Hi there. This is my first post. Have been hunting for an Rx8 for about two months. Finally found one that seems to be in good shape mechanically (a little body damage on driver side fender and door). The car is an 2004 6 speed of course, all stock except wheels, no CEL's, drives nice and tight no rattles revs up to 9000 nice and smooth. No hot start issue. Its a trade in at dodge dealership. Made them an offer of $5000.00 subject to a compression test. They agreed and got it in to a mazda dealer across the street. So I thought it would all be done correctly. Dodge sales man phones we back and tells me 98 psi and 85psi. So I tell him the test needs to be done right before Its deemed pass or fail. Long story short mazda didn't have proper compression tool and used a standard tester. They are waiting to get the tester next week. Oh and nobody can tell me if it's had a engine replacement or not. Thoughts?

 

Mazda couldn't do a VIN lookup for the car? That's surprising. Even more surprising is they don't have a rotary compression tester as well. That's... less than reassuring. Where you at buddy? How many miles?

 

Buying a used RX-8 without a Mazda compression test is not an option. Period. If the test is unavailable, walk away. If the test will be done by a non-Mazda mechanic at a non-Mazda dealership, walk away. If the test is a compression test but not specifically a "rotary engine compression test," walk away.

The Renesis is a well designed, reliable engine, but only if it gets consistent and proper care and maintenance — something relatively few owners provide. Hence the need for a rotary compression test.

 

Hi. I am in Red Deer Alberta, the car is about an hour away in Edmonton. Car has 110,000 km/ 68350 miles. Mazda Canada customer service would not give me any sort of service history stating privacy issues, could only give me recall info. After process of elimination by calling all the mazda dealers in the area, I found one that showed the vin # in their system and the car had last been there in 2008. So of course since then the dealer had changed ownership and everything purged, so no info on what was done to the car. Thanks.

 

Hi thanks. I told them I would wait for mazda to get the proper tool in or take it to one of the other 4 mazda dealers in the area, waiting on reply. I just don't have a warm fuzzy feeling about the numbers coming back on the two rotors with standard tool. I know it's not accurate but seems like low numbers regardless of how low the rpms would have been. The dodge dealer doesn't know that I've been talking to mazda, I just figured they would take it there seeing as it was across the street, so took it upon myself to phone them and see how it went. Is there hope the engine could be healthy?

 

Absolutely wait to have a proper compression test done before you buy the car. I had Weber Mazda in Edmonton do a compression test done on mine and the lying bastards tried to pass off a standard compression test on me. When I called them on it they came clean and said their tester was "broken". I'd never go back there again. It seems like the Mazda dealerships are useless when it comes to the rotary engines these days, sadly. I know Adam at RX7 Specialties in Calgary is quite capable. Good luck with finding someone locally to do the test properly.

 

Ya unfortunately the car is at Webber. I phoned the salesman and told them to phone all the mazda dealers in the area and find one that has the tester and knows what they are doing and get the car in there today. I talked to a service tech at L.A. mazda awhile ago when I was looking info on compression tests, he knew what he was talking about but told me I was crazy for wanting an rx8. Anyway it's proving difficult to find an 8 in my price range without a bunch of hassle. If this car doesn't work out I think I'll put shopping on hold for awhile. Thanks for the response.

 

Well the car failed compression test according to Sundance mazda. So unless the seller will let it go for $2500, the hunt goes on.

 

Glad you held out for proper compression test results. Keep looking, you will find the right car.