MX6_2_RX8

The Rensis rotary will last 314,219.5 Miles.


Oh, In my opinion.

Dinhx8

you screw this up you'll be flying a plane full of rubber dog sh*t out of HONG KONG, now GET ON IT

MX6_2_RX8

There could be a math error in there somewhere.

Rotario

I don't know where in the world you got that. My sources tell me flat-out that the Renesis is good for 314,599.6 miles. And my sources know.

Hope this helps, :D
Bill

MX6_2_RX8

Well; you don't need to get all nasty. What oil change intervals were you using? I used the Puerto Rico oil change specifications in the maintenance schedule 2. Now if you used something different. . . .

arghx7

I've met a guy who had 230k on his 91 N/A FC, and he was still on the original clutch too. He didn't drive the car very hard though. I even know two people who got 100k miles out of their FD, until one blew an apex seal and the other blew a coolant seal.

sferrett

Taken care of I don't see why we wouldnt get at least 200k miles out of these engines. As has been said previously in this thread (and numerous others) the naturally-aspriated rotary seems to last as long as any engine maintained and driven properly. My '90 rx-7 had 147k on it when I sold it and it was running perfectly, still pulling through to the 8k redline without any issues. FD's have a bit of a bad-rap for blowing engines, but that's usually because the owners modify them in some way and blow them up. I have 65k miles on my FD currently, on the original engine (although the turbos needed replacing a couple thousand miles ago) and it runs very well.

Wurmfist

So if you blow an apex or cooling seal that means the car is done?? Seems like it could be something that could be replaced. If I went 200k miles and all I had to do was replace an apex seal or a cooling seal and could keep on driving it? I'd say that's a great car! But I don't know what's involved with either problem. So I could be off the mark.

PaulieWalnuts

Changing the seals is possible but would require the rotary to be taken out and torn down.

ZoomZoomH

iTrader: (1)

since all the seals in a rotary engine are not accessible from the outer housings, it means that any blown seal will require a full engine rebuild....

cletus

Like Paulie says, if you just lose an apex seal you gotta tear it completely down anyway, so while you are in there you might as well replace all of the seals. The problem with breaking an apex seal is it can get caught between your rotor and your housing and trash both of those, which can make the rebuilds expensive. Otherwise they aren't too bad (on the older rotaries).

As far as the old NAs lasting, I know people who broke 300k miles without touching the motor. They typically did quite fine. 200k seemed quite common place. I would expect the renesis to do about as well.

The rotaries really did get a bad rap because of the FD. Typically it was people modding them without doing anything to correct the fuel (sometimes just an exhaust would cause them to lean out and detonate). They also ran hot, and a lot of times it would be something completely different than a motor problem, like a vacuum problem control the sequential turbos, but people would just blame the motor by default. My FD has about 63k miles on it. Original motor, compression test from not too long ago was excellent, runs great, no smoke. Turbos are starting to leak oil though I think. Stupid oil pan gasket too.

That being said, I wouldn't worry about it. Just drive it. Don't baby it all the time, you need to redline it every so often (after it has warmed up of course) to clear out the carbon. And if you do mod it down the road, especially forced induction, make sure you take care of the fuel system too.

Rotario

Excellent post, Cletus.

Bill

Wurmfist

Well the only thing I have done is put a Racing Beat Exhaust on it, which I love by the way. So I don't think I'm going to have any problems. I only managed to put 6500 miles on mine in a year so let's see, 200k? I'm good for almost 31 years...If it dies then, it dies happy. lol!

sferrett

Man deja-vu - I just went though the fun of replacing the turbos and resealing the leaking-like-crazy (and mucho pain to remove/replace) oilpan on my FD - turbos at about 60k and oilpan at about 63k (then the turbos again about 1k miles ago since the rebuilt ones I got were passing more oil than Colonel Sanders). Everyone I asked said the smoke was probably the oil seals in the engine going and to get ready for a rebuild, turns out it was the bogus rebuilt turbos doing some extra oil-injection for me. Did you have a shop do the work or did you do it yourself? What year FD is it?

I've spent far more $$ on my FD in the 10k miles I've had it than the 25k miles in the '8, although that's completely to be expected I suppose since one is 10 years old the other is 2 years old.

On the engine rebuild thing, with seals and so forth: since there's no real concept of top and bottom end in the rotary (there're no heads you can pop on/off to change things like valves, cams, rings and such) anything internal that goes amiss (like apex seals or oil control rings) will require you to completely disassemble and reassemble the engine. Which, by the way, seems to be a lot less of an ordeal than a conventional engine since there are just a lot less parts to deal with. And while you're in there you might as well fix up/replace/rebuild as much stuff as you can since it's all apart anyhow.

RenoIV

I have 148k+ on my fc so the 8 should get at least 248k if you change the oil!

cletus

My FD hasn't been too bad $ wise. It's a '95, had it about 2.5 years and put all of 6k miles on it. I haven't done either repair yet, but I'll probably have my local shop (Mazcare) do the oil pan at least. They know what they are doing on FDs. Turbos I will probably still wait on. They are typically fine, but if I let it sit a while (a few weeks), some oil appears to leak into the intake track and the 1st time I hit the secondary I'll get a bit of smoke. That's about it. From what I understand, typically the FD motors do not die from oil seals, but either coolant seals or apex seals.

PaulieWalnuts

Along with an 8, one day I will have an FD. The car still looks as good today as it did when it was launched. Most other 90s cars, maybe minus the Supra, look pretty dated.

Rakasha

When i was looking at used 8's, i found a guy in virginia that was selling his blue for 16k. He had put about 80,000 miles on it over the course of maybe 9-10 months, travelling 350+ miles a day for business. So it may be highly unlikely that someone would has 100,000 miles on thier 2yo car, but someone has 80k on thier 1yo car =P

I even went down to check it out and drive it, he had all of his maintenence records. He only changed his oil every 7k miles or so, and used all synthetic, but the car still ran and drove like it was brand new.

I would have bought it the next week, cuz i know how long rotaries can last, so 80k isnt alot of miles, but i found a leftover 2004, brand new, 200 miles on it, for under $20,000. I had to drive from NJ to MI to get it, but damn, it was worth it, i love my car =)

Wurmfist

That's pretty smart shopping. With some of the deals I see I wish I would have waited. I could have gotten an 8 for far less than what I paid for it. It's killing the resale market though.

Nick Alvarado

Neither here nor there....I bought my car in Nov. I considered it a good deal. It was a company show car....supposedly Mazda takes these fully loaded cars all around the dealerships to demonstrate points of sales to their people. It had just over 3000 miles. Milage not good at all 12 to 14 mpg. I noticed smoke coming out of the engine compartment the first time I drove it home...(I live about 120 miles from the dealership) I thought it could be normal engine burn out....the problems continued whenever I drove Highway....a little smoke....I checked with the dealer and was told to bring it in.....they checke it and said it was just a defective oil filter seal. Problem solved....no way.....drove back home more smoke and this time good size puddle of oil below engine. Had the car towed to the nearest dealer ...ended being not at original dealer but across state to Arizona in Yuma.....they replaced main oil seal and other seal....problem solved.....Not really less smoke but small lead still seen. ....called main dealer in El Cajon, Ca. told to bring it in......could not for a while....really bad weather recently....finally made time and took over thursday......smoking when it arrived but gas milage better and leak quite small (puddle). They checked and rechecked ....just found out today Mazda has authorized to take transmission apart...a couple of other test performed...but it looks like they may have to replace the engine....my question to any of you out there....how long does this take and what should I look for in case they do replace the engine. Would my warranty restart at 0 as a new engine? Suggestions appreciated.....Let me tell you this forums have been of great value to me as I have gone from one problem and question to another...[B]thanks to all. Nick

mike0615

My first car was a 89 convertable FC. Had that car for like 5 years. put like 230k miles on it and never had any problems with engine. when i first got my car all my friends that knew about cars would joke with me saying that my engine would blow and all kinds a crazy ****. proved them wrong. when i sold the car, hardest thing i had to do by the way, it was still running good. bought a 98 2 door v6 accord after, man i hate honda's. i swear i will never buy an accord ever again even if they gave them away for free. my trany on the accord broke twice in 2 years. going back to rotory now is the best move i made since i bought the FC. :D just drive your 8 with love and respect and she'll treat u good.

Rotario

Ditto that. I had a '97 2-door Accord (4-banger, and yes, it banged unmercifully), and I have never hated any car so much. Car had a lot of problems, and even going through Honda corporate, I could never get anything done about it. "That's normal" was the standard reply. I'll never own another Honda as long as I live.

Bill

TwitchFD

im on my second engine in my FD at only 55k

but then again the Renesis is NA

MPG > HP

Now at 50K on the Renesis with no problems and still good performance. Got 220K to 310K on my previous RX-'s before they were "retired" by accident, loaning one to my bro who broke it (probably "detonated" apex seals) and one, by over heating. Just avoid predetonation at ALL costs, watch the temps, and keep the oil clean.

m477

Go to the RX-7 forum, many people with 1st and 2nd gens get 200k+ on their engines.... and these aren't people that drive like grannys either.