Tension bolt/staionary gear oil leak? (PICS!)
 

Hey guys,



I have recently reinstalled my engine after deleting emission/simplifing vac lines/engine paint job/general maintenance;overkill really:icon_tup: .

After installing and firing up my engine I had some oil leaking between my gearbox and rear plate. Upon further inspection i determined that one of my lower tension bolts was leaking oil, probably with a rate of one drop every few hours. So 2 hours later my engine was out and up on the stand with the flywheel off.

I recently ordered new tension bolt washer seals (washers;whatever they are called) along with another new rear main seal and a oil level sensor o ring as it was leaking as well.


While i was inspecting the rear plate more closely i noticed that the bolts on the stationary gear where a little damp with oil... Now im not sure if this is because oil was getting sprayed around as i ran the car on jack stand, but i would like to change whatever seal is in there!! I had a look in the FSM, looks like an O-ring.


Can i do this without interfering with engine internals or messing anything up??


Here are the pics. Clearly around the stationary gear is wet with oil.
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...I/DSC03196.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...DSC03199-1.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...I/DSC03201.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...I/DSC03210.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...I/DSC03214.jpg

Some of my build just because:
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...I/DSC03032.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...I/DSC03034.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...I/DSC03041.jpg
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...I/DSC03188.jpg





Thanks in advance.


Regards,


=Ben

When I rebuilt my motor, I put the rear iron on first, torqued the bolts, and last I put the rear stationary gear on. This isn't the correct way to do it, but I didn't have any problems. I remember a thread where someone was talking about this, let me try to find it.

I couldn't find the original link I remember, but these should help

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/installing-rear-stationary-gear-755330/

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...tationary+gear

Did you paint the irons as well as the aluminum housings? How is the paint holding up? Oh btw, your car looks clean as hell.

Oil doesnt travel through the tension bolt passages.

Did you replace the o-ring on the back of the rear stationary gear? That's probably the cause of your leak.

If the engine is on the stand, you should be able to remove the rear stat gear if you point the motor downward (rear stat gear towards the ceiling). Just be careful not the move or rotate the motor at all with the gear out.....I've never had to do this because I always replace that o-ring, so take this with a grain of salt :)

Hmmm, well if the tension bolts cannot leak oil then i suppose the only other places that oil could be leaking through is the rear main seal which i changed and the stat ghear o-ring... hmm, well ill order the rear stat o-ring tommorow morning and since i have all he other parts on order ill replace everything.


Hmm, well can you suggest anything else while my engine is out here? I have replaced all of my turbo oil gaskets and every other gasket that i could think of.



=Ben

Hey again guys.


Just wanted to let you know how this procedure went. I performed it last week in about an hour.

So after taking the flywheel and counterweight off i examined the rear stat gear for leaks, as illustrated above the leak was evidently coming from the lower quadrants of the stat gear. I continued by taking the rear stat gear bolts off, which where very easy. I did not want to apply too much force on the rear stat gear because i did not know how it was assembled. I took a crowbar with a thick rag and pried gently all around the rear stat gear, to my amazement the rear stat gear surrendered itself relatively easily (probably because it was really well lubed up from that **** oil leak!!!!).

So with the rear stat gear off i took a second to look at everything, comes out in one piece.. end of story. Not to be anticlimactic. Had a peek at the engine internals for my first time, everything looked good as far as i could tell.

As per the FSM a new oring is needed which my local mazda supplied, the rear stat gear is also supposed to be sealed with sealant which mine WAS NOT. So i used the 'right stuff' (becuase i have 3/4 of a tube left over from my oil pan job and i want to use it all before it goes bad - 35$/tube..) after cleaning both surfaces EXTENSIVELY. The FSM also says to lube up the rear stat oring with engine oil, i used moly grease because i love the stuff. Lowered the stat gear onto the rear plate and took extra care to not damage anything (obviously). The rear stat gear will stop right at the oring (needs to be mildly pressed on), the rear plate has a slightly beveled edge to help the oring tightly fit between the rear plate and the rear stat gear. Light tap of the rubber mallet and the stat gear was in. Remember the stat gear only goes on one way so its pretty strait forward. the teeth on the rotor and the stat gear seemed to line up fine. Torqued down the bolts and that was it. Installed a new rear main seal just to be double sure i dont have any more leaks.

I also changed all of my tension bolt seals and retorqued all of them as well. Then i cranked the engine by hand. Everything seems fine.


Pics:
Rear Stat gear off!
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...I/DSC03215.jpg

LEAK!!!
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...I/DSC03220.jpg

Rear stat gear filth.
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...I/DSC03217.jpg

Internals; OUuuuuu!
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...I/DSC03219.jpg

Old oring vs new, you basically couldnt tell it was rubber. Makes me think of what my coolant seals are like:Wconfused
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...I/DSC03222.jpg

Sealant
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...I/DSC03224.jpg

Sealed
http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g1...I/DSC03223.jpg


Regards,


=Ben

Nice, Ben. What did you torque the tension bolts to?

Factory spec: 24-28ft/lbs. I set my torque wrench to 27ft/lbs.



=Ben