I am looking at a FD this weekend. It has an oil leak. Where are common spots to check and or be very wary of?

Car has low miles at 35k. seems odd to be leaking oil.

 

Most common is the oil pan. The factory gasket is useless and the pan should be re sealed with a pan brace using only silicone gasket maker. Next place I would check would be the oil filter pedestal o rings. Best thing to do is wipe everything down and look for fresh oil

 

ty

 

OMP or the twins could be a possible source as well.

 

Sometimes the clutch line can leak and be viewed as an oil leak. the clutch line is right on the firewall, sometimes it leaks and goes down by the engine mount/oil pan area. Mine was doing this and I thought it was the oil pan.

 

the answer is everywhere. these cars leaked oil under warranty, and that was like 20 years ago.

 

Yep. Hard to find one that doesn't leak.

 

Like some one said above , Oil pan , something about that sandwich between the mounts and the block ...

 

Front engine cover is another one!

 

Exactly. Look everywhere.

There will probably be leaks in spots you cannot see without some disassembly.

Often the oil pan is blamed, because the oil runs down the block on to the pan.

I've fixed quite a few oil leaks, at least 10 over time, and it has never been the oil pan.

OMP, Oil injectors, oil level sensor, oil lines, etc.

 

Rear main seal, and the joints where oil cooler lines mate to the oil coolers.

 

External leaks are ok (other than making a mess) if they don't leak so much that your engine is starved of oil. It's the internal leaks that would be of concern (engine and/or turbos). Here's more on the subject....

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...ation-1063591/

 

I think it would be faster to list where it DOESN'T leak oil .

Hands down the most common is a seeping oil pan. They're nearly impossible to seal up right even if you do everything right. New they had oil pan leaks too.

Dale

 

Mine is leaking and its driving me CRAZY! I will be trying the banzai oil pan brace (along with no gasket between the pan and engine) in hopes that it cures the oil leak

 

I swore mine was a oil pan leak but in ended up being the front engine cover causing the oil to run down along the oil pan making it look like the pan was leaking. The leak from the front cover was generated only when car is running!

 

What was the fix, a new engine cover gasket?

 

yep, it can be hard to find that one. the counterweight slings oil around, so the leak can be pretty much anywhere around the front cover, even up at the top.

the repair isn't difficult, but its a big messy job, like 10 hours

 

I just found an oil leak on mine. I steam cleaned the hell out of the engine and found the oil filter pedestal leaking.

Anyone know the Mazda part number for the o ring, gonna try and get one local.

 

Replace the two O rings on it. Mine were leaking on my old FD as well at 40k miles.

Matt

 

Yeah that's what I plan on doing was just going to see if I could buy them at the dealership so I could get this done today.

 

9954-10-1601 you need two

 

I've been lucky so far. First leak was from the rear turbo--about a drop a day for the past 15+ years and not worth the trouble to fix it. Next was the oil pan. That was about 14 years ago -- a messy leak that had to be fixed promptly. Finally, this spring the oil filter pedestal o rings gave up. Also messy, so that got fixed too.

 

I used Permatex Spray Sealant Leak Repair Item#82099 just to see if it would work temporally but its been 3 years and still does not leak.
After I found the leak was from the front cover and the specific area of the front cover I cleaned it up real good with degreaser and then did final clean with alcohol, put about five coats of the spray sealant on, so far so far so good . No more oil running down oil pan, trans and frame etc.!