Hi All, I'm new to the RX8 forum I only got one around 2 months ago. I'm sorry if this is posted in the wrong place but I'm looking for some help with an oil leak.

I noticed yesterday that my RX8 is leaking ALOT of oil, pools of the stuff in fact, when its sitting engine off its fine but start the engine for 1 min turn it off and theres puddle forming underneath. I noticed there was a bit of oil coating the engine underneath while i was swapping out the starter when i first bought it and I was intending on fitting a catch can to prevent blow by. But its obvious the issue is a bit more serious that a little oil escaping. Below are some pics from above the engine where I can see the oil and below on the passenger side where it is leaking.









The last pic shows the top of the engine and maybe its just me but does the oil hose connections seem right to you guys??

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

Those are all vacuum tubes in the last pic.

Where are you located? In climates with a lot of salt exposure, the oil cooler connections tend to corrode out, that could be one source. Though that would leak all the time. Front main seal? Check if oil is sprayed on the underside of the plastic engine top cover from getting onto the pulleys.

Think you'll have to poke around yourself, hard to see anything just in pictures.

P.s. Is your strut bar bent? :/

 

I think the strut bar is slightly dented yes lol

There isnt any oil on the underside of the plastic top cover so I'm thinking that's probably a good sign.

 

I'm thinking the same as Loki is looks like oil cooler line but I thought I could see some oil under the rad wich would suggest front seal.

 

One thing I noticed in image #1 is on the hose at the right of the picture there is oily spattering on the hose as though something is being kicked up by the fan. In image #3, the cooler core shows a wet spot near the center left of the picture as well as collected wetness under the cooler. To narrow things down a bit more, is the transmission auto or manual? Did you actually check the puddles to determine that is definitely oil and not old transmission fluid from an auto transmission cooler or cooler line? Either way, I would be looking at that wet spot on the core as well as cooler lines as the fluid could be seeping from the core, collecting in the core shell and exiting on the passenger side through a shell drain or opening in the shell, itself.

Rule of thumb: Never overlook the small stuff. Little things can easily come back and deal you a huge bite in the butt.

 

Sorry for the late reply guys. I had a look at the puddle again and certainly seems to be oil although it is a little dirty looking, I'm also getting the oil light indicator coming on. The problem I'm having is seeing where the leak is originating the amount of fluid coating the underside is making it difficult to see anything. I don't have a jack that will lift support the car properly so I can get right under and clean the underside so I can check where the leak is coming from.

Think the only think for it is stick it in the garage and see what they make of it

 

if it was me i would get some degreaser or truck was and clean as much of it as i could
put some oil back in engine
run it for 20sec ( if theres lots of oil iby 1 min )
re check . if you only run it for a short time the oils shouldn't have time to run every where. also un less the oil hits a moving part such as a pulley its going to run down so find the highest point.
keep in mind oil will run along hosses covers that sort of thing and pool up where where the slope stops so your leak my not be right above where most of your oil is

 

I filled the oil last night and I'm still getting alot of leaking, I put it in the garage this morning to have a look and they tell me the steering fluid pipes are burst. I thought they didnt use steering fluid so I contacted Mazda to find out and they tell me some do and some don't.

They have taken my car details to check if mine does use fluid and will call me back today or tomorrow. I had a look online and can't find anything about steering fluid pipes bursting, where to buy replacements or how to refill the fluid reservoir if it does use it.

I'm now a bit sceptical about whether what the garage is telling me is correct.

 

Lol this car doesn't have steering fluid, it's electric. So no to whatever they were about to say. Go save your car
The only pipes I can think of that look like steering fluid are the oil cooler hoses, so that would point to that..

 

What he said...

And, depending on where you are, I seem to remember some data on replacements for those lines from MAZDA. There may be threads here on a recall or something. Or, I am getting old.

Or, I guess, both.

 

I did go save my car lol however I drove directly to another garage where the car wouldn't start after I turned the ignition off because the previous guys have left it bone dry. Filled it up with oil and luck and it sprung back to life. The mechanic said "yep your right its definitely an oil leak and seems to be coming from oil cooler pipes like you say BUT we don't do oil leaks here. Probably best not to drive it either"

So as I type I sit waiting to be shamefully towed home lol

04green I think you're right there was a recall on those pipes so I will be giving mazda a call tomorrow to find out about this. I did check if the warranty was still good since its only 53,000 but they weren't having any of that.

 

where are you located? might be able to get some help from a member if you have to DIY.

 

I'm up in Glasgow but I think it will be ok I've managed to confirm it's the oil cooler hoses so will check with mazda tomorrow about the recall or find a cooler kit online. Thanks for all the advice guys its much appreciated

 

scotland or georgia?

 

Sorry I meant in Scotland

 

Ongoing saga of this is that the garage tells me they can order the kit from mazda for £400 or he can have pipes made up to fit it which will still come to £480 inc labour. I had a look online for cooler kits and I can get one for around £160-£180

Lightweight Relocation Oil Cooler Kit MAZDA RX-8 | eBay

The link above shows the kit I looked at but the mechanic tells me this wouldnt work and I would need an additional pipe to connect to the other cooler system on the driver side.

My first question is would buying this kit fit the car? and secondly would I need 2 of these like the mechanic says or can I simply replace the damaged one with this kit?

 

Cannot tell from the picture of the kit, but looking closer at the car picture, is that a hose clamp on one of the oil lines? Is that where the oil is coming from?

If you have an oil line problem, I think you need lines. Ideally just the one that is leaking, but if one goes, unless you know how it went and it was a freak accident, you may have more ready to fail.

If the cooler is fine, it may be that the lines in the kit, if they match up, will solve the problem. If they do, that is a great price on the lines. But, I have no experience with the oil cooler system other than straightening out the fins and marveling at the damage a bug can do. Your mechanic is the man on the ground, I would ask him about just replacing the lines.

Sorry. Let us know how it works out.

 

I'm told its leaking from the hose coming from the engine to the cooler and the line going from the passenger side cooler to the driver side. The mechanic thinks the last owner tried to do some kind of botched repair on the cooler hoses which probably explains why there is a clamp on one of them.

 

I would check the fittings used in that ebay kit, make sure they are the same as the oil cooler and engine. You never know with this stuff. Personally I would just get fresh OEM hoses, but that does sound like a lot of money :S

 

I have a 2004 rx8 with 71000/miles on the original motor.. 6 speed manual transmission. Last Thursday I noticed smoke running out from under the hood after I got home from work. I shut the car off and let it cool down. I looked underneath the car and noticed a puddle under the left rear corner of the engine. And the over spray down to the back of the car. At first I could not find exactly where it was leaking from but after an hour or so of cleaning off the oil with brake cleaner and rags, I found that it was coming from the driver side rear lower corner (on the lower half of the motor). I could not get directly underneath the leak to find the EXACT leaking point but does anyone know where this leak could be coming from exactly? And what parts would need replaced? After I climbed out and opened the hood, I checked oil level on dipstick and it read 3/4qt low. (Line to line is 1qt I believe). I topped oil and started the car. I let it idle for about five minutes and checked for the leak again and sure enough it was just about a steady stream at 4500/rpm. Does anyone have any ideas? thank you

 

Hi Chris I'm also a new owner, and I had to replace my oil cooler lines. The line from the oil coolers enters the engine on the rear left side. I bet it's time to ditch the over complicated stock ones and and get better ones, all of them. I just did the same and it's not a very technically difficult job, but labor intensive, something you can save huge money doing yourself, I got better hoses than available in the aftermarket at my local hydraulic shop, $180 for everything

 

Thanks Ryno I'll see what I can find at the local hardware shops. Do you know if Mazda has recalled the oil cooler lines? I've read about A lot of them having similar problems

 

Hey Chris you won't find what you need at a hardware store sorry to say, I got my lines made up at hydraulic repair shop for heavy machinery who makes the hoses in shop. I doubt there's a recall on them given there probably hasn't been deaths or severe injury from them and the age of the car, the stock lines lasted as long as designed to. You can find original second have ones but the new aftermarket ones are far superior. I posted pics of the ones I had made up in a different thread (Oil cooler lines for $180)

 

sorry for not reposting after I repaired the issue. came out to be a blown oil pressure sensor. $4 later and about a half hour of work I got it fixed. thanks for the help everyone