I just bought an fd3s, and didnt notice an oil leak until after I bought it. coming from turbo area. Would it be safe to keep throwin oil in there to keep up pressure until some good weather comes in so I can work on it? Ill be premixing until fixed incase of a catastrophic oil failure. Which raises another question, I want to do an oil change now, but will probably use cheap conventional oil till the leak is fixed. I think Idemitsu oil is in there now, and I know the system leaves about 2 qts. of oil when draining. would it be a bad idea to mix oils? IVE READ A LOT about oils and mixing. I dont think this is a bad idea, but I am new to the rotary. Does anyone think this is a bad idea?

 

Ok..another oil question..yay!

Yes,you can toss oil into it as long as the engine gets the proper amount each time you drive it.
That means keeping your level up until you can actually find the problem.
Your big problem would be the mess that you encounter until yo do so,OR the lack of knowing exactly where it is coming from or IF it may just "let go" on you and you lose oil pressure and kill the engine.
So the faster you investigate(get dirty..) then the faster you can be at ease.

As far as "mixing"..there is NO drawback to mixing the oil oil with new,as that is basically what you are doing with a "fast oil change" anyways.
IF ONE oil is synthetic and the other is regular "dino" oil then all you are doing is creating "SemiSynthetic" which is half and half.


*Barney is alive and well and living in Las Vegas as a Hot Dog Vendor..I read it in the Enquirer.

 

Im not worried about clean up, and Ill be able to take off the turbos, I just hope its from the turbos.
Thanks a lot!
and as for the leak "letting go"... If I premix the gas and catch the drop of oil pressure right away, would that be safer for the engine? im sure it will help a lot...

Hahahaha! no I saw him dead, in the bathroom, on my fourth birthday..... He looked like just a costume it was soo horrible ;P

 

Check out posts 14 and 17

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...ation-1063591/

IMO, you can spend a lot of effort getting to some of these which may not be worth fixing a small leak. Now if you need to tear down for another reason...

 

Thanks for that thread link! That helps me a lot!!

Is it just me, or does it really take hours to find things on threads. I tried looking for a list like that but ended up no where. Then again, I'm not the most computer literate

 

No. Premixing is absolutely no protection for catastrophic oil loss. That's like saying that if you squirt washer fluid on the windshield it'll protect it from rock chips. Premixing lubricates hard seals unique to the rotary...side, corner and apex. Not for bearings, gears etc. And especially not for turbos. If it's a bad leak, fix it or get it fixed.

 

I know premixing only lubricates the side, corner, and apex seals. I just figured that was the weak link. you loose oil press. in a regular engine and cut it right away, that engine will still work. but i do understand what i signed up for when i got the fd though. Ill probably just weather the cold tomrrow
thanks guys

 

Try starting your search with "FD RX7" and also look outside this forum on Google or Yahoo

This just popped up for me.

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generati...my-rx7-240676/

FD's leak. That's what they do. I wouldn't be too worried unless it's a significant leak. Problem is that's hard to determine since they also burn oil. Small drips on the floor may not be a good indication because when it's sitting there, it's not under 60 psi.

 

Uh...while an oil leak is not uncommon, not all FD's leak. That's NOT "what they do". It's not an air-cooled VW. And the oil that all rotaries burn in no way would camouflage an oil leak.

 

If they are stock and are driven, they leak

 

Another possibility is the Y-pipe connecter. They usually crack and if you have blow-by, you may get some from there. Of course the wore thing is the cracked connecter and the blow-by. On the later, most install a catch can, or don't fill the oil level completely full

 

Wrong. Drove my car for years "stock". Never had a leak. Sweated a little at the oil pan near where the motor mounts insert, but that's it to ~ 90k and a coolant seal rebuild. Know of at least two others in my area were the same. The only oil leak source that's not uncommon is the pan for that reason. Not rear main, not turbos, not lines etc.
Don't make blanket statements based on conclusions from reading threads here. Remember, it's mostly problems. Nobody posts up to announce that their car isn't leaking. And these cars are all about 20 yrs old now anyway.

We can speculate on sources of the OP's leak until Bin Laden swims ashore. But until the OP gets under there and looks for himself, that's all it is...speculation.
And I still can't connect your dots between burning oil and an external engine oil leak.

 

OK I retract my statement. Make that 98% leak. And connecting the dots, oil goes in and oil goes out. But where does it go out? Internal or internal? Think I was adding 1 qt/10 mi. when I was DD mine - with leaks. So what's normal oil consumption and what could be considered excessive!

 

Oh, and blow-by is another variable in the equation of where does the oil go

 

Uh...ok...nothing to see here. Moving on.

 

Loss of oil pressure is a catastrophic failure. Unless the engine is shut down within a second or two, damage will like occur.

One other issue with oil leaks, especially around the turbo area, is a danger of fire. Hot oil on hot exhaust components will be far more flammable than oil normally would be. Add in a some flammable debris (leaf buildup) and fire is likely.

 

No it is definitely not just you

 

No just you at all

 

What about try doing a UV oil test?