The RE750's all had similar wear except towards the end the right rear started wearing really badly. My mechanic says that is because the right rear is usually the first to spin. I made the mistake of buying some Kuhmo Exta 712's last time around because my money was short and boy, am I paying for that! It's not that the performance is so bad, but DAMN!!! ARE THEY NOISEY! They started in on first rotation and are driving me crazy! I can't wait to wear them out! I can't wait to get back on the 750's. they are better in every way. Don't EVER buy tires based on price! And the funny thing is they are wearing pretty well. At the rate they are wearing, they might last about 25000. Hopefully, I will not be Koo-Koo from the noise by then.

 

Sorry, I'm not sure of the model names nor the history of the RX-7.

I basically copied and pasted everybody's post to him but he's still determined to hate rotory for some reason. I guess ill have to wait a few years or for consumer reports to rate it.

 

12K+ miles and no problems yet. Use it as a daily driver and love every minute of it. Let people fear our car...makes us more unique.

 

I had an engine failure after 1.5 months. Since having that replaced the car has been perfect. I still love the car.

 

I am not concerned with the engine lasting 100k in the rx8.
But I will be surprised when , or if anyone who is the original owner, hangs on to one for that long.
Mine has 33k miles, (04' 6spd). And it is going into the dealer again. This time to have the intake replaced or the SSV valve, or both. This thing has spent 'way' to much time at the dealers , more than any new car I have ever purchased.
I find it hard to give the car a thumbs up when other people ask me about the reliabilty of the Rx8.
Mazda should have spent another year or two testing these things before they went on the market.
Great car when everything is going okay, but a pain everytime something needs to be 'updated'/ flashed/ flooded/ towed in/ brake pads replaced/ ck engine light again,etc,etc......
I dread the day my warranty expires...........Ughhhhhhhhhhh

Now I am done ranting.......... ;-)

 

I would add that the 3rd generation also had poor cooling which baked the maze of vacuum tubes causing failure and problems with the engine. I understand that after the car was discontinued here it sold in Japan for a number of years with most of the bugs worked out.

 

I have a 89 RX-7 vert. It had approx 130K miles on it when the rear rotor lost compression shortly after the cat clogged. Talking to a mazda tech he told me that when the cat clogged It backed up the Rotary BBQ exaust gasses and melted the rear seals, Therefore loosing compression.

Since Im too lazy to read the other posts I will mention a few things; Abused and un-maintained wankels SUCK *** on reliability, Rotarys catch fire due to Pulsation dampener failures (as far as I know this is just an FC and FD problem), Turbo rotarys dont tolerate detonation, carbon is bad too.

 

9,800 trouble free miles. Can't wait to break 10. I hear it starts getting really good after that!

 

28K and no major engine problems.

 

30k and no major issues.

 

I voted last year, so I can't vote again, but I'm at 50k miles now. My passenger visor broke today, as I was taking to the dealer for the 50k service. But in the grand scheme of things, big deal.

 

First one no problems 25,000 miles when traded for the new one,
New one had a new rear differential (LS) put in at 4500 miles.

 

28k and no problems

 

voted at 45k.

now at 64k. still absolutely no problems.

 

I believe the Renisis will make 100,000 for most. Some of the 04's had problems that seem to have been corrected. Here's is my perspective on it;

In 1979 I had a 911S loose a hydraulic cam chain tensioner fail. I removed the motor and dropped it off at a Posrche specialist. Picked it up $2600 later. remember that was 1979 $.

In 1994 I had a Porsche 928 that was due for a 60,000 mile service. Took it to the dealer who quoted me $2200 - mostly the timing belt labor. I bought the timing belts, a few gaskets and seals and a water pump and spent the following 3 weekedns doing it myself. Don't even get me started on the cost of replacing the driveshaft bears a few months later.

A few months ago a freind of mine with a 350Z had a valve seat drop at 110,000 miles. It didn't damage the bottom end but while they were at it he had a valve job done on both sides. $4800. When he picked it up they mentioned that the cylinders were glazed....He does rev it a bit, but doesn't beat up the car.

I inquired what a factory rebuilt Mazda motor cost. About $2500. For the most part it's really a new motor but some have used sideplates. A local Japtrap shop quoted me $900 labor to swap the motor (and they felt they could get the motor for closer to $2100). Three grand to get a new motor installed. Not bad.

 

About 1500 miles on my new 8 and no problems yet, but my 1st gen GSL just rolled over 136000 on the odometer and it is still running strong. Both chambers have great compression. They key to a rotary engine's suvivability is the same as everything else in life...TAKE CARE OF IT! I can't tell you how many times I've heard the "rotaries are unreliable" comment in my life and every time I bother to inquire as to why poeple say that, I find out that someone was either abusing the engine or even, gasp, that they didn't bother to check the oil! Point being, if you take care of the Renesis engine, I see it lasting easily into the 200000 mile mark. I personally look forward to finding out.

 

Meh...aside from all the other comments, to recap:

Early rotary engines failed due to lack of market support. Also, there are quite a few owners who literally think, that just because its a Rotary, it doesn't need an oil change...ever. Go figure.

1st gen RX-7's had basic problems, earlier 12A's had there share of problems...a new apex seal design fixed that.

2nd gen RX-7's had no problems whatsoever, internally. The pulsation dampner has nothing at all do to with the engine's reliability, but with the external components. A properly maintained 2nd gen, NA or Turbo, can last between 150-200k miles. Generally turbo motors popped sooner due to poor maintainence, which no rotary engine takes to lightly.

3rd gen RX-7's had a bunch of problems, which Mazda just apparently didn't notice. The cooling system was not adequate for a STOCK car, nonetheless a slightly modded one. The twin turbos were mounted FAR too close to the block, and would literally bake the coolant seals from the outside in. The downpipe, which in America required a precat, was an afterthought. It was not implemented in Non-US Spec FD's, and so they did not have this problem. The downpipe heated up the twins even moreso, which is what caused the baking of the coolant seals. Internally, there was NOTHING wrong with the 3rd gen motor.

Renesis...Not much I can comment on. Strong cooling system, revised seal structures internally...intake ports relocated, so no chance of snagging a side-seal...no turbos to bake the block...


One point I have always wanted to get across to people: There is nothing wrong with the Rotary engine internally, from the 13B-EFI to current Renesis. It is..in essence, a "perfect design". The killer of rotaries is NOT internal, it is from its EXTERNAL design. Intakes, turbos, fuel management, oil distribution, ignition, and HEAT from all these things.

 

15k miles, no problems.

 

51000 km -no worries mate

 

Mine is a daily commuter (150 mile round trip) in blazing summer heat (at least for the Northeast) and freezing cold. In all sorts of traffic -- bumper to bumper, open road on cruise. I get a consistent 20-22 mpg

Use Amsoil synthetic and change it every 7500- 10000 miles. No problems at all and I just crossed 50000 miles.

I have owned a first gen 1980 RX-7 which went over 120,000 miles and then I sold it to my brother-in-law and he got a bunch of miles on top of that. No engine rebuild.

My experience:
I love rotaries !!

 

got it since may 2005, 17k miles. Only complained about squealing brakes thus far and got better pad replacements.

 

I'm at 64 grand. At 57 grand I had to get a new intake manifold at a cost of $1300. I fear for this car and have thought about selling it before 75 thousand miles.

 

Uh...why did you have to replace the intake manifold?...

 

^^ I would like to know this as well.

I don't really worry about my engine lasting to 150k-200k miles becasue I know I will not have it that long.

 

Most likely you had a carbon build up issue? so they had to replace the intake manifold?? My friend had that problem on his 04 AT 8, but they covered it under warranty......

RENESIS is def. a reliable engine, with the small amount of owners who weren't so lucky, I haven't heard a single thing go bad engine wise, whether it be an AT or MT..... the worst thing you hear of these days is "wow my breaks squeak" or " I hear ratting noise" all normal..... trust me you'll have your car for at least 100K if well maintained, its a sports car so if you don't take care of it why did you buy it????

ROTARY GODS