Hey Guys,
I bought my RX-7 in the spring and have been paranoid about its poor reliabilty reputation revealing itself to me ever since. I had no problems until late summer when I got the engine code 16. I believe that is for the EGR valve. The engine light gradually went away since I did not repair it immediately because I understood that it was not a serious problem and would not cause any further problems.

In any case, that was the only problem until about a week ago I accelerated(not agressively) from a stop until I parked about 1 block away. From the stop light, there was an oil streak all the way to my parking spot, where the rest of my engine oil had drained out... yes drained it seemed. I think I shut the engine off before any significant oil pressure drop and did not notice the oil light illuminate. The oil leaked out of the left side(driver) of the engine compartment and from my investigation seems to have leaked from somewhere in the vertical direction of the oil filter.

I recently added one litre of oil to the engine, and it has slowly dripped in the location previously mentioned.

My Question: where do you think the leak is and where should I start to diagnose the problem?

1) It doesnt look like the filter is leaking.
2) Its not on the same side as the turbos.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

FYI Engine code 16 is the O2 sensor. As for the oil leak. It could be a few items. FIrst check the oil filler neck on the motor. Mine likes to leak there and its common. 2 Turbo oil lines and of course oil pan. I have a leak in about 3 places. Good luck. Oil leaks are common but not agressive leaks or spills.

 

Hey,

Thanks.... this one is definitely a spill. All of the oil drained out within minutes.

 

Oil cooler line. These like to go out fairly quickly and without warning. Check the line and I guarantee that's the source of the leak.

Or your front cover...which is going to be a PITA.

 

Thanks... I will check the oil cooler line first.

 

this is also the area on the engine that will crack when the engine detonates. look under the oil filter where the end plate connects to the rear rotor housing(the area where the aluminum connects to the cast iron). you may need to pull the filter to get a good look at it. check the oil pressure sending unit also. there are several oil related parts in this area, but also look at the rear end plate, this happened to me and I never heard anything just a long trail of oil behind the car. hopefully it is something simple like the cooler line or pressure sender.

 

Take off the big banjo bolt holding the oil cooler line on near the oil filter, fiddle off the 2 10 mm bolts UNDER the oil filter housing and lift off the housing. DON'T get dirt in there! There are 2 O rings sealing the filter housing oil ways, these will have gone hard and started to leak, renew them. I'd say i was 90% sure your leak will be from there, a very common leakage point.

 

Just some feedback... turns out it was the seal on my oil filter... I hope thats all it was. But it was like it was "blown" out.... wasnt like it wasnt tightened enough. Does anybody know what would have caused this high pressure to blow out my oil filter gasket?

 

Did you just change your oil and filter? Or did someone else do it for you? I personally wouldn't trust anyone with changing my oil.

One time, my parent's insisted that I take their car to the local Jiffy Lube. I was on my way out of town, and didn't have time to do it myself, or else I would have. Anyways, half way back, the oil light comes on. I pull over and there is oil EVERYWHERE! I followed the oil trail about a block back. And yes, it originated from the oil filter as well. I called my parents to bring my lift and jacks so I could look under their car. It seems the oil filter was screwed in wrong and the gasket was unaligned. I saw it protruding out some.

I hightailed it back to the lube shop and demanded they tow the car back and correct everything. We got a year worth's of oil changes for free....but I never went back there ever again.

Just my story. Hope you fix the leak/spill.

 

make sure the old oil filter gasket was taken off with the old filter. if it stays on the filler part and you screw on a new one it won't seal tight. don't ask me how i know...

 

Nah, the seal is on right now.... and the oil was changed awhile ago... thats what was funny about it.

 

A couple of other thinks I have seen before:
stuck oil pressure regulator-does your gauge peg at hi rpm? On the race cars we install a hose clamp and then run saftey wire to prevent the filters from loosening up. Although very rare it does happen. Rob

 

Sorry.... gauge peg?

 

engine code 16 is the EGR.

 

possibly the oil pressure sender, I'd check that. When doing a swap on my '80 race car, the oil pressure sender wasn't hooked up to the "new" (good) motor, but was on the old one. Not knowing much about rotaries (2 months experience maybe), I didn't see that it wasn't there. I cranked it over to pull some oil into it, and there was a puddle under the car.