I've been having low oil pressure for a few months now, slowly getting worse to the point where it would read almost 0 to 15psi at idle and 35-45psi with the odd jump to 60psi at 3k up when warm. I was suspecting the thermo-pellet in the e-shaft so I pulled it out today and sure enough it was dead. Did the shim mod and reassembled and now I'm back to a steady almost 30psi at idle and almost 60psi at anything above 2-2.5k - I'm happy again.

This would be a good reliability mod as if the valve fails your bypassing oil from the main bearings, the turbo is probably also seeing less oil pressure and flow.

Henrik
87TII

BTW Mazda specs the thermopellet to extend at or below 60 deg C. I dropped the two I had into a pot of 55 deg water, the one from my car slowly extended 3mm, the other quickly extended 8mm.

Go here for the mod procedure:
http://fc3s-pro.com/TECH/MODS/ENGINE/OIL/etpbypass.htm

 

Great!! Im doing this fix tommorow!! It seems really simple, too. And thanks for the link.

 

Boy, you guys take long enough to try it...



-Ted

 

thats alot cheaper then buyin it from atkins rotory

 

How did you remove the bolt to the oil thermo pellet? Was the clutch pedal held down throughout the hold procedure? How did you break the bond of the e-bolt? I too have the Oil Prug #11 from Mazdatrix and abit sceptical of doing this before I am entirely sure!

 

If the engine is still in the car, then you can use a breaker bar with a 19mm socket.&nbsp 1/2"-drive min!&nbsp Lay the bar in the driver's side of the engine bay and jab the starter - the starter has enough torque to break the bolt free.

Watch out for the spacer getting loose in the front!&nbsp Mazdatrix has a write-up on the potential problem...
http://www.mazdatrix.com/faq/pulley.htm



-Ted

 

LOL, yes I did take my time doing the fix but I haven't been driving the car much either. For me, I tried the hand tool route, big socket and a chain wrench, couldn't break it loose, just spun the pulley. Then tried the starter method. 1st jab just stalled the starter, 2nd jab just broke my 1/2" to 3/8" socket adapter. (I've never broken a tool before). Today, drove it down to a local gas station and paid a guy a few bucks to break it loose with an impact wrench - best money I spent for the whole mod. There must have been half a litre of blue locktite on the bolt. Anyways after you get the bolt out, the rest is easy. I wedged the clutch down when I had the bolt out just to be safe. Be sure to clean up the copper washer and the corresponding seat on the pulley otherwise you may get leaks. Also use blue locktite or equivalent when putting it back in to keep it from working loose.

Good luck,

Henrik
87TII

 

Weren't you worried about the bearing being dropped? Is there any way to prevent this from happening?!?
I think i have the SAME problem with oil pressure that i thought was resolved.

 

You would actually have to move the hub of the front pulleys to make the thrust bearing drop, simply removing the bolt and the thermal pellet would not distrub the front thrust bearing, the starter method is not one of what I would call finesse with the tools, and using such a method may break the hub loose as well, you can buy or rent a tool called a torque multiplier which makes the job much easier and safer than jaming a breaker bar with the starter.
The torque multiplier also comes in handy for removing the flywheel nut..Max

 

so if i take the bolt off manually, it reduces the chances of dropping the bearing?

 

Yeah the cast hub would actually have to shift to change the endplay enough to allow the thrust bearing to slip, if you take jsut the bolt and pellet out without moving the hub, no problem, the thrust bearing thing is more of a concern to people who have to remove the hub in order to change the front cover seals etc etc..Max

 

awesome. So is this an easy mod to do? How do you remove the shroud? i am experiencing the exact symptoms. Good pressure while cold, terrible pressure when warmed up

 

Yah mean the fan shroud? well some bolts and couple of one time snaps at the bottom and the shroud comes off..
Ted likes to use washers as a shim I think, I just cut a piece of 3/8 tubing to 8mm's and used that.
Its pretty easy to do, once the bolt is out, the hardest part is getting the bolt out, but the right tools makes the job a breeze.
Make sure you get that front bolt back in tight, and use some locktite on it when you put it back together, I have seen what happens when of those bolts comes loose and its not pretty, the whole front end of the car gets lubed from top to bottom..Max

 

great, thanks!! Another thing you might be able to explain... i don't understand how washers make the rod extend!!!! Doesnt it extend INTO the bolt? Perhaps i'm confused. Exactly how do the washers resolve this problem? Thanks
-Ross

 

Have a look at the pics in the link I posted, it should give you a good understanding of how the shims make the mod work. I was worried about dropping the bearing but as long as you don't move the front pulley it won't be a problem - I just didn't no if it would come off with the bolt so I wedged the clutch down to be safe(r). You don't need to take the rad shroud off btw, just the fan itself and possibly the belts depending on what kinda tools you have.

Henrik
87TII

 

I am having the same problem, it started after i stored it for the winter, and i did a whole bunch of stuff and when i got it working i noticed that and then my rear eccentric oil seal blew, i though it had something to do with it. But after i replaced that still cold=good hot =low. I'm going to have to try this, and how would u know if you screwed up your torrington bearing? I put underdrive pulleys on a year ago by breaker bar and i didn't push in the clutch, So how would u know if you messed up? Could i see damage if i did this mod?

 

How serious is this low pressure problem? It seems that a lot of people seem to have it (including me), and we're all driving around every day like that... Are we all causing extreme wear internally?

-Tesla

 

Once you get everything apart, it's pretty intuitive on what happens.&nbsp The pellet extends away from the bolt itself, so the pellet moves "into" the eccentric shaft.&nbsp By moving into the e-shaft, it plugs a bypass hole.&nbsp By shimming the oil pellet away from the bolt, this plugs the hole up full-time.


-Ted

 

There are several ways to check to see if the Torrington bearing fell out of place.&nbsp Mazda checks depth of the bolt into the e-shaft to see if it's seated correctly.&nbsp If it's been a year since you've changed the pulley, you're fine.&nbsp if the bearing got dislodged, the engine would literally eat itself within two months.&nbsp Trust me, I've fucked up a rebuild due to this problem, and the engine will slowly lose power over a couple months.&nbsp The whole front stat bearing and everything in the front housing will eat itself and maim the front e-shaft journals - it's not a pretty sight.


-Ted

 

Think about it - you're bypassing oil that'll normally go to the rotors and front stat bearing.&nbsp No matter how you cut it, it's not good.&nbsp I think it causes pre-mature wear&tear on the oil control seals.&nbsp This is about the most obvious signs of damage, cause this allows oil to bypass the oil control o-rings and enter the combustion chamber.&nbsp What does this cause?&nbsp Excessive oil smoke through the exhaust and oil fouling of spark plugs...


-Ted