Hi Everyone,

There is an 2005 RX8 for sale. It has a total of 70000 km. The engine was changed by Mazda at 44000km by Mazda.

I have done a compression check as well as a full checkup on the car, and this is at a Mazda service center and the car as Mazda claims is perfect.

My main concern are the compression results:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/klsk0ovwbo...%B1%201231.jpg

Any advise is much appreciated.. Are these results good?

 

RX-8 Web Compression Calculator

See for yourself. Compression numbers are useless without compensating for elevation. Use your normalized numbers against this graph:

 

I have no idea what the elevation is where it was tested as I am in another city. I'm buying the car over distance with a friend going to check it out tomorrow and give it a test drive. From the description however the car runs, starts etc perfectly with no idle problems or misfires etc. So I'm pretty much stuck with the results I have and the testimony of Mazda saying that the results are good.

 

the front rotor is moderately good, the rear rotor is weak but passing. This assumes the test was normalized to sea level. The results will be better the higher above sea level the test was done at. I don't have kpa on here, but it's pretty close to kg/cm2 * 100

 

Cool graph, who made that?

 

I did, using the Foxed CA compression calculator and Excel


A bit easier to read and understand than messing with the calculator, but has the drawback of not accounting for altitude.

Also found that the Foxed CA calculator apparently normalizes to 260rpm, not 250rpm. Not a huge difference, but a bit of a difference.

 

So you recommend I pass on the car?

 

Depends on the price, rest of the condition, available options, capacity for repairs, how much you plan on driving it, etc... I am guessing you aren't in the US due to the printout, so that could easily change your available repair options down the road.

I can't provide an opinion there for you.

 

Well. I live on a small greek island and I will be doing a Max of 10000k per year at most. I'm paying 4800 Euro for the car. The rest of the car is immaculate, not even a scratch. It's the 231hp version (Cosmo)

Mazda RX-8 COSMO 231HP '2005 - Car.gr

 

Nice work. I will definitely hang on to that.

 

I have it in the new owner's thread too, if you ever need to look it up again. Attached to the forum, so it's not going to disappear.

 

Sorry cisjga, I really can't provide a recommendation. I don't know how that price relates to the general market you have, if there are even any dealers there, etc... Before even getting into your possible appetite for doing all your own work, and if not, your ability to afford to pay someone else to do it (and no idea on what the prices there would be for parts and labor).

I'm not sure if there are any other members here that are in your area to ask them to weigh in either. A few in Cyprus and a guy in Turkey are the closest I can think of, but even those are different enough that it probably won't help.

 

Anyway... A sincrere thank you to all... I'm glad I joined the club. I know that the RX8 can be a handful but I'm willing to take the plundge, its been a while since a car was calling me... I can't see myself in anything else..

 

The question is, would you buy a piston powered car if a compression test showed one of the cylinders was down on compression?

 

Hi, well, you already know you have low compression.
I have heard some say they drove their 8s for a long time with bad compression. You may not be so lucky.
You're going in with your eyes open.
If you know you may need a new engine, and can afford to eventually do it, AND still want the car, I say go for it!
Good luck!

 

I'm curious what your rebuild options will be living on a small Greek Island... Incidentally which Greek island... I love the Greek Isles

 

No rebuild options on Kalymnos... The only thing would be to buy a rebuilt engine under warranty from the UK in exchange for the shitty engine at about $2000 all in for the replacement motor and then labour to take out and fit it.
Mazda service center is in Rhodes which is 6 hours by ship. There are about 4 RX8s on the island already.

 

$2000 what? USD? If so that is shockingly cheap...

 

oups my mistake.. Just found a rotary specialist here in Greece. He sais 1500 Euro for a complete rebuild + shipping.

 

Euro. If you only count the exchange rate, that's $2,641 currently.