What would cause a side seal to blow?
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Former Rotorhead
Joined: May 2002
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From: Midland, MI
What would cause a side seal to blow?
Here are my mods:
Blitz intake
Pettit Downpipe
Blitz BOV
Cat-back exhaust
Now, Mazda seems to have cancelled my warranty because the aftermarket parts led to the failure of the engine or some ****. Now, I am not familiar with the side seal, so how exactly does this thing fail and what does it do?
Blitz intake
Pettit Downpipe
Blitz BOV
Cat-back exhaust
Now, Mazda seems to have cancelled my warranty because the aftermarket parts led to the failure of the engine or some ****. Now, I am not familiar with the side seal, so how exactly does this thing fail and what does it do?
by side seal, I'm guessing you mean one of your apex seals. Your mods could have caused you to overboost and run too lean... I know you don't want to hear this, but you really should have removed the mods before mazda looked at it. for once, a dealer is actually correct, your mods could have blown your engine.
How in the world do you still have an active warranty with a FD? How many miles on the engine?
Your mods are too little to have blown the engine.
I ran more mods than that before I went with an upgraded ECU and was running 10PSI boost.
Now if you somehow got the boost over about 11.5 psi, then yes you did it.
Did they tell you side seals or spex seals were bad. The way side seals normally go bad is being stuck from too much carbon buildup. This also can happen to apex seals but I have not seen this yet.
Your mods are too little to have blown the engine.
I ran more mods than that before I went with an upgraded ECU and was running 10PSI boost.
Now if you somehow got the boost over about 11.5 psi, then yes you did it.
Did they tell you side seals or spex seals were bad. The way side seals normally go bad is being stuck from too much carbon buildup. This also can happen to apex seals but I have not seen this yet.
Thread Starter
Former Rotorhead
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,926
Likes: 0
From: Midland, MI
I just had the engine replaced 6k miles ago - that's why there was a warranty. And it wasn't the apex seal it was a side seal - Chris Sanders (Banzai Racing) looked at it and told me.
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built my own engine
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 3,470
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From: Buckhead, Atlanta
no, you have side seals too....side seal + corner seal + apex seal ~= piston rings
now, as to how you had a failure? high heat can cause springs to collapse = seal failure
or you could have been running really rich, which would cause your seals to get "sticky"
now, as to how you had a failure? high heat can cause springs to collapse = seal failure
or you could have been running really rich, which would cause your seals to get "sticky"
you can lose a side seals from pre-det too.
from the mods it looks like it was possible (could be other things like fp/injectors too).
It's more common to lose the apex due to larger surface area but if the apex seals were new and the side seals are used (most rebuilds resuse them) it's possible.
In your case you can pretty much rule out carbon.
from the mods it looks like it was possible (could be other things like fp/injectors too).
It's more common to lose the apex due to larger surface area but if the apex seals were new and the side seals are used (most rebuilds resuse them) it's possible.
In your case you can pretty much rule out carbon.
That is a good reason why to not buy a Mazda rebuild,
too many reused wearable parts. All rortor seals should never be reused in my opinion if you want a real reliable engine. As I said many times, you get what you pay for
and 4 banger guys would never reuse piston rings.
Too many RX owners are stingy to a fault!
One Mazda rebuild that a customer bought for us to take apart and port, had rotor housings that definitely violated Mazda's rebuild standards. He sued Mazda and won. Took a fricken year.
too many reused wearable parts. All rortor seals should never be reused in my opinion if you want a real reliable engine. As I said many times, you get what you pay for
and 4 banger guys would never reuse piston rings.
Too many RX owners are stingy to a fault!
One Mazda rebuild that a customer bought for us to take apart and port, had rotor housings that definitely violated Mazda's rebuild standards. He sued Mazda and won. Took a fricken year.
Joined: Mar 2001
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From: FL-->NJ/NYC again!
Originally posted by cewrx7r1
That is a good reason why to not buy a Mazda rebuild,
too many reused wearable parts. All rortor seals should never be reused in my opinion if you want a real reliable engine. As I said many times, you get what you pay for
and 4 banger guys would never reuse piston rings.
Too many RX owners are stingy to a fault!
One Mazda rebuild that a customer bought for us to take apart and port, had rotor housings that definitely violated Mazda's rebuild standards. He sued Mazda and won. Took a fricken year.
That is a good reason why to not buy a Mazda rebuild,
too many reused wearable parts. All rortor seals should never be reused in my opinion if you want a real reliable engine. As I said many times, you get what you pay for
and 4 banger guys would never reuse piston rings.
Too many RX owners are stingy to a fault!
One Mazda rebuild that a customer bought for us to take apart and port, had rotor housings that definitely violated Mazda's rebuild standards. He sued Mazda and won. Took a fricken year.
I'm a CF and poop smith
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 3,957
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From: Hawaii
Originally posted by allrotor93
should have taken the stuff off b4 mazda looked at it.
should have taken the stuff off b4 mazda looked at it.
Thread Starter
Former Rotorhead
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,926
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From: Midland, MI
he does bring up a very good point though, why the hell did you not take off the stuff before going to mazda?
Goodfellafd3s,
What I was talking about was never reuse any rotor
seals! Always use new: apex, corner, side, and oil seals.
That is the only way to achieve maximun compression and reliability. Custom fit your side seals per Maxda comps manual. This is where too many people scrimpt.
Side housings can be lapped, and worn e-shaft or rotor bearings can be replace.
What I was talking about was never reuse any rotor
seals! Always use new: apex, corner, side, and oil seals.
That is the only way to achieve maximun compression and reliability. Custom fit your side seals per Maxda comps manual. This is where too many people scrimpt.
Side housings can be lapped, and worn e-shaft or rotor bearings can be replace.
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 30,804
Likes: 646
From: FL-->NJ/NYC again!
Originally posted by cewrx7r1
Goodfellafd3s,
What I was talking about was never reuse any rotor
seals! Always use new: apex, corner, side, and oil seals.
That is the only way to achieve maximun compression and reliability. Custom fit your side seals per Maxda comps manual. This is where too many people scrimpt.
Side housings can be lapped, and worn e-shaft or rotor bearings can be replace.
Goodfellafd3s,
What I was talking about was never reuse any rotor
seals! Always use new: apex, corner, side, and oil seals.
That is the only way to achieve maximun compression and reliability. Custom fit your side seals per Maxda comps manual. This is where too many people scrimpt.
Side housings can be lapped, and worn e-shaft or rotor bearings can be replace.
I was actually talking about the last piece of your post re: out of spec rotor housings. Whenever we do rebuilds we always use new corner, side, and apex seals and springs and make sure to spec the side seals for proper fitment (as Mazda typically has them too long, or tight).
take care--
Rich
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