Purchased this FD maybe a month ago, 35k original. Very very clean, no problematic behavior that I know of. Does not smoke, except a very little bit at startup if it has not been driven in a few days, just for a minute or so, does not at any other time. I had read this was because it runs rich in these instances. Boost pattern is good. Does not seem to use a lot of oil. I changed it right when I got the car, castrol 10w30 Dino, K&N filter. That was less than 100 miles ago

My first purchased mod was a Petit AST. I decided to get that put in today. Since I would be in there, I thought I'd install my second purchased mod at the same time - a drop in replacement for the stock IC. When I got the IC out, I was greeted with oil, quite a bit of it. At least, I am guessing it is quite a bit. I don't know what is considered normal in this car. Most of it was in the lower part of the IC, but there was also a sheen in the upper. The coldpipe had a sheen coating, but the hotpipe had a bunch, concentrated at the top of the pipe, as shown in photo.

I took apart the stock airbox too, to see what was up in there - there was a very, very small amount of oil in there but not very much at all. Almost missed it completely The filter was clean. One other odd thing (I think) is that a week ago I decided to VTA the stock bypass valve, just did it on the drive to work for giggles, reattached it to the airbox when I got to work. I took off the tube with the valve that was two inches or so from the airbox (pretty sure that was the BPV, no the other air related valve, right?) and capped the airbox inlet. The car ran fine and I heard the whoosh, but at idle the valve blew a steady stream of air out - Is that normal? Anyway, back to the blowby...

Now, could this be a bad PCV valve (if FD's have them). Would installing an oil catch alleviate this? Could one of the turbos be going? Pictures:

Inlet of intercooler - puddle.


accumulated oil, closer


hot pipe, small puddle at end


hot pipe from below, most of the oil accumulating at top?



Thoughts? Hoping for "that's normal you idiot" but fearing "prepare for rebuild you idiot" Bonus points for leaving out the idiot part!

 

Looks normal to me. My car did that. I had a bit pooling in my FMIC as well.

 

Pools of oil are not "normal",but on the otherhand it may be a long accumulation.So long as overall oil usage is OK keep on trucking.

A film of oil, visible to the eye, is normal.My new BNRs,with about 3k miles have no visible oil on the outlet side anywhere!

 

If your stock twins are not giving you trouble than that is not normal!



=Ben

 

That is not a normal amount of blow by

 

Well, I know who I WANT to believe. I guess for now I button everything back up, and read up on catch cans, see how much I accumulate.

 

Hmm, looking into a catch can, it looks like some people have had oil run from the oil filler neck down the attached tube, usually while filling oil when it pools - from filling it too fast. They find it in the IC and intake tract. As clean as the oil I found in the IC was, I am guessing this is what happened. I'm going to install a catch, a new PCV (why not) and be extra careful filling with oil next change...

 

I would mop up the bottom with a paper towel, drive 100 miles and check again before I get worried about it.

That said, wet with oil is normal but from what I've heard puddling is usually a sign the turbos are getting tired.

Dave

 

well I really hope not deeges! I was most worried about the oil coming off the turbo at the inlet but that probably drained down from the filler neck hose.

I pulled the PCV and there was an ever so slight amount of air getting by when I blew through the end that should have sealed. Not very much, but I'll replace it anyway. I ordered this from summit, so I'll button everything back up when that comes in, with the new IC, and the new PCV valve. I'll see how much oil I collect in the catch. I'm pretty sure this is my fault, from letting the oil I was pouring in the filler neck pool up as I filled and then bubble down.
I'm installing water temp and oil temp gauges soon after this, and a downpipe, so when I do that I'll take a minute to see if the problem has returned.
I only drive my FD about once a week as a treat, and am going out of town next weekend so the downtime is no big deal.

One thing I noticed when pulling the PCV - you can see down into the rats nest, and there was a vac nipple with nothing attached to it!?!?
You can see it in this picture, just to the right of the alternator plug - does anyone else not have a vac hose attached this?

 

http://www.fd3s.net/vacuum_hose_diagram2.jpg

 

great link! (right click saved as)
I take it I was looking at the one marked "emtpy pipe"? Weird stuff, mazda

 

It's used if you have an automatic transmission.

 

As long as your turbos are providing boost and not burning copious amounts of oil it will be fine. Without a catch can, oil will pool up over time. I've seen that on every RX7 without a can. The PCV system re routes right into the intake, hard turns puts some oil into it. If you had a brand new ball bearing turbo and a catch can I may worry then.

 

its just added protection for your internals, especially if your OMP goes out LOL