My friend just installed a different motor into his 88 NA. IT was supposedly rebuilt less than 2000 miles ago, but now that it is installed, he is losing oil like no other. Is the dipstick line 1.6 qt between low and full or 1qt? Well he is losing around 3/4-1 qt a day. It doesn't matter if it is running or not. We will start it up and let the oil warm up a bit then shut it off and wait for about 10-15 minutes and check it and he is like 1 qt low every time. We fill it up all the time and it always goes back down. What could it be?

Now the worst part. There is not one drop of oil on the ground at all. No external leaks anywhere. So we are assuming thet it is leaking from the rotor seals. We are going to try a few things to check for different possibilities like disconnecting the OMP and running just premix to see if that has anything to do with it and we are wondering about the "Leak Stop" fluid that is supposed to be absorbed by rubber seals to stop the rotor seals form leaking. Is that safe to do or is there some reason not to put that in a Rotary engine? We really need to find the culprit of this mess because 1 qt a day is excessive. Any help would be much apprecited.

Thanks, Scott

 

And it smokes from the exhaust when he gets on it. A Lot.

 

Sounds like bad oil control rings. Basically, it's a bum motor.

Brandon

 

Anyone?? Please, its my car. Thanks.

 

I too would suspect bad oil control rings as well.Who rebuilt the motor.It's possible they reused the old oil control rings instead of putting in new ones.

 

****!! Thats the motor I sold him for $300! Its smoking???!?!? I didnt smoke when I had it in the car, and it didnt use oil! It sat for about 5 months before I sold it to My_Jdm_RX7. Why wasnt I emailed about this?

Rat

*edit* That motor DOES only have about 2000 miles on it (probably less)...I dont know if the break-in was done correctly or not. I commuted with that car for about 2-3 months before I swapped the motor, and the oil consumption was fine... I had the OMP off, before I sold it to My_JDM_RX7, and when I put the OMP back on, I just slapped the peices back on. I MAY have messed up the install.

 

Hey Rat, when I got back to you about the oil problem it wasn't as bad as it has become. It was just smoking a little, I said no deal, its newer, but then it became a qt. a day. I have thought about pulling off the OMP because I run premix anyway and I thought that might have something to do with it, because I am not leaking/losing it, its being burned, so I thought it might be injecting wayyyy too much oil. I am going to pull it off and see what happens. I need a block off plate don't I? Oh yea, the motor runs awesome, very happy with the performance of the engine, just need to figure out this oil thing. thanks everyone

 

I am glad that the motor is running fine, but I am a little upset about the oil consumption problem. I dont know about running pre-mix, but check the OMP, I kinda just tacked it back on, in order to ship it to you. I may have messed up the seal or something. Sorry! I kinda spaced that one...I was rushing to get the motor ready to ship to you.

Rat

 

How did you have the OMP off and running around? Did you have a block off plate?

 

No, no!! I was stripping the block down cause I was gonna swap the rotor housings back in order to keep the motor. Then after I spoke to Hypnytz7 and some others, I opted to sell it outright.

I NEVER ran the motor without the OMP!!!!

 

The only thing I can think of, besides an internal problem, is to check your crankcase ventilation. IF pressure gets built up in there(by capping off some stuff, misrouting some hoses, etc.) then excessive smoke through the engine can result, as oil can get pushed past control rings by the pressure. Still, the general rule is any smoke coming out of the engine/exhaust itself is an internal oil ring failure, if not a broken oil o-ring. This is sorta easy to do in a rebuild, but its odd that the engine ran fine before...

Check your hose routing, maybe leave one of the lines off to the oil fill neck and go for a run to see what happens. Hell, maybe ou have a vacuum line connected to the oil tube, adn it sucks up some oil into the intake or some crazy ****

 

bought it for $300? sounds like a pretty good deal.

with that low of a price it might be worth tearing it down again to make sure all the seals are good. especially if it smokes a lot.
better safe than this engine goin out.

good luck

 

Check the PCV valve, thats makes our cars smoke when bad.

 

Kevin,

Its my old motor, you know, the one with the swapped housings? I figured that after talking to everyone, I would just sell it. SO I sold it to My_JDM_RX7 for about $300 plus $100 shipping.

Now, it never used that much oil. Something HAS to be hooked up wrong. Oil consumption when I had it was a little higher then normal, but still over 1000-1500 miles before it was time to add about a quart. I attributed that to it being a new motor.

What about the OMP? I may have hooked that up wrong when I put it back on...is that a possibility?

Rat

 

Either an oil control O ring or the whole oil ring badly installed. (Not aligned with the spring on the indentation).

 

Humm, well Im going to try the OMP and I have checked all vaccum lines and everything is correct and nothing is missing or in the incorrect place so I rule that out. But in order to run without the OMP I need a block plate correct? Does anyone know if I need one and or where to get one? Also, no one ever answered the question about the oil additive.....are they safe to use on our engines?? You know, like the oil thickiner and the stuff "suposidly" that soaks into seals and stops leaks...anyone use that stuff?

 

Then you blew the clutch into like 30 pieces about 1 week later. What gives? Your car is a nightmare. Glad to hear you got the new clutch in and that it is running fine as well. I still can't believe that the other new clutch went to **** so quickly. 2 weeks, that's pretty bad. Is it losing as much oil now since you fixed the OMP?

 

Yeah, I would like to know too