nick1

i have an oil leak. a pretty bad one. its located around the front of the motor somewhere. i suspected the oil pan gasket, but it only leaks when the engine is running. if it was an oil pan leak, woulnd't it leak all the time?

where else could it be leaking from up front? my omp is disconnected, and i just have an old rat's nest curved vacum line going from one outlet to the other outlet of the omp, tying them together. could that pose a problem?

when the car is runing, it iwll drip about once every 20 seconds or so.

Manntis

where is your oil cooler, on top of the engine (beehive) or under the rad?

nick1

beehive (i have replaced the o rings on the beehive)....

like i said its leaking around the front. (could be the hard line)

Manntis

best thing to do is wipe off the suspected area and observe it for seeping or weeping. Make sure the area above is clean too.

KeloidJonesJr.

iTrader: (8)

Might be a seal.

mazdaverx713b

iTrader: (91)

i would definatly look into the hard line that runs from the beehive to the font cover. they rust and become brittle.

Rogue_Wulff

Could be the crush washer behind the fitting that the oil pipe to the beehive connects to. When I took my beehive off, I actually tightened that down almost 1/2 turn after removing the hard line.

timmybighands

I had the same problem only weeks ago. My Hard Oil Line from the behive to the front of the block was leaking BADLY. Even when I took it off, I only noticed a TINY TINY little pinhole in it right where it makes a 90* turn heading into the block. It was impossible for me to imagine such a small hole could leak so much, but that's what it was! I thought for sure I had a leaking pan, or ANYTHING else besides the HOI... Anyway.

Unfortunatly, they are $180+ from Mazda. I tried patching it first, with no worky... then had the luck of having someone here on the forums have a spare laying around. Ask around before dropping Mazda prices on a new one.

Whanrow

I had the same thing. Smell of burning oil and smoke coming up from the front cover. I was sure it was an OMP line right at the pump, if not the pump itself.

It turned out to be the oil pan gasket. Only leaked when the car was running, and only once it was warm. Didn't leak any other time. Replaced the gasket, and presto, for the first time since I owned the car, no more burning oil smell.

Note, I couldn't see this is where the leak came from until I took off the undertray, jacked the front up, let it get good and warm, then crawled under the car.

If it turns out to be the oil pan, pm me and I'll tell you how I changed the gasket. I learned a few tricks that make it pretty easy. If I had to do it again, I could do it in less than 2 hrs start to finish.

nick1

oh, ok, so the oil pan gasket CAN leak only when the car is running and the oil gets hot. i had thought if it was the oil pan, then it would leak all the time but i guess as the oil heats up it gets "thinner"

this might sound retarted, and probably not the best place for me to say this, but i still have no idea how in the hell oil gets from the oil pan, to the rotor? i mean where does it lubricate? i don't understand this at all. i know there is a pump, but where does the pump pump the oil to? (im gunna get flamed for this)

GavinJuice

right from the fsm

vipernicus42

iTrader: (4)

Oil is pumped through the middle of the E-shaft, and comes out 2 jets, which put oil into the middle of the rotor. The rotor is mainly hollow, so oil goes into the rotor (and actually provides 40% of the motor's cooling) as well as lubricating the rotor's bearing. It also lubricates the e-shaft's bearings front and back. That's it.

And your OMP's "port-to-port" blockoff could definitely be the cause of the leak. Wipe the area off really well, run the engine and watch it for leaks. Could take many minutes to appear but you'll see it if you clean it enough.

Jon

vipernicus42

iTrader: (4)

Wow.... missed that post while writing. Brilliant!

Jon

GavinJuice

clean off all the oil, then get a bottle of baby powder and throw it all over the area. it'll show exactly where it's coming from as it stands out. nice little trick for all kinds of leaks.

Whanrow

Hey, I wasn't knocking you man. Didn't mean it if it sounded that way. I thought the same as you, so was very surprised to find that as my leak.

I'm stuck on 26,400 dialup, so can't download manuals, but they usually have pictures of the oil circulation somewhere in them.

I'm almost certain the rotors themselves (seals) are lubricated strickly by the oil from the OMP, or in your case premix. The oil would be pumped to the rest of the moving parts of the engine - eccentric shaft, gear teeth on the rotors, etc. since something like 30% of the cooling (trochoid knows the exact %) for a rotary comes from the oil, I've got to presume it runs in passages around the rotors, picking up heat on the way.

Whanrow

Also missed the diagram while writing. 26,400 SUCKS!

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

The oiling system on a rotary is incredibly simple. Jon hit most of the main part of it. The figure I have seen most quoted on oil cooling for the engine is 30%, most of which is picked up from the inside of the rotors.

What the oiling diagram doesn't show is how the mop gets it's supply of oil. There is a channel that is cast into the front cover that takes it's feed right after the oil pump. This part of the system lubes the seals in the combustion chamber.

Simple.

Nicholas P.

iTrader: (1)

mine does that too. no worries. just have a cardbored box ready.

mine is the oil pan gasket.
my car sat in a field so long its a wonder the gaskets havent fallen apart yet

Nicholas P.

iTrader: (1)

somone has a manual on the cd.

just buy it. its farely cheap =============

Whanrow

Actually another member was kind enough to burn them to DVD for me, problem is the pc I access the net on, doesn't have a dvd reader....