I'm sure this has been covered somewhere, but I was just wondering what average engine life is on these vehicles? I'm looking at a used 8 with 61k on it and wasn't sure how long it should last?

Thanks!

 

"its complicated." probably in general less than a piston engine, though it's highly user-dependent. if you know how to do basic stuff to take care of a car right, and read the basic stuff on this site, it should be the same as any other performance-oriented car.

Also, the engine warranty (ONLY the engine core) was extended to 100,000 miles / 8 years, so you should buy with confidence now. In general if you can get a 2006 model or later that's probably better, some of the earlier ones were running on poor tunes before mazda got their stuff together.

Search thoroughly on this site; all the info you need is here.

 

Tell me how old you are,

after that

can I tell how soon you gonna die ?

I will say I can't, neither do you.

What kind of stupid question is that.

yeah, move on.

 

lol....harsh

 

maybe, truth hurts.

 

Not true. Mine failed at 78,000 miles. I did every appropriate TSB as soon as possible, every flash, regular oil changes at the dealer, replaced wearables on time.

No, I didn't do the enthusiast stuff (premixing or whatever it is), but I was a very obsessive, educated consumer.

I'd say if anything from reading around here, the series 2 engines probably last longer. And an intuitive guess of mine is that regular (once a year?) decarb treatments might help too, but that's just a guess.

 

It really depends on how you take care of it. For instance, follow scheduled maintenance and do some preventive maintenance if needed. Other basic maintenance should follow thru.

 

I don't understand why people post comments like this whenever this question is asked, Ive been wondering this also. As for human life, I guess most people die naturally around 80-90 years old, thats the average. That's what I want to know about the rx8, the average. Obviously its different if someone never changes the oil. Just like it's different if someone dies of cancer. So assuming everything is maintained correctly, exactly how it should be, is it realistic to expect a lifespan of at least 250k miles? On a series 2 maybe?

 

Its too soon to know about the series 2 engines. They just came out in 09 so not many have high mileage. I have not heard of one failing but its just too soon to know yet. I am hoping to get anywhere from 130 to 150,000 miles out of mine. But I have an 04 which is the most unreliable. Im halfway there though with perfect compression so so far so good

 

here's what i see
mode of failure....miles
Apex seal..... 125k-200k
Main/rotor bearing....100k-150k. maybe a little more.
coolant seal.... 100k-250k?..... Most common on any N/a rotary.

of course oil control ring failure, and low compression from wear of compression surfaces can dictate a sooner rebuild... with still having a running engine...

 

change oil regularly and keep topped up
use premium good quality gas
decarb every 10k miles or so
replace coils and spark plugs on schedule (25-30k?)
redline a couple times per week
seriously consider running some sort of pre-mix (even if it is just lucas oil UCL)

You should see well over 100,000 miles on most Rx's.

OTOH, you can do all this and more and blow one at 20,000 miles...

It is a hand built high performance engine that takes a little extra TLC to keep it happy.

 

in your case it will depend on how well the previous owner maintained it..

compression test before purchase is a must, or test the hot engine start time.

 

My vehicle was maintained per requirements and more. It has 61K and is at the Mazda dealer now getting a new engine. The replacement engine is cool of Mazda, but the additional out of pocket expenses are a killer when replacing the motor.

 

WHY is the mazda dealer getting a new engine? low compression numbers? too much oil consumption? coolant seal failure? they told you a lie so that they could get some labor time out of you?