04 RX-8 Apex Seal job or engine replace cost & location
 

Okay, I was contemplating selling my 2004 RX-8, but I've decided to keep her. She does need a few things fixed up so I'm selling my old 2001 Isuzu Rodeo and sinking the money into the RX. I was told at one shop I had working on my car that it might need an Apex Seal job. I know those are pricey so I'm wondering what it would cost to do that versus an engine replacement (at the dealership or otherwise). Does anyone know anyone in the Dallas/Ft Worth area that does that work other than a dealer (that you would trust to do it) ? I'd just like to know ballpark figures on the work so I know how much to budget and if anyone knows any good shops that can do it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

How many miles,mods,what service has it had?

It's right about at 96k mile wise. No mechanical mods besides some gauges (so there are some sending units - oil press, water temp and a voltage meter that doesn't get any reading...ugh). Just some fancy LED stuff (floorboard lights, white lights, etc). It's a 6-speed. Service wise, nothing but oil changes although the past three years I've had to take it in to get it fixed for flooding issues due to cold start problems, so it's had plugs changed out each of those times except for the last (so the plugs are approx a year old).

Oh and not that it's a huge deal but I did do a coolant flush in the hopes that I could get the stupid sensor to read right again (I have that issue where the sensor sticks and reads you have low coolant and then it disappears after a bit). I want to replace that thing too when I do the engine work.

Mazda warranty covers the engine for 8years or 100K. Do you have proof of service?

Well, I bought the car used, so I don't have any service records from that and most likely wouldn't be able to track down all the service records from before (I just got a divorce so all my stuff is in shambles until I can get it reorganized).

You should still make some sort of attempt to have Mazda replace it under warranty....

Like he said try ...... it could save you two or three thousand. You could get all those things fixed at the same time.

Okay, well, is there any way to do that when there's officially nothing wrong with the engine right now ? I don't want to go to the dealership, pay a diagnostic fee and then have them tell me that they don't need to replace it.

On another note - does anyone know any places in DFW besides the dealership to do this sort of work ?

pay the diagnosis fee and make sure the engine needs replacing. If so....see if you can get the engine under the warranty. Why not.....

So you pay 100 bucks and maybe get a new engine OR pay a couple thousand for a engine, pay someone to install say engine.

no brainier to me.

Obviously I'm not getting my question answered on this forum.

Look, the reason I'm asking is - ONE, I've worked at a dealership - they aren't exactly the most honest places in the world.

Two - I'm wanting to replace it not because something is necessarily going wrong, but to have a FRESH start with a new engine with no miles on it because I'm planning to keep this thing long term and I know for a fact the guy who owned this car before me used to race it, so I want something that hasn't been pounded into the ground.

I ask a simple question, but instead of someone answering it, you want to flash superiority and give opinions while not at all actually answering the question.

How about letting people worry about the MOTIVATION behind what they are doing and let THEM make their own decisions on how they spend their money, not how YOU feel it should be spent.

You are at least as much to blame for your lack of answers- you are in the tech section getting techy answers, if you wanted LOCAL answers you should try your LOCAL forum (that's why they're there)

I'm in Canada and know little of this Dallas/Ft Worth you speak of.

....and I would take their advice on getting competent diagnosis before just replacing the whole engine, not some 'may need' quote from a JiffyLube.

I don't see why you want a fresh start? Thier will be no fresh start either way. All your doing is replacing apex seals. Replacing the engine is still not a fresh start since its not a crate motor, but simply a remanufactured block.

The answer you seek are closer than you think though. Rotary Performance in Garland can help you. A very simple search would have found this for you:
http://www.rx7.com/contact.html

311 E. Buckingham Rd.
Garland, TX 75040
972.530.3335 ph

Now my personal opnion? If you plan to spend the money on a custom build then save your money until your engine is blown. Its 100 dollars for a compression check. I would be attempting to get my engine to last as long as humanly possible before dropping 4K into having the motor ported, apex seals replaced with ceramics, the rotor housings polished, and then having it re-dynoed. The guys are Rotary Performance in Garland will be able to answer all the questions to your hearts desire though. Good luck, I hope to see you around at the meets.

Thank you Doc - I try searching but it doesn't always readily come up with answers, since there's also a lot of unrelated stuff. As for why, I can't afford to not have every chance to have the car as dependable as possible due to the fact that I'm changing jobs and also that there are other factors that I don't feel I need to go into just to find an answer to a question such as this (personal). If you see my ID, I'm not exactly new to this board, but I remember back when people would either answer a question, recommend someone who could or leave it alone. These days almost every post is answered with either "search for it" or "go to the dealership." Not exactly the most helpful stuff.

Well I can understand that, and really I know people are nosey but no one should want to pry into your personal life. Its your life not thiers I just hope you can enjoy it.

Dependability is another story. Get the compression test done and pray that it fails. Then let us know how things turned out!

Drive it till breaks then replace it. Why buy a new one if it is still running?

why would you want to do that?

you do know that if an Apex breaks, most of the time it will take everything in the housing with it.

so if he is getting low compression already. might as well just fix it now before catastrophic failure.

at least right now his Rotor should be re-usable.





coilback, you should get it test at dealership first before you do anything else. sure you might trust your mechanic more, but hey it doesn't hurt to try. if it does fail the compression test you might get a Reman Engine for free. tell them oh you got the car used but I took good care of it ever since I got it, act innocent/stupid/friendly and most of the time you will be able to get a replacement.

Note : You will get a REmanuafacture engine, not brand new. but don't worry, most Reman have at least 70% new parts so you are actually pretty good.

How long have you had the car?

You might try contacting the oil change place you used- they should have documentation.
And you can usually pull old erceipts from the credit card companies.
And check with a Mazda dealer- many RX8s were serviced at Mazda dealers due to the extended warranty thing. So there may be a long history of services in the Mazda service database already.

Lasty- do you even need proof of service for apex seal issues?
Though I guess Mazda could claim the old oil in the crankcase was injected and cause apex seal issues.... though I wouldn't think that would be the first thing to wear with bad oil.

I have been reading through this thread and do have a question, I personally haven't been able to find an answer to the response that i desire.

How much to get my seals replaced? (I'm having warm start problems and from what I gather, that's an indication of a compression issue.)

If someone could provide me a link with the answer, or just let me know, would be appreciated.

Thanks.

It's not just about replacing the seals.
Pm Mazmart and ask how much it costs to get a reman engine from them with or without core return.

if u have to ask,u cant do it.

How much do the seals cost? well stock apex seals and springs cost couple hundred bux but to replace it, u have to take the engine out, open it, re-do all soft seals, clean and measure all parts then the builder has to decide what will be re-use and he rest goes to garbage. the whole process can range from 3k to 11k depends on what you want.

Hot start issues 99.9 % are fixed by installing a new starter.

Fixed.

Hot start issues are low compression and/or fuel pump problem. A faster starter cranking speed will only mask low compression up to the point that it fails far enough. A faster starter will never add metal back onto the worn internals of the engine.

wtf!
5. No racist, homophobic, or misogynistic remarks, including derogatory slang, be it overt or covert, will be tolerated.

Thanks for pointing that out. Got missed by plenty of us. I deleted the post. It's 2 years old and he hasn't logged on in ~17 months.