Been leaking oil now for almost a year. At first just enough to see a few drops, but when I mopved in July, and used the 7 as my daily driver for a month or two, it got to the point, you could see a good sized puddle, not to mention the whole underside looked like it was sprayed,

I finally got it up and got a good look. I can see the oil slowly streaming out and letting drops out , about two/second. I hope the pics come though, as they plainly show it. Its on the driver's side just above the oil pan, where the front cover meets the front housing. You could see that the gasket was partially out. I removed what was visible, but you can still see a tiny bit of it at the top where the housing starts to curve in.


What to do ??

Replacing gasket seems like a pain in the ***, and in the FSM, they show the engine out while doing it.

I was thinking of draining the oil, cleaning the area with alcohol, and pressurzed air, and gooping it up with high temp sealant.

ideas??

Well, 30 mins later, I can't add my pics. Its says my file is too large.

??

Thanks

 

it might work, but probably would end up just being a bandaid not a fix to the problem. To remove the oil pan it doesn't require the engine to be removed fromt he car, however it does ussually mean dropping the subframe and you'll need somethign to hold the engine up.

 

I have heard of the front cover gasket blowing out, and that will cause a significant oil leak. I would definitely try and clean/goop with RTV as a first step - not a very elegant fix, but pulling the front cover is an INCREDIBLY hard job. If you do end up having to go into the front cover, I would seriously pull the motor. You'll actually have a much easier time if you pull it than trying to do the job in the car.

But, it is very possible that gooping it up will do the trick - if so, awesome, and I wouldn't worry about it further.

Dale

 

Thanks,

I wish I could put up the pics, but I just can't seem to get it done.

Galo

 

I was thinking of trying this band-aid on my car but was afraid it wouldn't work. Do you have first/second hand experience with this particular fix or are you just throwing the idea out there?

--Steve

 

I have the same exact leak. Its coming out of the cover right above the oil pan, pretty much where the oil cooler line connects to the front cover. I allready changed the oil pan gasket thinking thats where the leak was coming from . I am gonna be fixing mine in the next couple of weeks. Kinda looks like a PITA and i heard there is a bearing behind the cover that you have to bea careful with if you decide to change the cover gasket yourself.

 

I haven't dealt with this particular problem firsthand, but I've dealt with similar situations with a glop of RTV. I totally don't recommend it unless it's a SERIOUS amount of work to properly do the job.

Due to a number of problems, mistakes, and climbing the learning curve, I did about 6 front cover jobs on my old FC on the first motor I built. I was too stubborn to pull the motor, and it was seriously MUCH, MUCH more work than if I would have simply yanked the motor and did it right.

Dale

 

You can re-seal the front cover with the motor in the car. Just need to take out everything in front of the motor to make room. Intercooler, radiator, intake, all the ducting has to come out as well as the battery. Honestly I think it is easier to just lift the motor out of the car and do it. This has happened many times to me before. Gooping up the area won't do anything. Also, brake cleaner cleans oil off real well.

 

I have the same exact leak I think. I also thought it was the oil pan gasket which was an easy job. Really dreading digging into this project but my car is leaking so much it's undrivable. Huge clouds of smoke if you try to drive it (when you are at a stoplight or park it). Pretty crazy that so much oil is leaking that I look like I'm on fire!

 

Well,

I just got confirmation from the person I trust the most with my car, Chris at Rotary Performace. That front cover gasket is aparently known for having this occur, and there is a new gasket made by Mazda that should fix it. Unfortunately it seems to be a job better done with the motor out.

I will try my bandaid fix as I am getting 99 turbo's sometime this winter, and will need to get it down there.

Galo

 

I dont get any clouds of smoke but i do get a good amount of oil leaking when the car is under a load and has a high level of oil pressure. If anybody here finds out what the new gasket number is to fix this apparently common problem it would be nice to post it up here. I am gonna try and fix my leak with the motor in the car pretty soon. If i get the number first ill be sure to post it up here.

 

In all the motors I've built I have used high temp rtv to seal the front cover. I don't use the shitty paper gaskets. I have however seen a metal front cover gasket on some motors that I have torn down. Honestly I have never had a problem with the front cover leaking on my own car. Its always the oil pan.