Son’s RX8. I’m not a rotary mechanic. Folks telling me time to replace engine. I think it has less than 50k on it.

A couple months ago, it stalled and we needed to tow it home. When it cranks, lots of blue smoke. Will run a short time before cutting off.

Attached video shows blue smoke billowing from exhaust. No cross contamination with coolant. I’m afraid the engine seals are gone but would like a happier prognosis. What do y’all think?

 

Get a compression test to understand condition of the engine. What was it doing when it stalled? Is there oil in the air filter and tract?

 

It would stall just on idle. So we noticed that the air intake wasn’t tight. Tightened it and it seemed to run smoother but we cut the engine before it got warm.

No sign if any blow by under the hood or oil where it shouldn’t be. Oil seems clean but low considering just got an oil change.

Oil pressure seemed fine.

Think it’s safe to run to get it up to temp? Intake seems to be the stalling culprit but the smoke still seems excessive.

 

Please answer the questions, otherwise it's difficult to troubleshoot.
Are there any OBD codes?

 

Yes there are. I don't recall at the moment the exact codes, but they were related to misfire cyl 1. We did change the coils and plugs, but the code did not go away. With regards to your first question about oil, did not see any oil in the air filter or lines.

 

How old are the ignition coils? They're a wear item, after 25k miles they start to become a liability. Misfire might be a clue to that, but it could be caused by other reasons too.
So you said it stalled on him one day, do you know what happened just before it stalled? Parked somewhere, regular driving, spirited driving?
Does the car have a catalytic converter and has it been checked for clogging?

Getting exact codes would be important. If it were me, compression test would be my next big step, to make sure it's worth investing anything else in the car. I don't see a problem letting it warm up as long as it has oil pressure (granted the oil pressure gauge doesn't actually read oil pressure, as long as it's not zero, your risk of breaking things more than they are is limited).