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oil leak

630 Views 7 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  XsKaPe
heres one for u fellas. i have an oil leak on the inlet manifold side of the motor (side closest to the firewall). its not leaking from the rocker cover (ive checked that), and i highly doubt my head gasket is gone (no oil in water & vice versa). i checked my sump bolts and they were a little loose, so i tightened em, but it was still leaking from somewhere. there was oil on the bottom of the oil filter aswell. i could see a cople of little hoses above the oil filter, what are these for? are they prone to leak?

the oil gets onto the firewall, and it runs down, and drips on to the right hand side chassis rail. it also drips onto the exhaust and makes heaps of smoke! there was also oil on the gearbox!

i desperately need help guys, koz its just annoying the sh!t outta me! all suggestions are welcome!

thanx in advance.
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Could be oil pressure switch or oil filter. They are the only other points that it could leak from, on that side.

As for the two hoses, the are water lines that go to the oil cooler.

Its a nice extra that Mazda fitted, so we dont cook our oil with our turbo's and to ensure that the turbo and engine, get oil that is at a fairly consistant temp.
are the oil pressure sensors prone to leak? where abouts is it located in relation to the oil filter? is it an easy fix? sorry for all the questions, i just want it fixed before i change the oil (bp visco 5000).
thanx for the tips anyways, ill definately get right on to it.
Its near the alternator, The will be 2 sensors on the back of your block, one is the Knock sensor, which is found near the brace for your inlet manifold. The oil pressure switch is not to far from it and has a single wire coming from it.

If you are not sure as to which one is the knock sensor and which one is the Oil pressure switch. The oil pressure switch has a removable wire connector that is screwed to it, The knock has a wire tail coming out of it that connects to a connector, abit further on.

Our cars are not renowned for failing oil pressure switches, but in the mid 90's i had a Jeep Cheroke, that blew its pressure switch out and made a bit of a mess.

Could your oil filter just be seaping out oil? and could the OIL? that is on the firewall, just be CV grease?

Try and get as much light as possible in there, the have a good look around. If necessary, wash down and run it, check again.

The oil cooler also could be the source of your leak as it screws inline, in the same manner as the oil filter screws to the block on a regular car.

There's some things for you to check.

Good luck.
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sorry to hear nick.

you should see my engine bay, i got all different types of fluid everywhere.. theres oil patches on the chassis near the bottom of the cooler, some sort of red fluid on the gearbox, then theres other stuff i dont even know what it is or how it got there.. but the oil never gets to the ground - reminds me of dropping tools in these darn engine bays, one you drop em, they never come out.

ive noticed that every morning, there is a small wet patch on the road just under my spare tire well.. whats up with that? dont tell me my fuel tank is leaking? i donno where it comes from, its there even when it hasnt been raining...
most likely i will put money on the oil filter seaping out oil, and the greasy oil on the firewall being cv grease. thats what i have been doing regarding the washing then driving, checking again, but its just a bit too hard to see. now that i know i should be looking around the oil filter and oil pressure switch, ill just keep an eye on that area.

yeh, sounded like my car last year xskape! then the gearbox blew, and i got the mechanic to fix up all the little leaks whilst he was there. this oil leak started on saturday, after i fixed an oil leak on the oil return hose coming off the turbo (it was my fault.... trying to bend solid plastic just doesnt happen.) once i fixed that, another leak came up (rocker cover) so i fixed that, and now ANOTHER LEAK! ill find this one aswell, and fix it.

thanks for all the input guys, dunno wat i'd do without u's!
ive noticed that every morning, there is a small wet patch on the road just under my spare tire well.. whats up with that? dont tell me my fuel tank is leaking?
nahh ur fuel tank isnt leaking..the 1st gens are prone to collecting water under the spare tyre...
just take out ur spare type and u will see a black round cap about 5cm in diameter...just pop it out with a screwdriver and it will drain the water..do this every few months especially when it gets humid or foggy

cheers :)
thanks mate, i'll do the tire well thingo when i get home..

ARGH.. dont tell me im gonna be on my third gearbox soon?.. might be time to hold off saving for a series 5 rx7 and get an lsd })
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