Front Cover Oil Leak
 

I've searched and read about a half dozen different threads and it seems no one bothers to post fixes for this problem (or they just don't fix it).

I took the front cover off after a snafu with a front pulley replacement (didn't know to push the clutch in). After verifying all my bearings were in good shape I put everything back together. When I put the front cover back on, I was advised to use a modified RX8 metal front cover gasket since they are superior to the paper gaskets. I had to snip off some excess parts and I also noticed that the portion of the gasket that goes around the o-ring was smaller than the original gasket.

After getting everything back together the first time I notice an oil leak. The area where it's leaking is circled in red on the attached pic of a front cover gasket.

I checked the torque on the front cover bolts and all was good. So I bit the bullet and pulled the front cover again. Since I hadn't replaced the o-ring (I know, stupid), I put a new one in.

Now that everything is back together again it's STILL leaking! I'm at a complete loss on how to fix this leak and it's the last thing to fix after a long list of accomplished modifications. I'm ready to get to tuning and it's holding me up. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

no old gasket material on the mating surfaces?

some copper spray on gasket material or a light amount of silicone rubbed onto the surface should cure the issue. also check the surfaces with a straight edge, there is an oil galley in that area which feeds oil to the OMP but even though it is low pressure there isn't much support in that spot for sealing.

Ah, that would explain why I still have good oil pressure and the oil isn't coming out with great force. I had originally thought maybe the oil was traveling to a weak sealing spot from the o ring area. Thanks Karack!

So, by applying a little bit of RTV to the seam of the front cover and the front iron I was able to slow the leak to a seep. When I pull the front cover again (maybe in a couple weeks) I'll put RTV along that area of the gasket and that should solve that.

that's good to hear, the steel gaskets are a bit thinner than the factory gasket so the oil pump galley in the center area may be pushing the cover out of alignment. no easy fix for that aside from a little more sealant or the thicker paper gasket.