dirty oil is usually caused by slack side seals, if you tighten up the tolerances the carbon shouldn't make it into the oil. this of course means using new side seals and trimming them to tight tolerances.

let us know what you find.

 

I disassembled the engine. Nothing popped out like I was hoping. I measured the oil control ring lip width. The FSM says the lip should be 0.20" max. Mine range from 0.0125' to 0.160". Would that be enough to cause all of the smoking? The soft seals all seemed OK, no nicks, cracks or cuts. All of the oil seal springs were installed correctly. The side seal to corner seal clearances that we checked were within specs.
What else can I look for?

 

are you using and reusing OEM oil control o-rings? if so there is your answer. replace those, the carriers shouldn't be giving you an issue with that spec. even if they are viton they can deform after several thousand miles and should be replaced if they are flattened out. i had tried to reuse OEM oil control seals one time on an engine that had only a few hours of run time, it never sealed or stopped smoking. it is true that the OEM oil seals should never be reused even if you start the engine once on them.

only other thing to check is the inside of the rotors where the oil seals ride to see if there is any cuts or deep burrs in the surfaces. and also in the irons within the "football" oil seal tract.

 

I'm using the Viton oil rings. This would be the the second time they were used. The first time they were installed the engine was only run for less than an hour total.
I'll check the rotors for cracks.

 

well i'm running out of ideas, if the irons are good i would thoroughly inspect the rotors where the oil seals ride and if that looks fine i would replace the oil seal carriers and oil seals o-rings. it's just too much work to save a few bucks.

 

Yes, way too much work.

Maybe I should just go with the Mazda oil seal o-rings this time?

yea, I'm way past "out of ideas" ? I think anybody that has ever helped me with this engine avoids me now. I was told that girls are not supposed to be so obsessed with cars. Now that's funny.

 

i've had less issues with the viton seals than with OEM seals but that doesn't mean the vitons are perfect and will always be able to be reused. the vitons are cheaper than OEM and more durable, but they may be flawed after being reused a few times now.

 

I ordered the Viton o-rings and the metal carries also. I also ordered new rotor bearings, new water seals, new oil springs, new side seals and springs, an o-ring install kit and a gasket kit.

That should take care of most everything. I'm just going to start over, as if this is the first time it was rebuilt but I'm going to re-use the apex seals because they only have like 7 hours on them.

 

sounds good, maybe also try a different type/weight of oil as well.

 

sounds like the oil control ring springs were installed backwards.

 

both rotor rear faces the springs should screw in clockwise and lock if you turn it that direction. front faces are the reverse and lock when turning counterclockwise. round tab goes into the rotor, squared edge goes against the oil seal.

if they are backwards the oil seal will spin on the rotor and cause a leak past the seals.

 

just coming in from left field...running pre-mix or OMP? Omp lever in correct position relative to TB (assuming S4). Oil nozzles ok and vaccum lines attached and good?

 

I checked the oil control springs as I took them out and they were in the correct places.
I built the rotors myself and this is my 4th set, unless you count the 3 times these rotors have been done.

 

I can never remember where they go but I have a "rebuild" video and I make sure they are correct.
On my first build, I put the springs on correctly but then swapped the rotors. The rotor that had been built to go on the front actually ended up on the rear. I ran it that way for 3000 miles and then sold it. It's still running on my rotor build from 2004. I guess some times you can get away with it.
At the time it happened I talked with Aaron Cake and he said it would probably be OK for about 25-30K miles.
I can't remember how I finally found out the rotors were in the wrong place.

 

Hey, any idea is welcomed. I am running a manual OMP. I wondered about the control wire so I disconnected it temporarily but it made no difference. Oil nozzles were connected normally.

 

I was checking clearances on the side seal to corner seal and I found 2 adjacent corner seals that were not able to move freely. If the seals were stuck down maybe that is why the oil was so dirty after 7 hours.

 

I picked up a 5 qt container of 20W-50.