westy27rs

Let me explain, i know nothing about the rotary engine. i know sort of how they work but it is only a basic understanding, im an impreza guy myself.

anyway i have come into posession of a 2004 rx8 for free! and im ashamed to admit i dont know if its the 190 bhp or 230 bhp model.

the car was my my auntie's shes has owned it from new and only coverd 42000 miles. however last week the car wouldent start it was recoverd by a local garage who say the engines tips are worn and their is no compression.(your thinking this sounds familliar) (a quick search on google brought up pages and pages of the same questions but i could not get an answers i was looking for.)

i know how delicate these engines are and they need to be looked after very well.

from what i know my aunt is not a fast driver so the car has probely never seen anythink over four grand rpm. shes not short of a few quid either so it has always had no expence spared and always been serviced. however she never drives this car out of town she drives up the road to work and into the town center occasionly such a short distance that its unlikely that the car has come up to full temp.

now i havent taken delivery of the car yet so i cant say much about it it will be getting delived to my house tomorro so i can have a look and decide if its fixable, if i should scrap it or brake it for parts.

can any one shed any light on what has potentially gone wrong ?

thanks for your time and apologies if this section is for introducing yourself dident know were els to post

thanks

matty

200.mph

iTrader: (9)

im gonna guess your not in the us. it could be flooded, probably needs coils, plugs, and wires and some sensor cleaning. what transmission is in it?

RotoryVirgin

If it has no compression you will need a new engine (5-6k) or a rebuild (2-3k). I would get a compression test done at a Mazda service center or modify a piston compression tester to run your own. Don't trust a local shop unless they have a rep with rotaries.
A piston compression tester with the valve removed will tell you if it has compression, but won't be accurate enough to tell you if it is within spec. You can buy one for about $20. Videos on YouTube e will help with the how to.
A rotary compression test will give you all the details, but costs up to $200.

Do one or the other and go from there.

At 42k it may be on original plugs, coils, and leads. Those need to be replaced every 30k or so. If compression checks out, that's the next step.

Gravey

iTrader: (3)

^What Jesse said, the hp available depends on the type of transmission you have.
you probably have a good amount of carbon build up too.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Yup, 200 has sound advice there. Start by deflooding the engine (hold the gas pedal to the floor and crank the engine over 10 times, 5 second each, rest 10 seconds between each). Then replace the ignition coils, spark plugs, plug wires (leads). Clean the MAF sensor and the e-shaft sensor. Squirt a bit of automatic transmission oil into each housing when you replace the plugs. Hook up the battery to another running car to ensure a solid charge, THEN try starting it.

Even if compression is poor, it should fire up under those conditions. You will create a bunch of smoke from the ATF burning off.

westy27rs

yes i am from the uk. i thought if it was flooded it would have some sort of compression. :/

and the garage is a local garage with a good rep however the have no expertise in rotarys. the garage owner tells me hes has six rx8 in the last year that they have just scrapped with nackerd engines he told me he would give me 50 pound about 70 dollas for it he also said not to bother with a second hand engine.

i cant wait to get it to see if i can diagnose it myself tho its in great condition and would be such a shame to scrap.

i will have a look at these compression tests and see if i can get one done.

westy27rs

its a manual tranny

RotoryVirgin

Sounds like he doesn't want to bother trying to learn rotaries, just wants cheap cars to sell for scrap.

It is cheaper to get a new engine than to buy a whole car as nice as an 8.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

I wouldn't trust a non-enthusiast diagnosing the engine as dead unless they actually hooked up a compression tester and got no compression values.

There is a lot of myth and misunderstanding about these cars, and plenty of shops just automatically assume an engine failure if they see any problem at all. Don't trust them.

RotoryVirgin

As a reference, I paid $2950 USD for my dead 04 rx8 with 116k miles.

westy27rs

ah rite i have been looking at the rx8s on a car sales website over here called auto trader and most cars havent seen over 60000 miles also there are many cars for sale with sub 50000 miles on the clock for less than 3,000 gbp sorry i dont know what that equates to in dollas but it is not much money for a lot of car.

djgiron

Well, the advice above is best, get a real compression test done and decide from there. Worst case is the engine is bad and needs a rebuild or replacement. Best case is the guy didnt know what he was doing and it needs new coils and plugs and for 200-500 US$ you can get a great car. BTW it is the 232hp version since it is a manual tranny. I imagine it has a bit of carbon build up as well so you can look up how to decarbonize the engine on this site as well.

200.mph

iTrader: (9)

since its a manual, pull starting it is the easiest way to deflood but you should check the ignition out. also check the cat. is it a 5 or 6 speed manual? i believe the 5sp in the uk is a 4 port and the 6spd is always the 6 port

westy27rs

cheers lads great help il find out exactly what the crack is tomorro when i get the car 232 bhp should be nippy then eh. il get a compression test done but probs not by mazda the dealer is to far away so would cost abit and my scooby needs some attention so that comes first.

i dont want to be putting a fortune into as you can pick these cars up for next to nothing were i live but would be nice to get it going again.

also im expecting the worst so if it comes to i will brake it for spares but not expecting a great deal of interest as there are alot of these cars and spares seem to be plentyfull

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Check out the "4 port vs 6 port" section in the new owner's thread linked in my signature. It gives you the method to tell which one the car has.

westy27rs

afternoon guys. right i have just got the rx8 to my garage on looking at the engine i still cant decide if its the 190 or 230.

anyway upon trying to start the dam thing the engine turns over however nothing much els happens i have got a vid on youtube if any of you can have a look and tell me were to start with it.

prepareing my self for some long hours in the garage stocking up on tea and coffee already. just uploading the vid now il put the link up in a min

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Did you follow any advice yet?

200.mph

iTrader: (9)

5spd manual=192
6spd manual=232

westy27rs

Yeh its a 5 speed 192. It also only has 32000 miles on the clock not 42000 which i stated.

I have a video on you tube of it not starting basically the starter tuns but nothibg els happens.

If you type into you tube
Mazda rx8 club non starter it should be at the top the video is posted by audry snailham.

Hopefully u guys can shed somw light on the situation. And were to go from here my compression kit is in the post so cant test it as yet also i did notice the battery did not have its green led illuminated so i have that on charge at the moment

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Have you followed any previous advice yet?

The only thing the video shows is that the cranking speed is horrifically slow. That could be due to battery or starter. Like previously advised, hook up another car to it via jumper cables (you parked nose in, so that might be troublesome, but you are going to need it). If the cranking speed doesn't get remarkably faster, add "replace starter" to your list.

westy27rs

The cars backed into the garage so il be able to hook up another car no problem i have my little lad today so its hard to get out done atm but tomorro i will do this see if the starting speed increases.

westy27rs

Just been trawling through tonnes and tonnes of vids and info about rx8 not starting ect.

Im fairly confident that my car wont start due to it being flooded.

However if the garage that carried out the compression test on the car didso using the battery that i now no to be in poor condition would the affect the compression results. As in low power battery not turning the engine over at a sufficent speed to get a decent compression?.

I shall be looking into this tomorro morning following all the advice, guides and deflooding procedures on here.

Cheers all been a great help

RotoryVirgin

Lower cranking speed will have lower compression. A dealer's results will compensate for that though. If you want to do your own test, just having consistent, evenly spaced peaks will tell you it has compression enough to run.

westy27rs

Yeh thanks the boss of the garage said nothing about the battery. Im going to replace battery then do the flooding procedure then hopefully some vroom
Vroom if it works i will never trust another garage again.

I suspect the owner of the garage probs couldent be botherd diagnosing the engine and using up his time diagnosing a car when he probs had other cars waiting that he knew were easy money making fixes.

If im wrong and what he told me was rite im guna look like a plank. However my aunt just told me she never had any hot start issues just 1 morning it wouldent start.

Fingers crossed maybe my faith in mazdas rotarys will be restored

Rotaman

I think you will find that the engine in your car is just carboned up due to your aunt never warming the engine up with a long drive or giving it a good blast down the motorway every now and then.
The apex seals are quite likely to be stuck down in their grooves and not sealing properly, thus giving you little or no compression.
You need to free up the seals with some ATF or power steering fluid. I'm sure there's a few other ways to do this as well.
Then put a new set of plugs in the car and tow start it at a decent speed.
Hopefully this should at least get you started, or a lot closer to it.
This type of problem is quite common for Rotary engined cars that have only been used to drive slowly around a city for long periods of time.

Rotaman