So after a $200 dollar "diagnosis" it came back that it had a bad Oil Metering Pump as well as low compression. I'm thinking the seals were damaged because of lack of oil due to the bad OMP, which then caused the low compression.

I had my suspicion of this.

My question now is.. Which seals or which parts of the engine were damaged because of low/not enough oil in the engine? I have a set of seals I bought a while back just in case, I just need to know which ones got damaged? And how would I know what a worn/damaged seal looks like?

I guess it's rebuild time... Sigh..

 

If the engine is opened up, all seals need to be replaced. Even an engine that has only a couple thousand miles on it will need an expert's jdugement on if any one seal could be reused, and I doubt any expert would agree to reusing any.

The real question is... has the lack of oil damaged the irons and housings beyond the point of reusing them? You won't know that until the engine is opened up. Even an engine with a properly working OMP will wear the irons, housings, e-shaft bearings, and rotor seal seats, and usually by ~80k most aren't worth re-using. Irons can be relapped, but everything else can't be repaired and has to be replaced.

Engine replacements/rebuilds should always be approached with a mindset that everything will need to be replaced, and then you might get away with reusing a few things. Trying to think about it as the minimum that will need to be replaced and it's going to get really painful, really fast.

Seal-only rebuilds tend to last less than 10,000 miles.

 

At this point sell the car and buy a working ine. Rebuild it for 3000 ish if your lucky plus omp for ???? I think 1500 ish unless you go used.

Id bet that it is still good though. I'm willing to pay you 100 bucks for the omp and switch just to find out. That is as long as theres no obvious physical damage.

 

What are the specs for the seals? I'll look them up and if the seals are within spec I'll re-use. If not then I'll have to buy. I'm mostlybworried about the rotor seals.

Can I use silicone to help re-seal some of the seals not pertaining to the rotors?

 

Did you get actual compression numbers?

 

Do it right or do it twice. Don't think you want to do this twice :/
Sorry man, that's just how it is.

 

They didn't give us compression numbers. But I think its safe to assume that's the problem.

 

At this point I'd want to just get it working so I can sell it.

 

Seeing how the OMP failed and most likely caused the engine problem the housings are scared so put 2 new housing on the list untill you open it up to find out for sure.

 

Wow, that seems like a really low thing to do.

 

The seals are all metal, excepting only the coolant seals.

You won't be able to reuse the seals, period. Worn away metal can't just be replaced.

It isn't even just worn seals though, the metal of the irons and the chrome and metal of the housings can be worn, and almost certainly is worn. The irons can be relapped smooth, but the housings can not be rechromed. All attempts aftermarket have been more costly than buying a new housing.

 

How is that low? I want to fix the car and sell it so I can hopefully get back my money's worth.

 

Frankly, you will only be able to "get your money back" by a proper rebuild that returns good compression numbers. But keep in mind that low compression RX-8's have a value that is set by the price of a rebuild/replacement. You will net the same amount of money selling it with low compression that you will replacing the engine and selling it with good compression, assuming you do all the work yourself. This isn't even counting the OMP issue.

If you just want to get out of ownership, it's simpler and probably cheaper to just sell it as-is.

 

Sorry for being pesimistic. I just spoke with my dad and he said "the hell with it! We bought the car to learn and we're going to learn"
Lol so he's up for a a re-build with all new seals.

I personally was thinking about this kit from Atkins, 04-11 Rx8 Rotor Kit (ARE64)

What's a good way of knowing if the rotor housing is in good or bad condition?

 

A proper set of precision measuring tools and an experienced eye.



Some threads to read through:

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tec...engine-231883/

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tec...-specs-236671/
Specifically:
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tec...engine-180393/

 

To do a rebuild right expect to spend at least 600 dollars on rotary specific engine tools. Thats if you shop around. Including bearing tolls precision V blocks 18" percision straight edge and a step where toll at the minimum.

Anything short of all new seals, bearings, and housings if needed would be bad form to rebuild then sell it.

 

I'm planning on buying ALL new seals, however, i will not change something that is in perfectly good physical and working condition. i will change EVERY seal that is on the rotor and inside the combustion chamber, but i will try to see which seals not dealing with the rotor are in good conditions. keyword "GOOD". i will not keep something that is bad or will soon go bad.

anyways i just came back from the shop and i tore apart my cars OLD engine. mostly for practice for when i do the new one but its actually in a pretty decent condition (considering what its been through). I'm sure my new engine is much better than this but i'll post pictures of it anyways.

TEAR-DOWN PICTURES: http://imgur.com/a/WB3pl

 

The coolant and intake seals are the only ones that are reusable rubber products. The coolant seals should be trashed a coolant seal leak will be the cause of another rebuild. I wouldn't risk it for 160 dollars savings. On top of that you can not buy them individually so there is no reason to not change all of them.

There is a few other rubber orings you might get away woth but again these are not expensive parts. Dollars each. I could see skipping the oil cut off rings maybe.

 

Face palm. He still just don't get it. All the things we have told him and all the times he was wrong. No matter what we say this kid just ain't going to listen. So I'm going to leave him to FUBR his rebuild and watch him post "it's not running right" or something to that affect and have my self a good laugh.

 

By the way, you bought this motor somewhere right? How about asking them why the compression is low and what they want to do about it. Was there some kind of guarantee?

 

Thanks

 

No warranty unfortunately, I did get the compression numbers though.
Compression levels are Front- 5.1 Rear - 5.0

 

Low compression could be in part from the OMP problem. So the numbers might come up a bit with the omp working right. Also always clean the coolers, lines, and any other part of the oil system that is reused after an engine eats bearings. I missed the oil pickup and lost an engine because of it, don't be an idiot like me.

Oh and dealer/vehicle specific codes don't display on an regular obd2 scanner, so you can have a CEL and no codes with E-shaft sensor or OMP issues (I'm sure there are more, just none I've found yet.)

 

UPDATE: well i know its been a while but i just wanted to give you guys an update. i changed the apex seals, apex springs. side seal springs and corner seals, corner seal springs and all the gaskets. i did all of this with my dad at a friends shop. Rotor housings and rotors were in excellent condition (45k). i also fixed the limp mode by re-zeroing the OMP sensor.

I'm mostly doing this update to show everyone that a JDM 4port 5 speed manual engine can be put into a 4port US automatic, although the starter had to be refitted. I dont know the exact compression numbers, but the engine turns on almost instantly hot or cold. After driving it for about 40 miles, so far no CELs. Time to go pass inspection

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED!!!!!

 

good luck, It normally takes me 3 days 5 or 6 cold starts and at least 100 miles to pass after a reflash or pulling the battery.