enigma32

First of all, Hello Everyone!


Now for my question:

I recently (within the last 3 weeks) took my '81 RX-7 up to school with me and since then I've been going through oil at a significantly faster rate. (Of course, I'm driving it a lot more now, too)
(12A, stock)


What I'm curious about is the apparent collection of oil on the outside of the portion of the engine around the oil filter. There's a bunch of oily, shiny grime (if that makes sense =) on the engine that I think has been increasing in volume.


Any idea what the most likely source of the [presumably] oil would be and how to prevent it?



Thanks!
Matt

RacerX7fb

Matt
engine that engine a good cleaning to determine exactly where the oil is coming from. It could be the oil filter not being on there snuggly enough..to the O-rings inside the oil filter pedestal gone bad to the actual engine housing which only a rebuild can fix.
If you take your can to get oil changes done at a shop, its likely that its simply a collection of oil pooling up around there from removing the filter and not cleaning the area. How much oil is consumed or lost per 1000 miles? Needing to add half a quart and up to a quart a month for a daily driven high mileage engine is normal...especially if youve got a heavy right foot

enigma32

I'm up to about 800 miles since I began my trip to school. The oil was full when I left home, and I'm ready to dump a half quart in it tonight after already having loaded a quart into it in the last week or two.

I suppose I could try cleaning it this weekend and seeing if it builds up again? But that still seems like an awful lot of oil to be going through...

anthrax

I have simalar discolouratoin on my rear housing as well. I am not going through near that much oil. My oil concumption seems to be normal. I am gonna try and clean my engin this weekend too and see what I can find. I figure its just the orings in the oil pedistill.

Any way good luck with your problem

inittab

I'll bet it's just the o-rings under the oil filter pedistal that need to be replaced. On an 81 that's very easy to do. You can get the o-rings from Mazda, www.Mazdatrix.com or www.loweperformance.com