93 FD: Advised blown turbos, but not so sure…
 

Hello everyone, I have a new-to-me 93 FD RX7 that I was told had some blown turbos. I bought the car from out of state and had it delivered to my house without seeing it or driving it first-hand, but the seller was very up front with me, FaceTimed me, showed me the whole car and it’s problems etc. so I knew what I was getting into. I purchased a good used replacement set of turbos to swap when it got here, but upon further research and inspection, I’m not too sure they’re actually blown.

A little backstory on the car, it only has 6100km on it. It was a one owner, older lady owned car back in Japan, and the guy who owned it here in the states before me only drove it about 50 miles before he noticed some oil on the back of the turbo and purchased a new, used set to be rebuilt by BNR. It was an automatic and was professionally swapped to a 5 speed. The car then sat for about 8 months while waiting for those turbos to be rebuilt and then he sold it to me because he never got those turbos back and wanted to buy a GTR instead.

Now after my research on this forum, I’m thinking the turbos might not be blown at all, and the oil in the intake/back of the turbo could just be from the car not being driven hard at all, and/or maybe a problem with the PCV valve. There is oil residue/grime all over the engine bay and underside of the car, but not an excessive amount of oil in the intercooler to indicate blown turbos. And again, the car only has 6100km on it, they can’t be blown with that low of mileage, right??
Here are some pics of the engine bay/underneath to show what I’m talking about. I’m thinking put it all back together, change the oil, clean everything off and drive it around a bit to see where the problem perks back up? I would love some more experienced eyes and input on this. Thanks!
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...a6493d357.jpeg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...718bfd72e.jpeg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...a83b32a9d.jpeg
Inside intercooler piping
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...8ed8292e9.jpeg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...4db920112.jpeg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...fcc2ae8c3.jpeg
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I’m not familiar with fd’s, I’m familiar with fc’s.

You should look at the vacuum routing and see if the pcv dumps into the intake hose, before the turbo. If you see oil coming from the pcv into the intake hose, it’s pcv. Still doesn’t mean the turbos are good. You can replace the pcv or run an oil catch can, disconnected, whatever, just to test it.

yes I’ve had a pcv valve diaphragm fail on my fc, it dumped oil into my intake under decel and would smoke like Batman’s car under decel.

I also have a Subaru sti, which are known for having sub par pcv valves. That car did have oil getting into the intake pre turbo so I could tell the pcv valve sucked.

just some references as pcv systems exist on other platforms and give similar symptoms.


Auto part stores also sell uv dye you can add to the oil, then run the car and you can see where the fresh oil leak is coming from. Just to distinguish the old oil that’s everywhere from the new oil leak.

Thanks @DR_Knight . He did mention as well that under decel the car would smoke. When I checked the oil level, it also seemed to be slightly overfilled. All these symptoms, and the face the car has barely been driven and likely not very hard at all, lead me to believe it could be PCV related/finicky rotary things since these things need to be driven hard to be healthy/reliable.

I just ordered a new PCV valve and air filter that should be here in a few days. I think I will get some dye too to track down any new leaks. Appreciate the input!

@bryzenga47 I took the liberty of moving this into the main 3rd gen forum for visibility.

I agree that I don't think the turbos are blown. Especially at that mileage. Fairly common to have some oil in the intake tract of twin turbo FDs. I'll let the other members chime in further.

Thank you for moving this. Wanted to be sure I posted in the right spot as a forum n00b, but I appreciate it 👍🏻

I like your plan.

Jason

Had the same thing happen to a lesser extent back when I was still rolling around on the stock twins. Like gracer said, oil can sometimes be found in the intake and might leak out onto the secondary turbine compressor housing. Some do it more than others.

Yeah that's a normal amount of oil. I seriously doubt you have bad turbos.

There is an external oil leak, that's just the drain line gaskets most likely.

There is always some oil in the IC pipes from the PCV system, totally normal on a stock car.

Get the car running and drive it for a while then see where you are. Smoke on acceleration/decel or smoke on startup COULD be a turbo thing but again very doubtful.

Dale

Thank you both. I think that will be the plan now. Put it all back together, get it registered, and drive around as-is and reassess next oil change unless it gets drastically worse between then and now. Since I’ve had it up in the air, the only real active oil leak I can see is coming from the trans drain plug. Everything will get a good clean and wipe down. RX7 community so far is really welcoming and helpful!

Did the auto cluster get swapped out in the swap? Coolant upkeep maybe not a forte in Japan, but a complete water pump housing change in a 30 year old 6100km car is a bit suspicious. With any luck they may have substituted from the n3a1 turbos too.....can't make out the stamping from the secondary.

Cleaning is always the first step of repairs and maintenance. Get her clean and it will make a 1000 times easier to see where the leak is coming from.
No, the turbos probably aren't blown.
That said, you will want to get a catch can installed if you're going to drive it fun-like.

Auto cluster remains. Checked the CarVX from Japan too and the last reported odometer reading was around 5900kms in late 2021 before it was exported, so I have no reason to believe the mileage is incorrect.

I also double checked the secondary turbo and you can barely make out it’s still the N3A1 turbos so they also appear original.
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx7...76e376c70.jpeg

The mileage is so abnormally low that I wonder if they didn't replace the cluster due to a bad tachometer (extremely common problem) and "forgot" to do the paperwork to modify the official maintenance record. Odometer fraud is probably more common than we tend to think... Unless you paid $50,000+ for the car...