Factory Reman with 20K.





The seal (paper) is hard and brittle - looks like it shrank over time or was installed improperly.

What a freaking pain for sometthing so little....

 

That looks weird - normally the paper gasket is formed, and you CAN NOT get it to do that even if you tried. Unless there was a heavy vacuum in the crankcase and it actually sucked the gasket in there for some reason. Not to mention the gasket typically looks like on either side - totally baked on and in need of a good deal of scraping.

Did you pull the front cover just for that? Doesn't seem like you'd get much of an oil leak if at all, since it's not pressurized there.

I do believe there's a metal gasket available - I think it was for the 20b, there was a thread recently about it.

Dale

 

It was only a small leak but it had to go...I think the oil was getting flung up there under high rpms. I got the metal gasket on my bench waiting to go back in.

And I didnt just pull the front cover I pulled the whole engine because I could not get the front shaft bolt off while it was in the car...



So I figured I would pull it and do a bunch of stuff at the same time. I am shooting to have it back together this weekend -we will see...

 

damn hope my reman doesnt do that

koo u found the source of the leak tho

 

Hey Shawn,

Looks like you finally found the problem. That sucks it took so much work to find.
I took a good look at the gasket, and it looks like 1 of 3 options:

1. Bunk cutout gasket just slipped by unnoticed.
2. Something semi-heavy/sharp (maybe a barrel or a tool?) got set on the gasket
before it was installed.
3. The shop might have accidentally twisted the gasket (kinda like an S shape).

Not sure. Anyway, I cant believe that. It just figures. I emailed Chris to see if he's ever seen that before. I'll talk to ya soon.

 

Make sure you didn't drop the bearings under your counter balance weight or your engine will eat itself.

 

OK...you have me worried.

The only thing I did was pull the square key that holds everything in alignment. I put this back and the counterweight is no longer free spinning. I didnt take any other part of that assembly apart.

Do I have to worry about that bearing?

Shawn

 

He has. He just replaced the paper front cover gasket on my reman engine recently that did nearly the same thing. He has seen at least a few of them he tells me. Mine split and pushed out just above the OMP.

 

DamonB,
Thanks for the information.

Shawn,
I just checked my email and I got a response from Chris, pretty interesting. Apparently this happens a lot from the older style gaskets.

Heres what he told me...

"That's a well known problem. The front cover gaskets were originally made
from asbestos "back in the day". Mazda had to phase the material out when
the 3rd gen came out and added an extra bolt in the front cover and used a
thin paper gasket. Unfortunately, they do sometimes split and leak. The oil
only comes out at rpm because it takes rpm to sling the oil off the oil
pump chain. Mazda has superseded the original gasket with a rubberized
metal gasket. It cannot blow..."

I knew the older gaskets wouldn't seal well (obviously), but this is new to me. I guess you learn something new everyday.

 

Don't worry Shawn you'll be fine. The bearing rides behind the counterweight. As long as you didn't slide the counterweight forward you'll be ok.

 

I was talking to Ray Crowe and he said that you do not get that far in the engien to worry about bearing sliding down, can anyone confirm this?

 

http://www.mazdatrix.com/faq/pulley.htm

 

That is a heck of a link...I wish I would have had it before my project.

Eyecandy - As long as you dont pull the counterweight forward that bearing wont drop down.

Here are some pics that Dan sent me to clarify.





For full size pics:

http://www.3rdgenrx7.com/images/phot...spacerfull.jpg

http://www.3rdgenrx7.com/images/phot...earingfull.jpg


And ignore the part about copper tube -that was if you arent using the metal gasket....

 

I told Ray to check that out, and still said thats not a worry.


shawnk, btw what kind of camera do you have?

 

mine split in the same area. Reman motor with 30k+ kms.

 

I have a really crap tapeless video recorder. It takes 3.2Mb still pics and video at 640x480 15fps or 320x280 30fps.


It does everything I would want but poorly. I think you are asking because of those last pics. Those were from dan's camera and I dont remember what he uses. His pics are certainly much beter quality than mine.

 

So I guess a new rule of thumb when getting a reman is to check this seal before you install the engine?

 

Uh this bit of news sucks I have a factory reman that is right about 25k on the clock. Atleast I know what to watch out for now.

 

I have a remain that is leaking heavily under load from the front. Pan is fine (just fixed it). I'm going through oil almost as fast as I'm going through gas. Could this be the culprit? OMP is said to be another possibility?

 

This is what I did, I sprayed the front cover area with brake cleaner to remove any sludge,etc. Then let it sit there to dry.

Drove the car boosting and all. Checked the same area.

 

Steve,
The OMP could easily be the culprit, as well as the oil metering lines themselves, or the front main seal. All of these could cause oil leaking on the front cover and surrounding areas. One thing that might help, is that when Shawns car leaked oil, it only did under load, and it seemed to make a definite "line" of oil leakage. Meaning that everything above the "line" was dry, and everything below that point was wet, although it may have just been the way that the gasket had broken though, just FYI. Also, on the front upper left corner (driver's side) of the engine, there is also the turbo oil supply line and banjo bolt. This could also be leaking, but not as probable, unless someone just forgot to tighten it down. For any of these posibilities, you have to be leaking a lot of oil to notice what you describe. Also consider any other possibilities, turbo seal leaking internally, etc... Hope this helps.

 

Steve,
This is a good way to start to diagnose the leak. Just keep in mind, that brake cleaner eats up paint also.

 

Well finally got my engine stand adaptor adn got her up and beagn to turn the engine over and mine is leaking at the 12 o'clock position as well