jlee8189

Just bought a 1980 rx7 and found a leak that ends up leaving a 4 inch puddle after parking. It comes from right next to the spark plugs. how can I get it to stop without a whole teardown?

JMoneyLSB

Beehive oil cooler on it?

If so its probably the o-rings in the cooler are old and crusty, making it leak.

jlee8189

So does that mean I'm going to have to pull the engine to get it to stop?

JMoneyLSB

Not necessarily.... Do you have an oil cooler like this?





If so you can remove the cooler and replace the o-rings without pulling the engine.

Jere Urso

I have the same issue on mine but it will drip like once after hours of driving lol just haven't felt like tearing apart the cooler or ordering rings. A temporary fix would be to run thicker oil so it doesn't come out of the leak so easy.

jlee8189

Well the leak seems to be on the crankcase just to the left of the first set of spark plugs

Jere Urso

It sprays out of the o rings under the oil cooler and gets on the engine leaving a big, sticky, black mess.

heynoman

iTrader: (5)

Do you mean out of the distributor housing front cover ?

jlee8189

Yes I believe that's what it is

heynoman

iTrader: (5)

A few possibilities bad o ring if it leaks from where the front cover mates to the front side housing but could also be a bad gasket engine will have to come out to be replace but I have also seen where the front oil line is over tightened and cracks the housing itself with out pics of where the oil is coming from its really hard to say but if it's any of those you will have to pull the engine to replace

jlee8189

IMG_20150326_192757_zps1m9cr6kd.jpg Photo by Jeremy_Lieving | Photobucket

heynoman

iTrader: (5)

You are more then likely going to need a overhaul if it is leaking from there . There is a o ring that seals around a dowel pin located there it send oil to the the rear stationary gear the oring may have failed .

heynoman

iTrader: (5)

You should also clean off that section of the engine to make sure that that is where you leak is coming from .

jlee8189

Well that sucks...so no matter what I'm going to need to pull the engine just to replace the o rings

heynoman

iTrader: (5)

If the oil is leaking out of there , yes only it not going to be as simple as replacing just one seal you will need to replace all soft seals in the engine , how ever I have seen people use jb weld to try to contain the leak but usually end up failing and is just temporary.

jlee8189

Damn cuz that's one hell of a job and costly

heynoman

iTrader: (5)

I agree you might be better off sourcing another engine or try to reduce the leak as much as possible

jlee8189

What's your opinion on steel seal...that gasket sealer stuff lol

heynoman

iTrader: (5)

Personally I wouldn't run any miracle products in my engine . But it's worth a try if you feel comfortable . Just keep in mind that anything mixed in your oil is going to make it into you combustion chamber . And can eventually cause more harm then good .

heynoman

iTrader: (5)

oh and also looks like steel seal is for you coolant system

jlee8189

True. And yea that bidding know...was just something that was suggested by a friend and I hadn't heard about it b4

liondogs

iTrader: (1)

I sealed up a dowel pin oil leak about 5 years ago. I believe the write up is in the sticky section. You will need some gasket sealant, a 100 psi air compressor and a drill among a few other things. The fix held up very well. I went from having to add a quart of oil every 300 miles to adding a quart every 1500 to 2000 miles. There was a small amount of seepage after the fix but nothing major at all. Not anything like before. I used a can of air to force the sealant in but if I had to do over again I would have used a 100 PSI air compressor to force more sealer in to the area. If I had done that I am convinced there would have been no seepage at all. Don't use the canned air method that I used. I drove the car for about 5 more years after the fix and I sold the car about six months ago. The fix held up fine. Well worth the effort and at the time saved me from scrapping the car or doing a very expensive rebuild.

liondogs

iTrader: (1)

I found the post. It is in the 1st gen archive. The title of the post is

(ENGINE) Interesting dowel pin oil leak fix.