DamonB

I have a leak that is driving me nuts. The oil supply line to the turbos has a flared joint just behind the air pump in the middle of the line. Mine had only been apart once and that was over a year ago when I put the motor in. It had been fine until a couple months ago it started weeping a small amount of oil. So I took it apart, cleaned it, put it back together. Still leaks. Leaves a spot of oil about the size of a quarter except during high RPM use at the track it leaves a spot about the size of a drink coaster Took it apart again and wrapped it in teflon tape. That helped a little, but didn't stop it! More tape? Ir was pretty firm already screwing it back together, and the thing definately seats tightly; I don't want to tighten it any further and strip it.

Anyone have any tricks for this thing? Honestly I plan to just shotgun this whole problem by buying both hard lines and replace the whole danged thing, but I'm afraid of perhaps having leaks at the turbos themselves since I'm having so much trouble with just the danged flare fitting right now!

Sesshoumaru

iTrader: (1)

you might try to run a tap/die (careful of the shavings)

just the only idea i got.

Rated R1

I'd just live with the leak and replace them when the season is over. I don't think it is too hard of a job. Just be sure to replace those copper washers and all should be good.

DamonB

So the fittings at the turbo bearings have crush washers? That makes me more comfortable.

Rated R1

Yeah, if I remember correctly they do. Also, if I remember correctly there are no torque specs in the shop manual.

ExpensiveHobby22

They definitely have crush washers. Both above and below the banjo fitting. So, there are two per connection.

Kento

The sealing surface of a flare fitting is the contact between the "flared" areas, not the threads themselves, so the teflon tape is only a band-aid. Why the fitting suddenly decided to start leaking is hard to diagnose, obviously. There could have been some debris that was crushed into the flare joint when you reassembled it way back when, or for some reason the flares could have been very slightly out of alignment when tightened that caused some distortion of the sealing surface somehow.

But the problem lies in the flared surfaces of the joint, so check those two carefully. If it's possible to inspect them as such, check to see if there is any minute debris or unusual markings on the sealing surfaces. Perhaps try lightly cleaning them with scotchbrite (being careful not to get any shavings from the scotchbrite into the oil passages...yeah, I know, easier said than done. Maybe insert a piece of paper towel into the passages first). Otherwise, you may need to just replace them.

DamonB

I understand this and agree. The line on the engine side is actually ball shaped on the end, the line on the turbo side is cup shaped. The nut basically just crams the ball tightly into the cup to seal it. The ends look beautiful and are clean. Just wondering if anyone has run into issues with this fitting because if there are no tricks to it I'm just going to replace both sides and be done with it.

DamonB

In my inimitable fashion I shotgunned the whole danged problem I ordered both new hard lines from Mazdaspeed Motorsports for the turbo oil supply.

God help you if you ever want to change both of these with the engine assembled in the car

Here's what I had to do:

Remove airbox
Remove airpump
Remove rear secondary turbo intake tube
Remove alternator
Remove UIM
Remove coil tray
Remove oil filler tube
Remove mounting bolts for solenoid rack
Drain coolant
Remove water hard line on turbos


The oil hard line tees and banjo bolts to the turbo housings. The other end runs behind the water pump housing, over the top of the engine under the solenoid rack and then banjo bolts to the front cover right under the oil filler tube. To make matters worse there is a metal vac line brazed to the oil line and it's shaped differently, so fishing the line through the solenoid rack and over the top of the motor is a major PIA.

I spent about 5 hours of my Sunday doing this yesterday and if this thing leaks I will loose my mind. Good news is so far so good I race this weekend so if it's still dry then I will know I finally won the argument.

DamonB

I can now vehemently disagree Even after removing everything I did it was still a pain to fish that danged line through. Actually removing the solenoid rack would have made it easy, but I didn't want to have to so that. Just removing the mounting screws gave me barely enough room to get the line through. My hands now bear the scars