oil leak from back of engine
 

my rx-8 is leaking oil. at first the dealer and I thought it was just the crush washer, so we changed the oil and filter and put on a new crusher. few weeks later, it's definitely still leaking.

the dealer couldn't find exactly where the leak was coming from. they 'cleaned it up' then tried to watch for the leak, but it's too slow for that. they think it's coming from the back of the engine somewhere.

they have put some dye in the oil, and have asked me to drive it and bring it back in a week, then they will use a black light to find the source.

I have 48,400 miles. he told me not to go over 50k by next week. (which is odd, because 1. since it's documented before warranty runs out, shouldn't it still be covered? and 2. even if it wasn't already documented, shouldn't the new 60k mi powertrain warranty cover it?) but anyway, I'll still have less than 50k next time I take it in.

the other oil leaks I could find from searching on here were from the oil coolers, or one poor guy who was leaking between the rotors and got a new engine. I don't think my situation fits either of those.

what do you think?

MOP and front seal will leak oil on the passenger side of the engine and on to the exaust manifold........mine was the MOP..and L8Apex has a leaking seal I believe

can they replace the seals without replacing the engine? seems like they like to do engine swaps

I believe the only way to fix it is to replace the engine.

oh no :( :(

getting a whole new engine sound pretty good. for free right?

yes, you are right, if there is a problem, a whole new engine is a good deal. just a bummer that there is a problem I guess.

There are only a few places on the engine itself that can actually leak out to the outside. One is from the rear main seal. You would need to take the transmission off to get to this. There should be a small acccess plate on the bellhousing that you can take off easily and use a flashlight to peek inside. If it's clean, it's not the rear main seal. You could have a leak on the oil pan. The oil metering pump could have a leak and be dripping down the engine. You need to find the higest point that has oil on it as well as the farthest forward point. These 2 things alone will tell you about where the leak is even if you can't find it directly.

A leak happened to me after an oil change (coincident with actually) and I thought the tech had messed up refilling the oil. But no, when i returned they found that the oil ring seal on the hose that goes to the oil radiator up front had 'failed' at the engine connection.

Might have them check that, it was an easy fix, just weird. I actually had a puddle of oil on the floor the next day after the oil change, and so the leak happened just 'bam' and it was leaking all over the floor on the return from the dealer.

they looked at it today. turns out it's the transmission which is leaking. they are locating a replacement part, then they have to drop the tranny out to change the part. I didn't get any details on what part it is. They said they should have it done tomorrow (they got me a rental car so at least I have that)

new flywheel?

I can't quite remember if he said what part it was, but if he did say, he definitely did not say flywheel. :) I'll post tomorrow after I know for sure.

Hmmm, I hope it's not the transmission tail shaft seal. There are several members on this forum including me that have had their tail shaft seal leak. I had mine resealed two weeks ago (11k on the odo) and I suspect it might be leaking again because the smell of gear oil has returned into the cabin :mad: . Good luck!

just spoke with them on the phone, it's the input seal. he says it's leaking from the input seal of the transmission onto the oil pan.