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Bought my 5th RX8 today a 2006 automatic LHD with the red and black interior, but man is the exterior in rough shape! Compression test went great with my RCTV 5.2 tester:
Front: 7.5, 7.9, 7.3
Rear: 8.0, 7.5, 7.4
$1,400 so couldn't really say no. Engine and trans both working well and no codes or lights on the dash. Even the AC works! Will update on my progress as I move along on it. Couple things, the passenger door handle is removed but I found it in the back seat. Hoping it can just connect back up. Also, the power window gears are broken and need to be replaced. Going to do full fluid changes and resurface the brake rotors. Want to make sure its mechanically good then I can focus on making it pretty again. So stoked!
Yeah, wow, looking at that car, I never would have guessed those compression figures.
Pretty common around here for used cars. The sun is incredibly brutal here and this car has just been baking in the sun for months! Mechanically though, it does seem really solid. Drives beautifully.
i know in the us the 04-05 autos had the option of standard or sport suspension/brakes but not sure about other countries. the standard ones had different factory wheels
Ran into what may be an issue but not sure yet. Will likely remove the pulley and inspect. Appears to be some slight wobbling on the crank pulley. Perhaps belt is too tight? Is this amount of wobble normal? Other than this I am struggling to find anything wrong with this car. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Could also be engine mounts causing vibration.
Umm yikes. The main seems to bounce a bit too. I had to slow down the video to notice. Definitely try without A/C but a tight belt would dampen oscillations not create them. Unless the pulley is cockeyed on the crank, I'm actually concerned the bearings are shot and the whole crank is wobbling.
Umm yikes. The main seems to bounce a bit too. I had to slow down the video to notice. Definitely try without A/C but a tight belt would dampen oscillations not create them. Unless the pulley is cockeyed on the crank, I'm actually concerned the bearings are shot and the whole crank is wobbling.
My concern as well, didn't notice it until I purchased the car. I'll investigate more when I have some time.
I see what you mean when slowed down. The main pulley has to be pried off to be removed and you have to be super careful with the timing teeth. The motor could have been changed or at least removed, in which case the pulleys could have been bent during that process. I highly doubt the eccentric shaft would be moving that much. It would probably be spewing oil past the seal by that point.
Best of luck.
I see what you mean when slowed down. The main pulley has to be pried off to be removed and you have to be super careful with the timing teeth. The motor could have been changed or at least removed, in which case the pulleys could have been bent during that process. I highly doubt the eccentric shaft would be moving that much. It would probably be spewing oil past the seal by that point.
Best of luck.
I believe the engine must have been rebuilt at least once. It has 130,000 km on the clock and I doubt it was ever properly cared for, given the condition it's currently in. No way would the original engine be pumping out nearly 8 bar.
The inner main pulley doesn’t appear to wobble just the outer AC pulley. Replace it and the AC belt.
There’s quite the clatter going on there in that video. Maybe run it without the AC belt and see what it sounds like then.
Crossing my fingers thats all it is. There is a vibration at idle and I believe I was running the AC during the video. It still does seem to vibrate excessively at idle though, I will be inspecting the engine mounts once the rain passes. It sounds a lot better with the AC turned off though . It's smooth and revs right up to 8k RPM without issue.
Last edited by CaymanRotary; 10-23-2020 at 05:01 PM.
Turns out the wobbly pulley is due to the crank pulley damper. Does anyone know where I can get the replacement part? I can't seem to find it.
Edit: Found it direct from Mazda. Its a kit and includes all the replacement bits and a new pulley. This should solve the issue. Other than this wobbly pulley, this car is ready for a full tune up and restoration. I'm blown away it was that easy to sort out. The kit includes all of these parts.
Last edited by CaymanRotary; 10-26-2020 at 02:57 PM.
Misfire code P0302 cylinder 2: changed out the plugs as I noticed they were in rough shape from the compression test. Also installed a new battery. The new plugs are in and the car does run noticeably better but the misfire code continues to persist.
Next will be to swap the wires and see if the code shifts. If it doesn't then I will swap the ignition coils and see if the misfire follows. I'm hoping maybe a bad spark plug wire as a new set of those is only $20. But, as you can see, the old plugs needed to be changed out anyways. At least they were using the correct plugs I suppose.
Last edited by CaymanRotary; 10-27-2020 at 06:43 PM.
Misfire solved! At first thought may be wires or coils but they checked out. Coils appear to be brand new. Next step for me at that point was to reset the KAM/NVRAM. The 20 brake pedal stomp solved the issue and no misfire!! Problem sorted.
Edit: Stabilizer end links and pulley kit ordered. Should have in 3 weeks if im lucky. Car is running and driving perfectly. I will be getting the car inspected and licensed this weekend. Gonna drive it around a bit and make sure no other issues crop up. Won't be driving fast in it just yet though.
Edit: Its home.
Last edited by CaymanRotary; 10-29-2020 at 06:41 PM.
Well, have had a very thorough look through the whole car and these are the issues I need to solve:
1. Bad power steering rack (looking at replacement options).
2. Bad cooling fans (ordered a replacement OEM fan shroud for $220)
3. Bad Steering column (found a replacement on island for $150)
4. Possibly bad coils (Mazda C coils $300 if thats shown to be an issue. Coils that are on it look OK but haven't tested them yet).
5. Needs passenger door handle and new power window motor cogs (all on order for a total of $150).
6. Bad crank pulley assembly and bad stabilizer links (both should be here next week. Total cost $475).
7. Bad front O2 sensor (ordered $180 Denso)
8. Interior work and some body and full paint job (estimating $2500).
Looking close to $5,000 all in for it to be fully restored including the purchase price. So I'm quite happy to completely restore the car. The cat was already gutted so just replaced fittings. Will continue to update as I go along.
Last edited by CaymanRotary; 11-28-2020 at 03:00 PM.
Well, this crank pulley is definitely concerning me. The new pulley assembly is in and it made very little difference.The car runs fine and compression is still 7.4-8 bar on all rotor faces. I'm thinking ill fix up what I can and sell the car as it sits. I really wanted to fully restore the car but after looking at this I'm a bit concerned. What would you guys do? I really don't want to pull the engine.
That's really up to you as far as selling it or keeping it. If its solid and rust free and you enjoy the car, I say keep it and enjoy it. Did you inspect the eccentric shaft's snout when you removed the pullies? Were all parts clean and centered? I've never seen a wobble like that on a Renesis.
That's really up to you as far as selling it or keeping it. If its solid and rust free and you enjoy the car, I say keep it and enjoy it. Did you inspect the eccentric shaft's snout when you removed the pullies? Were all parts clean and centered? I've never seen a wobble like that on a Renesis.
Yea it does move a little but not leaking oil. Other than vibrations at idle its fine. That may just be bad coils or engine mounts or something and not the pulley (I hope). Its not too bad, belts are in good shape despite being driven. I'm probably just gonna keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't get worse than it is.
10-22-2020, 12:38 PM
