RTYPWR

What does it mean when there is oil leaking from inbetween the front cast iron housing and the 1st rotor housing by the sparkplugs its on a 12a that has about 70k. thank in advance everyone.

Pittdp

Tat is not a good sign. YOu may want to use a 20/50w oil which would thicken it up a little. Does your car still start fine? Mine started leaking like that after I let it overheat, Soon after I started losing compression.

Pittdp

Hey your profile says 85 GSL-SE but you have a 12A, whats up?

RTYPWR

I was looking at a 12a that was out of the car the guy was selling the engine for $250 dollars he said it only had 70k on it but there was the oil leak it seems to only happen to 12aS because my P.O.S 83 gsl with a 180k does the samething.

RTYPWR

My 85 se has a 13b with 30k on the clock.

Serzy

You sound to be refering to a dowl pin leak, they dont hurt the performance of your engine and its nothing serious to worry about, all it means is it will use up a little bit more oil so youll have to check it frequently. Try switching to a 20w50 oil and see if it stops leaking... or slows it, if that helps or doesnt than you can try adding some break fluid to your oil and that should swell the seals and also might stop the leak. But this is not a critical leak as long as you keep the car fed with oil...

Pittdp

Why dont you just **** in your ingine, it might even work better than the clutch fluid. I am sorry but it seems that all these little tips on solving leaks are unfounded and have not been proven to work in the long run without doing more damage than good. And how would a dowl pin problem affect oil simply leaking from the side of the engine were the gasket seals the oil in.

Pele

iTrader: (28)

LOL

Jeff Andrews

I agree with Pitt on this. It would be better to add a little oil every week then to risk detroying your seals (or worse) just to stop a slow oil leak.

BadAssRX-7

ok i have had MANY of the dowel leaks but its not a major thing. it basiclly makes a mess in the car but nothing other than that and a faster oil consumption/loss.


NOW the fast fix. clean the hell out of the motor where its leaking. I mean really clean it, i use motor cleaner, then scrub it with laq. thinner. then i get some "marine tex" its like jb weld but about 10x as strong. its bad *** ****, it will dry under water. go to a boat shop they should have it in stock. mix that stuff up and put it over the plate and housing around the leak, i cover it a few inches each way, the side of the housing/ plate is a real pain in the *** but make sure you get it good and covered. let it dry and harden over night and BLAM no more leaking. I put 70k on my 79 with this fix.... that or rebuild the motor for the right fix..... this fix cost me about 15$ and 2 hours work.
This is why i got my 83 limited editon for 750$... that and 2 new oil metering lines now i have 1 of 5000 l.e. @116k and pulls hard as hell....thinking about a s.c.

RTYPWR

What makes the dowel pin leak does it break or come lose? Or is it the gasket / seals ? Or poor building of the engine ? thanks

spanacheck7

The dowl pins are steal and the housings (which they sit in to line up the engine is not). When these components heat up they expand at different rates. The dowl pins could flex the housings if there was some extreme temperatures in your engine resulting in your oil leak. Your not long before a rebuild if thats the case because for proper engine cooling and lubrication it is vital that the water not mix with the oil and those seals might not be able to do the job with the slightest clearance between the housings. Good luck good luck hope it turns out.

alsaunders

Has anyone try using stop leak, I did it with a piston motor and it worked, but a piston motor isn't build as tight as a Wankel.

1stGenJake

alsaunders, i wouldnt bother with it really. depending on the leak you can let it go or you have to fix it. quick fixes are exactly what they say, quick to fix quick to break.

GavinJuice

stop leak swells the seals and turns them into MUSH. NOT GOOD

woodonastick

iTrader: (1)

i had a leak similar to that. mines turned out to be the beehive oil cooler o-rings. once replaced, no more leak in that area.

alsaunders

Thank You for the advice, I might try JB Weld If I take my time it may work or at least slow the o ring leak.
I been using Castrol GTX High Milage. It help some.

KansasCityREPU

iTrader: (9)

I had a leak like this when the water seals went out and the housings warpped from overheating.

alsaunders

has anyone tried mighty putty on the o ring leak. if it fixes water pipe leaks it might work. their isn't any presure on the o ring leak. just a bad ideal

trochoid

iTrader: (6)

The dowel pin leak in that particular engine is caused by the beehive oil cooler. 83-85 12A engines are the only engines Mazda ever produced that have the beehive oil cooler and this problem is almost 100% limited to those years. The only true fix is a tear down and rebuild for a $2 rubber o-ring that splits from the heat of the oil.

Unless you're prepared to rebuild, run 20W50 oil as mentioned, keep the engine clean and check your oil every time you get gas. The sooner you rebuild, the less it may cost you by being able to reuse more of the hard seals, i.e., apex seals.

Another suggestion I can make is to upgrade from the beehive to the front mount oil cooler. I have a write up on 'How To' in the archives. I had the same problem and did the upgrade to coincide with my rebuild. The following link is to my FMOC upgrade thread.

https://www.rx7club.com/1st-gen-archive-71/cooling-oil-how-install-fc-oil-cooler-1st-gen-write-up-pics-478521/

There have been many suggestions and a wide variety of attempts to solve this problem. The only successful long term fix has been a rebuild. If the internals of your engine are are in good shape and everything is within Mazda's rebuild specs, you might be able to get by with a gasket kit for just under 200 bucks. With the low mileage on your engine, you may only need to order the apex seal springs. corner seal springs and apex seals to be on the safe side since you have the engine open. Assembled and broken properly in, you should see at least another 100k trouble free miles from your engine.

alsaunders

The car is a 1982 which has the oil cooler in the front. the car never gone over the half mark.
Thanks for your help