I am at a loss for words at the moment. My frustration level is through the roof. I don't even know where to start with fixing this situation. I bought the '99 spec twins in this thread (https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...ingle-1059401/), and finished installing them this morning. Advertised as 20k twins, great condition. When I received them, they appeared to be great. Clean, very little play.
After finishing the install this morning I crank and it starts in a second. **whew I thought**, it still starts. After a few seconds I hear this grinding sound, kind of like when a computer fan is going bad. I thought maybe a belt so I check the belts and don't see anything rubbing. I then realize the sound is coming from the left side and see a little bit of smoke coming from the primary turbo. I then look underneath the car and there is a puddle forming underneath it. A second later and there is a BIG puddle. I run back to shutdown. I think I see some oil residue coming from the banjo bolts area.

What happened? Are these turbos trash? I've installed a set of turbos before and have not experienced this. I guess when my anger subsides I'll start pulling the intake parts so I can get a better view, as well as starting the oil cleanup.

But here are the pics for now:

 

Did you install new or reuse the copper crush washers that seal each side of the oil feed lines? Are you sure you didn't drop one of them during installation?

 

Is that the correct bolt for the oil line? If I remember correctly the banjo bolts are not flanged.

Edit:nvm it's the correct bolt

 

k-tune if you're talking about the crush washer on the actual turbos, I did not touch them. for 20k great condition turbos I wouldn't expect to replace them. If you're talking about the oil return gaskets on the block, I used new.

 

alright, disassembled a bit. Could not find an obvious cause. Source of oil leak appeared to be that banjo bolt so I replaced the crush washers and re-assembled. Wife is taking a nap so I can't start-up to test right now.

 

I ran the car yesterday, I don't seem to have a puddle of oil now after replacing the crush washers. I did have a lot of smoke coming from the twins, I'm not sure if it's just the oil from the initial leak burning off or if there's another leak I don't see right now. I bought some oil dye to help troubleshoot.

 

First use some engine cleaner to get rid of existing residue. That will make further troubleshooting easier (i.e. you won't have to figure out if that's from your old problem or a new one).

 

lol, the one time i saw a pool of oil like that under my car it was when I changed my oil filter and didnt do it up tight enough!

 

Once upon a time I had an Exxon Valdez Oil Crisis; forgot to reinstall the little clip on once of the oil lines to an oil cooler. Within 3 seconds of running the motor, I had covered the entire garage floor. I feel your pain!

I hope you figure this out!

 

First off, it can't be the turbos themselves unless they're BEYOND damaged. That big of an oil leak will be from the feed or the drains to the turbos, period.

Second, any time you swap turbos or have a fresh motor, pull the EGI fuse and crank until you get oil pressure. If you do have an oil leak, it will be less of a mess. Also, you will wet the bearings in the turbos before spinning them up.

You may end up having to pull the turbos to fix the leak or go over everything. Don't try and goof with it in the car if so, bite the bullet and pull them. Long story, I tried to fix a goof up on a set of turbos in my car once, broke a nice ceramic coated Efini y-pipe in the process.

Also, one time I had the oil return gasket not line up with one of the bolts on the turbo side. That will make a helluva mess very quickly.

Any used turbos I get, I pull them apart, check and clean everything, then put them back together. Never assume they're perfect out of the box unless they're brand new. UPS can bend and break lines, the previous owner could have taken a line off and just put it on finger-tight, etc. Not to mention it gives a chance to port the wastegate.

Dale

 

New turbos don't come with oil lines from Mazda so who knows how old they are and if the previous owner re-used the crush washers. I always change them before putting a set on turbos on. Clean everything off, make sure all is tight, and give it another shot.

 

Did that

I did this as well. Cranked it for about 15 seconds, waited for 10, cranked for another 15. Did not see any oil leakage so I then put the EGI fuse in and then saw the fun.

I cleaned everything off as best I could after swapping the crush washers on the oil line. I used GUNK engine degreaser all over the area of the twins, let it soak for a bit and rinsed it off. I also put in a bottle of oil dye so I can spot any leaks a lot easier. I haven't been able to find any yet other than my oil pan (going to be resealed June 10).
I've drove the car around a few times, and I keep having some issues with smoke coming from around the twins. I also hear some crack/pop sounds from when twins when I shut off.

I wasn't able to capture the smoke in the video, but you can hear the crack/pop sounds. I'm used to hearing a boiling sound at times from the engine block, but not the crack/pop sound in the video. Not sure if the sound is related to smoke appearing or not.