jfirko

Well, I have at least a broken driver's side motor mount and according to Dave at KD my oil slick is coming from my rear main seal. I have 105,500 miles on the original engine and turbos ('93). As far as I know my clutch is original as well, but still seems to grip fine. I think my mount has been bad for a while. Dave told me that it shouldn't cause major problems if I waited a while before changing it (that was last summer). Can it cause problems with the trans? I guess I should replace my rear main seal as well so that the oil doesn't ruin the new mounts. The compression on the engine is relatively low (below limits) but it still runs well. I don't really want to rebuild the engine now but after doing these other things I'm wondering if I should just bite the bullet and do it, or should I see how much I can squeeze out of this engine. Maybe it will go another 20k miles, which in my opinion would probably be worth waiting... I would like to run in a few autocrosses this summer and become a member of mazda motorsports, but don't know if I should risk running with the broken mounts. Anyway, thanks for any suggestions or advice on the proceedure for changing the mounts or rear main seel, and stationary gear o-ring or anything else I mentioned.

rynberg

You have to pull the tranny, clutch, and flywheel to change the rear main seal. At the very least, I would put a new clutch in at the same time but you may want to wait until you rebuild the motor (unless it's leaking bad). I would wait for the rebuild to change your motor mounts. There's no point in spending that much time or money at this point.

You should either:

a)rebuild now so you can still enjoy your car this summer

b)enjoy your car this summer and rebuild over winter when you are likely to drive it less

rotary

make sure its your rear main seal. your motor mounts are bolted threw the oil pan so when you broke your mount you might have messed up your pan. to do the mount you need to drop the sub chassi it sux but you gotta do what you gotta do.

paw140

You don't need to drop the subframe to do the mounts. You can just jack up the engine/tranny and change them out. It's a pretty easy job.

I don't see how a bad mount could have screwed up your oil pan either. The part that breaks is the rubber piece between the subframe and the mount.

If I were you, and if the oil leak is not too bad, I would not repair anything until you need an engine rebuild or a new clutch. If you are thinking of getting a rebuild in the near future, don't fix anything until that time and save some money.

duboisr

If it was mine I would fix the motor mount asap so no damage is done to the drive train ,ect . Also get a torque brace from Garfinkle . Fix the oil leak when you need a clutch or engine IF, IF the oil leak is not to bad . A bad motor mount is not a thing to not repair quickly and can be done easly ,but they cost more than they should .

jfirko

Thanks guys. I am leaning towards just doing the motor mount(s). I have to add about a quart of oil between changes when I drive the car regularly. Of course this includes the leak and anything being burnt off. I check it constantly just to insure that my asphault lubrication system doesn't run dry. Dave at KD told me that it was my rear main seal leaking, not my oil pan, maybe a little of each. Anyway, It sounds like just doing the motor mount is the economical choice for now and safer then not doing anything especially since I plan on running in several autox this summer. It's a shame I can't get the discount mount from Mazda Motorsports until after I run 2 events though. Kind of a Catch-22 :-( I have heard that you can/should buy the passenger side mount and install it on the driver's side since it is beefer construction. is this true???? Thanks again.

paw140

You should call Ray Crowe at Malloy Mazda for the motor mount; he'll get you the best deal since you can't go through Mazda Motorsports.

If you are only going to replace the motor mount and not fix the oil leak, make sure that the oil leak is not leaking onto the new mount. Supposedly oil leaking onto the rubber mount causes it to degrade and eventually fail.

About the passenger side mount being beefier... I've heard some people say that too, but they both looked about the same to me. Usually the driver's side mount breaks because of the way the engine turns under torque, not because the passenger side one is stronger.

And like duboisr suggested, an engine torque brace will also extend the life of your new motor mount.

jfirko

Does someone have a pic of the garfinkle torque brace? Duboisr? How much does he sell them for? If it's too much I will just make one myself, but I think it would be a good ideal to help releive some of the excess load on the new mounts.

paw140

Why would you take off the UIM to change the motor mount? Am I missing something? It's on the bottom of the engine attached to the oil pan.