1st Post - having serious problems @ 94k miles
 

Hi -

Background: I just purchased my 2nd RX-8. My first was a 2008 auto with 23k miles. It was totalled 2 weeks after purchase, and I received a check from insurance, which I used to pay off medical debt and then purchase a 2005 standard, my first standard. I learned to drive stick on it.

I purchased the 2005 through an auction, which in hindsight, was incredibly stupid because there was no way of telling how the previous owners (there were THREE. Again, stupid!) treated the car.
The oil is constantly dirty. I check it constantly, and always top it off when needed. I'm a freak about the oil. I don't understand how it gets dirty so quickly. Any thoughts?

The main issues stem from a radiator issue I had a month after I purchased the vehicle. I was driving down the highway and noticed the car overheating. I pulled over immediately, before the gauge put me in the "danger zone". Popped the hood, and there was dried white splatter everywhere. I thought this was coolant. Took it into a shop I trust, and had to replace: radiator, thermostat, condenser, coolant tank, and took care of the O2 sensors that I had been needing to replace anyway. $1600.

2 days later, I started seeing white smoke and smelling oil burning. Took the car back in. Mechanic called me and asked if I planned on keeping the car, and my heart sunk. He said the engine had lost "quite a bit of compression" and he didn't know how much longer it would last, and he didn't want to have to see me do an engine swap, because it wasn't cost-effective.

I'm really out of options here. I can't sell the car for more than pennies in the condition it's in, and im wondering if anyone else has lost compression and has smoking like ive described? Any ideas as to how long i've got with this thing?

My temporary tags are still on for christ's sake. I'm so frustrated, and just sad. :banghead:

Ouch,

Sorry,

Best I got.

Did he give you the compression numbers?

My alternator belt snaped a few months ago and caused my car to overheat.. Mind you my needle went all to the red dot by the time I managed to pull over. Maybe I was luky my engine had no damage for some crazzy reasons. even after 3 days of this being repaired I had little smoke and coolant burning smell comming from my hood..

As Gravey said, get that compression test to determine the health of your engine.
Prior to this incident were you experiencing hard hot start issues?
Waht about after the incident, are you experiencing any trouble starting your car hot?

I'll admit I'm not extremely knowledgeable but, if you lost both inner and outer coolant seals which could result from an extreme overheat you could lose significant compression and see large quantities of coolant smoke.

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The needle won't start movign till about 235F. The coolant seals can fail from overheating as low as 220F. So basically if the needle moves AT ALL, you are already well into the "danger zone".

You lose the engine from a cooling system failure, which has happened plenty. I suspect it is one of the top two reasons for engine failure over the last few years, as so many owners have cars with failing cooling systems and have no clue that the parts need to be replaced OR that the engine can fail so easily from overheating, before the needle even moves.

Sorry about the problems, yeah, it sucks.

Best of luck.