Repair: Mazda 3 2.0L Skyactiv Oil Control Valve Oil Seepage

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2013 Mazda 3 2.0L Skyactiv with 98.6K miles. The oil control valve (OCV) had been seeping oil for the last 20-30K miles and I finally had time to repair it. https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4951986/all-mazda-3-s-have-bad-ocv-s

The "seal" is actually a soft, stepped rubber sleeve (with a metal retention ring at the base) that is pressed into the valve cover itself. When the valve cover is removed, the oil control valve remains bolted to the valvetrain. To remove the sleeve, you simply push the sleeve out of the valve cover (from the outside). A new sleeve gets pushed into place via the backside of the valve cover, which is why valve cover removal is necessary to replace the OCV seal/sleeve.

The old seal/sleeve was not torn, it was just slightly harder than the new one. I am not sure if installing the new sleeve will fix the oil seepage; buster's dealer did the job several times and ultimately installed a new OCV in addition to replacing the seal/sleeve. No TSB's were found. We shall see if this fixes the problem. MSRP for the valve cover gasket and OCV seal/sleeve from Mazda was $59.39.


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Looks great. Great engine.

Critic, I'll be curious if this fixes it. My case was a bit unusual. What ultimately fixed it was a new valve cover. I originally brought the car in for the parking brake recall. While there, they rushed to also fix the OCV and didn't properly seal the valve cover. I had to take the car back and in doing so they replaced valve cover which finally fixed the issue.
 
Is that OCV for the variable valve timing hydraulics? And does this engine have variable valve lift?
Wonder if just a little coating (not much) of silicone rubber RTV gasket stuff around the rubber seal would seal it enough. ... Or is that considered more like a duct-tape style of fixing cars?
 
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It's either a poorly designed part, or the crankcase pressure is the issue. You'll find some that weep with only 30k miles. Still a fantastic engine if that's the only thing wrong with it.
 
Originally Posted by pezzy669
Are those oil squirters for the cam lobes I am looking at? Don't know if I have seen that before.


Mazda calls them "pipe, oil" p/n's PEDD-14-280 and PEDD-14-290.
 
Update:

I meant to update this thread a while ago. After a few days of driving, the area was rechecked. Unfortunately it appears that the leakage is coming from the oil control valve itself; the seal/sleeve may or may not have been leaking.

As you can see in the picture, the oil is leaking out from between the electrical portion of the valve and the metal housing itself. From my limited testing, leaking is most prevalent if the engine seems high-rpm conditions.

A new valve is $200+ from Mazda.

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Have you checked shopmazdaparts.com?

It looks more like a nuisance based on the photos but I am guessing it will get worse over time.
 
Originally Posted by Mr Nice
So it's a simple ‘pop out old part' and insert new valve ?

Yes, but the valve cover has to be removed.

Originally Posted by PimTac
Have you checked shopmazdaparts.com?

It looks more like a nuisance based on the photos but I am guessing it will get worse over time.

More of a nuisance than anything else; it won't leak enough oil to run off of the valve cover.

I don't think the owner is going to spend money to fix a non-critical issue, so this one may not get resolved.
 
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