It does seem like modern gas is dirtier than the older stuff for some reason. On my last couple of cars, I've had to replace fuel filters at around 30,000 miles. They were clogged up. On my older cars years earlier I could go far longer than that without ever worrying about them. The change really seemed to be around the time ethanol was being added to our gas but it alone doesn't seem to make much sense.

Crappy gas stations :)

There is a possibility that it was what they took out, not what they put in...

MTBE might have played a role in keeping the filters clean, not sure how but its possible.

I think it has more to do with economics at stations that try and save money where they can. They will stretch out the replacement of the pump filters as long as possible.

There was a lot of crap in the southern gas after you guys got slammed a few times by the hurricanes and stuff too....the storage tanks can let in a lot more crap than you can imagine

interesting point...

My buddy works at Mazda as a tech. Loss of Compression, awaiting details.

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...19542541_n.jpg.

I blame it on the third oil injector.

Whoa, hold up, 9k that's your car with a new engine that lost compression???

wow that was fast..details?

ultrasonic cleaning is the BEST.
I am so glad I have finally realized that.

:lol: No guys, that is a 2009 R3 getting an engine replacement.

Ok, good lol. It was like 3 am and I just woke up for work, saw the email update and I was like OH SHIT NO WAY! THIS DUDE GOT THE WOREST LUCK ON THE PLANET!!

Glad it wasn't you lol, can't wait to hear why it died.

Really? Isn't that the first S2 car we hear about that had an engine failure?
Weird... I wonder what the heck happened to that engine?

No, there have been a few other series 2 failures. At least 1, possibly 2 due to an e-shaft failure.

Nah, actually there are three or four that I know of and they all have been VR R3's oddly. Possibly a commonality due to a greater chance that they saw track time (I know one of the failed R3's did for sure).

I just talked to him and this one is a loss of power but they cannot tear the motor apart to know for sure. They do not know if it was tracked or not because obviously the owner would have to be stupid to tell them that.

so looks like VR is a terribly bad choice for a color ;) :D

yea
od

Nah, when you are the fastest color you just have a lot more wear an tear :)


Oh, and the R3 came in for random misfires and loss of power. they replaced the usual and the problems persisted. Compression test was done and that was that, Mazda approved a replacement under warranty.

VR R3 models, that fits right in with all the other "theories" here

LOLOL

My theory is that somehow MR, Wankel travels through the space time continuum and damages all rotary engine seals.

Wankel died in 88, the s4 FC stopped production in 88. the S5 starts in 89 then the FD came out then the 8. Clearly Wankels death is the cause of all rotary engine failures, the logic is sound.

Thread bump. I decided to check into the omp nozzles on mine. Mine has always burned oil, but not as fast as others...and the 2nd engine seemed to use oil slightly slower still. It has around 36k miles on it, and the car has 135k. The nozzles in my car were perfectly clean, and passed the test in the shop manual. My omp lines were also clean and had nice clean oil in them.
I've been premixing .5 ounce per gal for a long time, even late in life on the 1st engine.

I found other interesting things though. The fuel vibration damper that doubles as the omp air injection was cracked and had one of the nipples broken off. The little 100mm lines were also very hard and did not seem to seal well. Also had all the tabs broken off the fuel injector connectors and one pinched o-ring. Thanks Mazda tech that replaced my engine!

I replaced with all new parts and will update when I get some miles to measure burn rate. With a big vacuum leak, I would suspect that is why my burn rate may have been a little low with that 2nd engine.

After repair observations so far:

I idle vacuum went from 16.5 to 18 in hg....lol. idle is better, etc...the normal after a back leak is fixed.

That would do it, glad you found the problems :)

That is my main concern with these remans. The dealers are not cleaning or replacing things that need to be. When I did my own engine this time around I replaced quite a few things that needed to be replaced that would have been slapped right back on by a dealer tech. I do understand that most would not want to pay the extra cost of labor and parts to the dealer to do that though.

That vacuum distribution block aka fuel injector rail insulator is a common problem and becomes very brittle over time and cracks easily. I was warned a head of time about that piece and had a new replacement part ready to go in but I still cracked it when I pulled the vacuum lines off.

Keep an eye on your consumption, those injectors fail pretty often in my experience. I have been involved in three engine tear downs and all of them had at least one or more failed oil injectors. These were all RX-8's with over 100k on the ODO.

:)

I saw Mr Wankel hanging out with Elvis at a rave party in Memphis recently, you heard it here first

what ?!!! NOooo... Mr Wankel please tell Mazda to continue making the 16x and have it in the new rx7 ;)

Ok......