Mazda Factory Rebuild = Catastrophic Failure
 

OK.... AGAIN... another thread about my goddamn motor from Mazda. Ok, well maybe it wasn't completely their fault, but I can say I wont get another motor from them.

The problem has finally been found. After ripping through the front half and finding a simply beautiful cover, front housing, and rotor, the rear half had to sit... it just wouldnt come apart. Now, i had 3 finals today and a reason to take out some anger over a "bombed" calculus 2 final. I took a sledge to the rear iron, only to break it. However, I did manage to pull the rear apart today.

The rear stat gear had fused to the rotor. I destroyed both after tearing down the rear half, and believe me, i WILL post pics later. And think, tis just happened while I was driving.

i guess ill start by saying is that these things happen. For example, I had a fuel pump die on me in one of my cars a few years back. well, after about 4 trips back to the store with "junked, but new" pumps i finally got the car to start and run. So just because its a reman doesnt make it protected from flaws. New cars fresh off the trailer from the factory sometimes have to have reflashed ecus, or other types of work.

As for the rear stationary gear seizing up on you . You need to look at it this way. I believe that is the first bearing that sees oil from the cooler . So somehow it might have starved its self of oil. My car ran for about 1 minute with a completly crimped oil cooler line and siezed up from oil starvation. Or simply you spun a bearing. These things do tend to happen. When my front stationary gear fused onto my e-shaft it took Kevin @ rotaryresurrection about 30 minutes to sledge it off. BUt luckly the housing came apart fine and there was no damage to the houseing whats so ever.

... I'm interested in seeing pics. But that sucks. :-/

I no longer will take an alternator out of a parts store without having them test it. You only have to install a reman alternator a few times and then pull it back out again because it's not charging... you learn. And not all cars are as easy to change an alternator on as an RX-7.

-=Russ=-

Sounds like rear stat gear bearing seized.
This means it was oil starvation.

DO YOU HAVE THE REAR / MAIN OIL PRESSUR REGULATOR INSTALLED???
It's the hex long thingy underneath in the oil pan area on the rear housing.
If it is, Mazda is going to blame you for the oil starvation.


-Ted

I was thinking exactly the same thing.

hmmm... yeah, it was there, but mazda wont be blaming me, because it wasnt under warranty anymore, and im going to rebuild it. To tell you the truth, I would rather have mark or ted do it than get another one from mazda. hell, id even pay the 2700 i payed mazda for their work.

Alright, Icemark and RETed, I hope I'm wrong in saying this. IF the main oil psi regulator IS installed, then Mazda IS NOT going to blame him for the oil starvation. If it WASNT installed, then, I think they will blame him.

Picturessss!!!!!
 

keep in mind that the rear rotor housing was the one that i destryed while prying... at least now i can keep the eshaft and int housing.

how many miles on your rebuild? I have 40K on mine and no probs........

40k... hehe, there wasnt one good tooth left on the gear inside the rotor

:eek:................lol.........how long ago did you do yours?

wow...that really sucks man. I NEVER order anything from Mazda unless it's the absolute last place on earth..they steal your money and don't even give you that great of parts. I'm glad I live by Karack..if mine blows I can have him rebuild mine :) Again sorry to hear your engine is so fucked up :(

i got the motor put in for me in may of 03, i didnt know a damn thing about cars, plus i was living in a dorm. it blew while i was down in corpus christi back in dec 04. i finally got the balls to tear it apart, so here i am.

Umm if the oil pressure regulator IS installed, then it wasn't Mazda's fault there for they would blame him. But if it ISN'T installed, then it was their error for not installing it when rebuilding there for it would be totally their fault.

well, if it wasnt installed, would it have lasted 40k? if it would, i dont think it would be a needed part. but then... what do i know, this is the first time ive ever worked on one of these, but hey im only 20. anyone want to get me a rear rotor housing for my bday? may 23... the big 21... a case of beer would be cool too!

I now see my mis-understanding. I was under the impression that the client was to install the oil psi gauge. I assumed he ordered the engine without the oil pan on, which doesn't make too much sense any more. I then assumed that if the client applied the oil pan, and by some small chance, forgot to install the oil psi gauge, then it would be the clients fault.

Assumption, is the Mother of all F***ups.

I have 2 remans and no problems.

It’s confusing to me what an engine builder could have done wrong to the oiling system that takes forty thousand miles for the engine to seize. Oiling problems usually manifest themselves very early in the life of a rebuild. Did the engine have abnormal oil pressure? If so, when did it start?

Often bearings are changed during rebuilds, and though most people would think this is a good thing, it can often be worse than leaving the originals in place if they weren't worn much. The reason being is that for some reason, many find it hard to properly install new bearings, and actually do more harm than good by installing them improperly, leading to an increased likelihood that they'll spin later on. However, a spun bearing alone isn't responsible for that stat gear damage...I've only seen that a couple of times on abused motors. It takes a LOT of force to break stat gears. I've seen irons cracked, rotors dented in, seals destroyed, bearings locked and spun, rotorhousings gouged, and still no sign of wear or trauma to the stat gears. It'd almost take an overrev situation or a foreign object inside the engine to cause that damage.

BTW, whoever tore up that damn-near-perfect rotorhousing in an effort to get the motor apart is...not the brightest. That cost you a few hundred bucks right there. What do you think that big chunk of aluminum casting on top of the rotorhousing is for? IT's used to hit on if you need to seperate stubborn stuck housings.

do you think a machine shop could fix the housing?

oh yeah, i screwed it up (obviously). but, there really wasnt a way around it. i pretty much had to sacrifice it for the eshaft and the int housing.

and remember my bday guys!

The problem is that eshafts and NA int housings are worth anywhere from $25-50 each, and readily available...meanwhile an s5 rotorhousing in that condition would go for $150-300 and will be a bit harder to come by.

IF you didnt disturb the material where the coolant seal mates to the housing, it might be okay still. It looks like it's gone, though. Perhaps someone very skilled could weld AL back on there and bring it back smooth, but itd be hard not to warp it, so I doubt so.

holy shit i have never seen a stationary gear that effed before.

what the hell did you do man?

what about an s4 rotor housing? are they that hard to come by too?

You wouldnt want to use an s4 because the plugholes are slightly relocated/retimed.

Any housing *in that condition* is hard to come by. From the pic of the surface area, that one looks pretty much perfect with no wear patterns, chrome flaking on the back edge, grooving, or chattering. This is rare to find, and indicative of a housing with less than 50k miles on it. Any housing with much more mileage than that WILL have some wear, and therefore will not be quite as good for a rebuild...still useable, but might make a few less psi compression when broken in than the perfect housing would have made.