I was just wondering if anyone else sees a oil residue between the rotor housing and the iron plates on their engine right beside where the oil dipstick is? I have attached 2 pictures that shows my case, sorry they are not that great but you hopefully can get the picture. When I asked the dealership a few months back if it was normal, they said a little bit was, since the aluminum and the iron both heat and cool at different rates, which I can believe. I just want to know if others notice the same thing on their cars? Thanks in advance for any comments.

Btw, it doesn't leak on the ground or anything, just a residue.

 

Need better images. Oil leakage anywhere is not good though. Do this. Clean the area with something like Simple Green or Engine Brite and then spray off with water. Let the area dry and keep an eye on it for a few days/weeks to see if the oil reappears. If it's spillage from an oil filter change, no big deal and it won't reappear (unless more spillage happens). If it's a leaking seal, the oil will return and it must be taken care of before the warranty runs out, or you will eventually pay for an engine rebuild or replacement unecessarily.

My RX-7 has a similar minor leak between the front rotor housing and the front end housing, but if my RX-8 had an oil seal leak I would be headed to the dealer in a flash.

 

I have done the cleaning thing and it returns after about one hot/cold cycle of the engine. It never leaks or drips, just see residue of oil where the front rotor housing meets the center iron plate. I will try not to clean it for a while when it gets close to my next oil change and see if the dealership thinks it is still normal. I plan to at least have it documented in their system. Like I said last time I cleaned it pretty close to when I was in there and their tech said that some seepage was normal.

In the pictures above I added circles to hopefully help some, this is the area where the rotor housing says Mazda 13B on it.

I will try to get better pics tomorrow, but I can only do some much with a camera phone.

 

Make sure the oil is not from spillage by the dealer when the oil was changed. They could have spilled oil when pouring it into the filler tube and it could be running down into that area from a puddle of oil above that point. At least you can hope that's the problem.

You should call MNAO at 1-800-222-5500 to go on the record with them and ask for their advice on what to do about the problem. May help, may not, but it doesn't hurt and it doesn't cost you anything but a little of your time. If you are not satisfied with the dealers response, that's definitely where you should go next.

 

Thanks, I will see what the dealer says this next time, it is not from spillage I can guarantee that. I clean the engine every week when I clean the car, the engine is spotless except for this one little area. This area is sprayed with degreaser and hosed off every week and comes right back, so it is either a leak to wory about or the dealership is right and it is just the hot/cold properties of the metals, which now that I think about can't be really true, becuase where it meets the back rotor housing should do the same thing and there is nothing oilly looking there.

 

Yeah, this is BS and a way for the service guy to avoid addressing the problem. If this were true, you'd see a lot of rotary engines weeping oil from the joints.

 

I see what you are saying, does anyone else see theirs weeping in the same area though or am I only one, that is kinda what I was wanting to know?

 

those are worse than pictures of big foot....lol

anyway, looking at the engine, I dont see any oil spots anywhere on the side with the dipstick.

 

Is that dirt on your tires?

The horror ...

 

Yes I know they are bad, but it was the only way to get a visual up here of what I was talking about.

 

I have never seen any oil on my RX-8 engine other than a small amount I sometimes spill when changing the oil filter. However, there's lots of "stuff" obscuring most of the engine housing joints, so there could be some, somewhere. No leaking apparent on the garage floor below the engine. In addition, I don't recall any threads discussing oil leaks from the housing joints. Try a search.

 

I don't know what to make of thos pics -- is that the MIR space station? lol. Seriously, hard to judge the amount of oil you're getting. If the gaskets are fiber, it might be reasonable to expect a slight weeping over time. It doesn't take much oil to attract dust.

I'll check mine...

 

It does kinda look like something NASA would put on their website. lol

I am going to try and get better pictures up.

 

It's going to be tuff for me to check mine after my latest adventure at the dealer, but I'll look today.

 

ok,
i went out and looked. i dont have that issue at 36k miles.

beers

 

Thanks guys, I tried to get better pictures but couldn't. I will get it looked at by the dealer. For those that still want to look it is where the 2 plate come together along the seam, not where the actual dipstick is.