there is oil leaking behind my engine, it seems to be almost just under the bottom of the intercooler. on the driver side, in that area at least, but i can't see exactly what it is. Is this common at all? any one have any idea what it might be before i go digging in there too much.



Thanks

the first thing is where the oil filer base attaches to the engine, those always leak. you need 2 o rings to fix it. 9954-10-1601 from mazda



mike

i have already replaced those

yeah i have a 88 se and its burning oil what should i check first is it the exhaust gasket or should i just rebuild it the eingine is way over 100k?

jason

its supposed to burn some oil. what else could it be besides those o-rings, since i've already replaced those, maybe i put them in wrong?

by intercooler, do you mean oil cooler? up front by the radiator?



mike

NOPE, INTERCOOLER. THE ONE ON TOP OF THE ENGINE

well the only things up there are the turbo oil feed and the oil filler neck?



mike

MAYBE ITS ONE OF THE OIL LINES, PERHAPS THERE'S A LEAK AROUND ONE OF THE FITTINGS OR SOMETHING. I WAS KIND OF THINKING THAT ALREADY

maybe make sure they are all tight for a start? its kinda leaking in a wierd spot



mike

Did you check the oil pressure sender below the filter? Is there oil around where the tranny bell housing meets the engine? Just eliminating the obvious first.

WELL ITS NOT A SPOT THAT IS COMMON THAT IT WOULD SEEM I NEED TO REBUILD ANYTHING? RIGHT? CAUSE THAT WOULD MAKE ME FEEL BETTER. IT SOUNDS LIKE ITS JUST SOME

I'm just wondering if its really leaking up there or if it is being sprayed up there from a leak somewhere else.

UHH, HMMM, I DONT' KNOW. IF IT WAS A LEAK FROM THERE, IT COULD SPRAY OUT SOME, SINCE IT IS UNDER PRESSURE GOING TO AND FROM THE TURBO

1revin7 had a bad rear main seal that caused oil to spray up onto the motor. I never heard of that before, but that's what happened to him. I had a leak in that area when I cracked the rear housing, but that would be accompanied by 0 oil pressure. It's possible that the turbo oil feed line could be leaking. Those copper washers will go bad once in a while.

I used to do this with my old motorcycle:



degrease everything around the area in question, then park it over a sheet of cardboard, and check it the next day...that'll give you an idea of where it's coming from, if there's a leak in the lower portion of the engine, I'm guessing

I HOPE ITS JUST SOMETHING ON THE OIL LINES. THANKS FOR THE HELP.

HOW HARD IS IT TO REPLACE THE REAR MAIN SEAL

would a bad rear main seal be accompanied by bad oil pressure as well?

You have to remove the tranismission, clutch, and flywheel.

Any leak will lead to low oil pressure. How's your turbo?

my turbo is fine, i just have a small vacuum leak, but i'm pretty sure what hose that's from. I just remembered that when i changed my oil yesterday, the seal fell off the oil filter, and i'm guessing that's what its from. i didn't even think of that until now

If that big o-ring came off then you'll get a VERY large leak.

yeah, it was leaking pretty bad the other day, and its not there now. damn FRAM oil filters. it was actually still on the car when i took it off. thats a big relief, i'm still going to keep checking it just in case. thanks for all the help.

some brake cleaner works wonders for cleaning off oily gook from the engine so you can clean everything off and see where the leak comes from at that point. It sprays out with a decent amount of pressure and cleans everything instantly and dries fast.