goes. Sorry about the job, but hopefully it will lead to better things.

Alright guys, time to bring a thread back from the dead, and I think it's become the "what's wrong with Devon's car thread"

I'm still jobless (boo), but finally got around to looking at the clutch issue a few days back, and the slave cylinder is pissing fluid out every time you depress the pedal, so I'm gonna have to get a new one.

Ray, the No Leak seems like it may be working, but i'm not 100% sure. It's definitely slowed the leak. I've been running the car for a while every couple of days, but it's annoying with no muffler..

And I noticed when looking for the clutch issue that there's coolant puddling on top of the intake, under the carburetor. I searched and found someone that had a similar problem, he was told it was o-rings in the intake manifold that leak.

That No Leak can be worth the investment, that's for sure.

The coolant leak might be your intake manifold gasket or "O" rings. The good news is that this is an inexpensive fix, $10-$20 for the gasket and "O" rings (get them at Mazdatrix or the dealer). It's a fairly labor intensive job, but it will give you a chance to get in there and clean things up - you might even want to rebuild the carb while you are at it (rebuild kit is $25 at autozone), especially if you still have time on your hands while still unemployed.

If you are really feeling like getting greasy you could do that slave cylinder at the same time, it will be a lot easier to get to with the carb and intake removed. You can get a rebuild kit for it for about $10, as I recall.

I'll have to keep that in mind, I've kind of been wanting to strip the carb down to bare essentials (the previous owner stripped out all emissions), so I may just do that. I'm filling in for someone at an old job of mine for a couple days, but that's just enough to cover insurance, I guess anything left will go towards parts. Who needs christmas gifts for the girlfriend, right?

You can also buy a rebuild kit for the slave cylinder pretty cheaply. Advance sells them for around $10.

Ten bucks is nicer than thirty, for sure. Where in SC are you, Wmelon?