Cavalry

The things I get myself into...
I am a domestic truck guy through and through. I have an extensive background in gas and diesel engines, but there aren't exactly a lot of US made rotaries out there for me to have been exposed to. I don't think I have ever seen a rotary in person before last week.
Long story short, A guy that works for me who is not terribly mechanically inclined parked his 04 GT with 100K on it in his garage about 6 years ago because he was sick of dealing with it. Somehow it came up in conversation and I told him I would get it out of his way for him.
I was nice enough not to charge him to tow it out of there and it made it to my shop a couple days ago. He couldn't remember the problem it had or the reason he parked it so I was rather in the dark. I crammed for a few hours to get some idea where to start and went at it.
I dumped the "gasoline" that was in the tank, put in a fresh battery dealt with some other issues that were in the realm of scary looking, deflooded it and a couple hours later did the first hard launch.
There are a lot of bugs to work out still, oil cooler lines are shot, I have a bunch of sensor issues and an ungodly about of things wrong either from sitting or neglect,a and of course the three things it seems like every post here shifts to eventually. The car is pretty rough, but I think it will be a pretty fun playtoy to pound on relentlessly for the summer. Who knows, I may get hooked just because they are so uncommon here and look for another one with more potential.

Cavalry

Figured a not very well taken pic might be interesting.

Loki

iTrader: (1)

Cool, welcome. List the issues, there are some pretty common ones we could probably work out.

Also find a thread called "New and potential owners...", read it all the way through.

Cavalry

I have read quite a bit of it. There is a lot of good info out there for common ailments.

Biggest thing right now is the cooler lines. I need to call up my fitting supplier and see if he has the correct banjos, then I will crimp up a couple lines.

CEL with a PO336, crank sensor (or in the rotary world eccentric shaft position sensor). Pulled the sensor cleaned and tested. Its a 770ohms so a bit under the specs range. I'll verify the wires to the PCM before I drop $100 on the sensor though.
Also a pending front O2 sensor which I guess has been the bane of this particular car. The lift bay has a truck in it currently so that will have to wait before taking a look.

Onward from there its a bunch of just annoying things. Gas door release is seized, pass door does not open, brakes should be gone through, tuneup, etc, etc.

roto-moto

If you're looking for a good oil cooler line kit BHR supplies a nice Mishimoto set. You can find it here. >>>clicky clicky<<<

It's a little pricey, but it's very nice and you know it'll last you a quite possibly the life of the car lol.

40w8

Anything that gives trouble is talked about here.

Most Japanese cars copied things like American style fittings and logic.

Most difference is internal stuff most people don't mess with.

Now go get a BMW, and you'll find out German repair logic is way out there.

delhi

Welcome to RX8club and the cult of Wankel's rotaries.

The RX8 is not too complicated to maintain. Lots of rich resources here to draw upon. I'm 10 years in and it's still a wonderful relationship.

Cavalry

thanks, but I plan on using hydraulic hose. I have my own crimper so its just a matter of ordering the correct banjo fittings. I'll replace the two return? hoses that are suspect and run the others if they still look serviceable. $25 repair vs $450

Cavalry

I have been around German stuff enough to know I dont want to experience more. A buddy acquired a A4 as a beater car with a sketchy service history, we decided to go through it before he drove it. First problem was the hood latch was seized. Ever try opening a tuna can from the inside? 3 hours later we were finally changing fluids. I wont even go into the over engineered ridiculousness of O2 sensors and signal bulb replacement.

40w8

No kidding, I have 4 year old X1 s28i strippo model ( only M Sport), and it's the best car I've every seen.

However, I'd dump it if it gives big trouble. I only drive it 5k miles a year, and can change oil, filters, and brake pads.

What's really annoying is BMW holds all maintenance info close, so they can be the master of your car.

You have to even buy special OBDII readers since my scan gauge II doesn't speak German.

Jdmx13b

Lol