Well,

I might be joining Zerobanger in the rebuild engine club....or the parting out group

last night under boost heard a pop...thought I blew off a vacuum hose...guages looked fine...

then oil light comes on and engine seizes!!! Crap...
pull over and it looks like I blew an oil line somewhere and basically was running the engine with no oil as I seemed to have left it all on the highway

we put the car in 5th this afternoon and the engine still turns so at least I didn't totally "melt" the engine.

just wondering...
1) if I'm lucky what is least amount of damage I could have done...

2) and more realistically....what did I probably do and screw up?

 

7racer - if its any concern about the 7 losing its touch, today after leaving lunch there were 3 people standing around my car checking it out for a good bit before I got up to it. One older guy mid 40's, a guy on his Harley, and some other dude. Kinda weird, anyway it still looks good - kinda like Heather Locklear...

 

You probably fried the turbos at least.

As Brentis said, the FD still gets the gawks. Anyone who knows anything about cars just stares and stares. I've had people follow me (kinda strange) to the gas station to ask questions.

One little ricer kid nearly jizzed all over himself when he burned his hand on the UIM yesterday.

 

Sorry to hear about your misfortune 7racer. I heard about it this morning. These cars are such a pain. You've got to love the car to put up with it, kind of like a woman you've being married to for 20 years.

 

thanks cpa7man...

just trying to plan out what I want to do...
kinds sucks but I'm not distraught about it...

I LOVE THIS CAR...really do. I have had it since 96...and yup...still get looks and gawks all the time...
when I am on a business trip and get back to driving it...it just puts a smile on my face...

Now the Left Brain is saying...ur an IDIOT. THIS is a 10 yo car...and all this money that you are dropping you arn't getting back...yada yada yada...

married for twenty years?!?! How about switching that around and say date a 20 year OLD?!?!

 

turbos?? Really?!?! CRAP...I thought I just friend and melted the bearings....

 

Well, given the rotary's wide bearings and no oil, I'd say you munched them and the e-shaft. It's not uncommon for an engine to seize then spin freely after it cools down.

 

I don't think I could keep up with a 20 year old woman, but it would be fun to try!

Back on topic...Brentis is right. Turbo bearings are very sensitive, also they would lose oil as presure drops before the rest of the engine.

Were you running synthetic oil? Synthetic tends to adhere to and protect moving metal parts in the event of a lubrication failure. Also, how long after the pop sound did the engine quit?

 

Regardless of what you think is wrong, you're probably going to want to tear down the engine, and inspect the turbos.

 

Thanks DaedelGT....

CPA7, I was running synthetic...I heard the pop...and about a minute later the oil light cam on...then about 10 secs later the engine "froze"....

the teardown will probably happen. The plan that the shop guys are going to do is to find the cause of the failure, fix it, fill it with oil, and then see if it will start...smoke...and compression....

after the "pop" I did get off boost and was cruising at a easy 60mph....but I guess the turbos are still spinning?

 

Hmmm... that's a toughy now that I think about it. They may be OK. If you got off of the boost the wheels would have slowed down considerably. Anyone venture a guess as to what temps turbos run at?

 

Engine seized, the motor is pretty much completely toast $$ wise. Buy a Mazda reman, turn yours in as a core. $2000 and you'll get off pretty cheap relatively.

 

All the oiling problems I can think of are really bad. We know the reman motors are approx $2000. The big question is if the turbos are shot.

Where did the leak come from? A burst oil line or something else? Should be obvious if the oil left that quickly.

 

Ryan...

that would be AWESOME....the mechanics are planning to do that to see if it starts...

and then if it does to see if it blows OIL....

then a compression check.

damon,

it looks like one of the lines distal to the thermostat...it looks like a burst line.

 

Rikki,

First turbo RX8? Details please ...

 

I think he wants to buy a Honda Civic or a Mitsubishi, after seing Fast and Furious and rice it out.
I'll Bitch slap 7racer when I see him and make him think straight again.
Don't worry, he won't part his car out unless he wants to be ASSLESS for a while.
Bob, you got me into racing my car and now you will fix yours and go racing with it too!!!!