I was very low on oil after being at the track all day yesterday. I noticed a small drip and a small puddle on the ground in the garage. I checked the oil filter pedelstal - extremely carzy tight. Tightened oil pressure sender. Checked oil filler neck. Retightened fittings on oil cooler line. Have I missed something? It's dripping off of the engine cradle just center of the drivers motor mount. The drivers side of the black is oily. Some spatter on the spark plugs wires, clutch line and towards the bottom of the block. I can't figure out the source and it it gets worse under pressure. Pressure has gotten as high as 100 and possible 110. With the engine off I have a small drip but just can't trace the source. Any ideas what else could be leaking?

 

Are you running one of the oil pedestals which allow for your gauge senders?

I recently had a leak with the bolt that I used to fill in an unused port. I had used some thread sealant the original install and it didn't seem to hold. I pulled it and used some RTV on it and it sealed right up.

 

I'd bet money it's your oil feed line fitting on the front iron.

 

^ what line is that? Is that the one to the turbo that screws on the top of the block?

 

I doubt he'd get oil in these places from there:

Sounds likes its coming from the pedestal to drip in those locations. Whether that's from a gauge sender or what, I don't know (since he didn't answer my question above).

 

I respectfully must disagree, kind sir .

I have oil on all the same spots on my engine, and I just tracked it down to the spot I mentioned. My filter pedestal and oil filler neck are definitely not leaking, but the oil feed fitting on the front iron most definitely is leaking. When driving the car hard, the oil can migrate towards the rear of the motor----goracer mentioned he was just at the track, and saturday I went out for some twisty mountain runs with the Lotus club.

 

I agree on the "migrate towards the rear of the motor". I just don't see it spraying that high up on the motor/accessories. The bottom of the block I'd agree with..

 

Oil leaks can start in a lot of places, and always seem to wind up dripping off the rear part of the oil pan or engine mounts. I have an oil leak that I believe is the front cover gasket. It drips off the mounts & back of the pan too. I'm not looking forward to fixing it myself, or paying to have it fixed .

 

You also have the o rings under the filter pedistal?

 

I had a leak coming from between the front cover and front iron where the oil cooler feed line connects. For a while I thought it was the oil pan. I re-sealed the pan and had the same leak. But when i ran the car up on a hoist you could see it coming out under acceleration. I dont know if thats the same thing goodfella is talking about but you could always check that.

 

Thanks guys the for the help. I didn't get a chance to trace the oil feed line on top of the block. It's not the fitting to the front cover for the oil cooler. It might be the oil feed line. It's going in to the shop in the morning (Neptunespeed, couldn't afford XS-Engineering) and I will also get tuned for 15lbs. So i'll post dyno results to Hopefully it's minor and hopefully I don't have bad coolant o-rings since M'Trix doesn't warranty race engines.

 

Why would you have a coolant seal problem

 

Driver side there are 7 possible leak spots,

Oil Filter, Rubber seal
Oil feed line, 2 copper crush washers (attached to oil pedestal)
Oil pedestal, 2 rubber o-rings between pedestal and rear iron
Oil Filler neck, 1 rubber 0-ring
Oil return line, 2 copper crush washers (attached to front cover)
Oil level sending unit, 1 rubber o-ring (attached to oil pan)
Oil pan, RTV

Based on what you wrote, I put them in the order that I would check.

 

I picked my car up after 6 months with low oil and water warning lughts. I took it strait to my fabricator (the real one not fake one behind shop) to adjust the twin plate clutch since I couldn't get it in to gear. I was told that was normal. So I would shut engine off in between shifts. My fabrictor fixed it in 5 min and only cost me a pizza. I was told the oil leak was fixed since it was leaking like a siv on the hoist in the shop. It wasn't, turns out Neptunespeed says it's the oil pan. I have also been filling the filler neck with 2-4oz of water every single day and sometimes several times a day. It has been like that since "before" I picked the car up from having the engine installed. I was told since my radiator is at an angle, the air will never escape. I do not have an AST but have a 2nd gen lid to bypass it. I get a small puff of white smoke at startup. My compression has gone down from all 8's to 7's and one 6.7 in 5k miles. I was very dissapointed I didn't have all 9's with new housings and seals but was told it was because I had used rotors and my compression would actually go up after break in. Well it's below 7 which is considered rebuild.

 

Mazdatrix built the motor? Sounds like you're not a very happy customer. I've never heard of there being a difference in compression between new and used rotors, I'll tell you that.

 

I'm guessing it's the o ring on the oil fill pedestal. If you can see oil around the dipstick that's another clue it's this gasket or o ring. I'd use a new o ring along with some of that gasket that comes in tube stuff

Also be sure your PCV lines, checkvalves etc.... are working correctly so you're not pressurizing the pan. If you're using a catch can make sure it's venting.

 

The oil pedestal is on so tight, I can't loosen the nuts. So I can't imagine it's coming from there escially 1/3 quart on shutoff.

I haven't checked the PVC check valve yet but if it was leaking out the other line with the breather filter then the oil would be on the passenger side.

Lol, I just got my Custco catch tank. I was stoked because it is FD specific with a bracket untill I saw the Japanese instructions with the only eglish words stating not intended for use outside of Japan. Then I see it tuck in next the the brake master cylinder on the pasenger side, D'oh!

 

So did you ever check the oil feed on the front iron?

 

^ i'll do that tomorrow. I have a new FPR to install anyhow. If that's not it, I think it's the rear main seal. Or maybe the car is posessed by an evil gremlin?

 

The rear main seal would not cause oil to be present on all the places you mentioned.....I don't know why you didn't check the oil feed on the front iron from the beginning, it's a much more likely culprit than the other spots in my opinion.

 

Where is your bov located in your engine bay?? It will allow a little bit of blow by out of it.

Be carefull tightening that front fitting for the turbo oil supply. I cracked my front iron over tightening it, split right down the center of the oil passage. Now that was an oil leak!!!

 

^ I was thinking of that since it's on the drivers side and their is oil spray. I took the pipe off and there is alot of oil in it but that doesn't explain the puddle on the floor dripping off of the engine cradle.

Haven't got to the oil feed line yet. Had to take th doggie to the beach so he could get lucky.

 

Oil feed line was tight, no leaks there. Was not pouring out of the breather filter pn the oil neck. I took it to Mazdatrix and the found the drivers side motor mount bolts to be loose which is where it was dripping from the car. Most likely this is the cause but i'll have to keep checking for a few days to make sure. I do have a 94 but mine were swapped for 93's when I did the eurothane MM group buy. I don't remember if that was one of the reasons they stopped using the aluminum mount or not.

 

i had the same problem after the new motor install, you got to tork the crap out of them!

 

No leaks today, so it was the aluminum/drivers side motor mount bolts. I feel like such a for not checking the torque myself when I had the car on 4 jacks in the garage.