tangierc

To those out there reading. I am strongly interested in purchasing the RX-8, however I have never owned a rotary powered car. What's the difference (in terms of money) of the upkeep of a rotary powered car vs. a tradition (or comparable) piston powered car. If it costs a heck of a lot more for the rotary over the car's life, I might be less inclined to purchase the rx-8 (unless I get a new job soon that is).

Hopefully some rotary owners can answer this for me.

wakeech

uh, it's just like owning any other performance engine: change the oil (dino juice has nearly always been recommended over synthetic for Joe Blow Average) every 2500-3000 miles, make sure you keep it topped up (consumes a little as you drive)... there is nothing out of the ordinary maintenance wise with rotaries: just make sure to take 'em hard up to (and over) redline every once in a while, to make sure to clean-em all out.
but transimissions, power steering systems (which is non-hydrolic in the RX-8), braking systems, etc etc etc are all exactly the same as any other car: there is no serious reason so worry about "high mentanence costs" associated with the engine...

justinm2

There is acutaly less maintence involved with a rotary than there is with a piston engine. just keep the oil changed, keep coolant in it, and change spark plugs at recommended intervals. Rotarys dont have cams, or valves, so you don't have to worry about timing belts, or having valves adjusted. Basically you drive them until they break, which takes a long time if it's not abused. Like I said in another post, I have 320k on my 85 gsl-se, and it still runs like new.

Digisan

Wow 320K! Original seals?

Rob

justinm2

engine's never been apart.

dcfc3s

Rotaries simply have a different set of rules than a piston engine. A piston engine can get away with overheating, a rotary cannot, for example. But, you can over-rev a rotary and have no ill effect, whereas a piston engine you'd be looking at major damage.

Maintenance costs should be in line with a piston engined car. The only exceptions I can think of are spark plugs - rotary engine spark plugs are a bit weird, and are pricier - around $4 a plug for non-platinums. But, that's a pretty minimal cost. There's no big 60,000 mile tuneup, since there's no timing belt.

Change oil/filter every 3000 miles. Flush/fill the coolant once a year. Change spark plugs every 15,000 miles. Change air filter every 15,000 miles. You should be good to go .

Also, don't be afraid to romp on the car - rotaries LOVE to be revved, and puttering around town really does compromise the life of the engine -not super big time, but enough.

Regardless, cost of ownership should be the same if not less than an equivalent piston engined car.

Dale

tangierc

Thanks for all of the replies folks. My confidence in buying this sweet roto is better. I guess now the only real concern is that if something does go wrong with the car on the road ( say - like a road trip LA to SF for example), where the hec am I going to take the car to get serviced? Who's going to know how to deal with the rotary other than Mazda and a handful of mechanics. And by the way - to those who have owned a rotary machine before - does Mazda offer information upon purchase on where the care can be serviced?

Tangier

rx-8 owner-to-be

justinm2

you've got free 24 hour roadside assistance for the first
4 years/50,000 miles. If it's something simple they will take car of it on the spot, if it needs the attention of a mechanic, they will tow it the nearest Mazda Dealer for you. The warranty is also
4 years/50,000 miles and very comprehensive.

rxeightr

So, with me living in a hot & humid area, what kind of concerns should I have if I am stuck in 'stop & go' traffic? Will the RENESIS handle this type of urban traffic without overheating & causing damage?

inittab

Don't sweat it. The car will handle it no problem. As long as you keep the cooling system in shape with fresh coolant and good hoses it should last a very long time. Follow the maintenance schedule and you should be more than fine.

inittab

This is true! I have an 85 GS and my rule of thumb is this: After it's fully warmed up and on every trip I make with the car I run the engine up to redline at least once. Usually more than that. :D My engine is carbon free and runs great!

MaRX8

Wow guys thanks for the information, just this post has taught me some basic things about a rotary engine that I didn't know. Like to rev it up near redline, I was always afraid to do that with other cars. But to do it every once in awhile, I like the sound of that. Also no timing belt changes I really like that. Thanks for the infomation.

justinm2

I have always run all my n/a rotary engines to redline+ in almost every gear, once warmed up. of course my gas milage sucked from running them so hard constantly, but the all of them ran perfect the whole time, and maintained almost perfect compression well into the hundreds of thousands of miles. The only n/a motor i've ever had come apart on me was the 12a in my 84 gsl, I had just added the dellorto side draft carbs, and racing beat street port exhaust, and was engaged in some illigal activties involving a mustang and a windy mountain road. I was shifting at upwards of 9-10k rpm (the 84 12a redlined at 7k). the engine was fine, but the waterpump was overrevved and came apart. being as i was in the area where they filmmed the movie "deliverence", and it was 2 in the am, i wasn't about to stop, so I drove 2 hours home with the temp gauge pegged. cooked every seal in the engine, but it still ran for a month with blown seals while i tried to locate another engine. basically what i'm saying is rev the **** out of the engines, and they will last forever (just make sure your waterpump is good) My turbo II saw blasts to redline on fairly regular basis, but never above, and not near as often as the n/a engines. it had 120k on it when i sold it, original engine and still had good compression.

Ron_Jeremy

Does anyone know what the proper Maintenance Schedule is with the RX-8? I'm looking at leasing for 4 years and I'm trying to identify how much $$ I need to keep her in top condition. Any comments/input is appreciated!

SA22C

Whenever I tell my girlfriend that, she rolls her eyes at me because she thinks I'm making **** up so that I can rev the **** outta my car. :D

8_wannabe

Ditto this question. Has anyone asked a Mazda dealership what the maintenance actions will cost? I'm assuming there's a 7500 mile check; 15,000; 30,000; each progressively more expensive. Without generalities, what does Mazda say this will cost?

wakeech

*shrug* sorry for the "generality", but there's no reason to believe that the tune up will be any more than the ones for my Echo... the scheduled maintenance costs of a car are very very very small when you average everything out per unit distance, compared with other things (insurance, fuel depending on your driving habits, tyres, Zaino/wax, etc)

Farsyde

think about it this way. There is very little maintenance on a rotary compared to a piston. No timing belt, no power steering pump to break. Other than that it's prolly just oil, fluids, filters.

How often do the spark plugs get changed on a rotary?

rx7freddie

never use synthetic oil i dont care what other people say . if mazda says use it then use it in the rx8 i know they say dont in rx 7s . dont give me stuff about o my friend this and that what mazda says about oil i think is right . so whatever . and if your gettin the rx 8 you`ll be happy its not turbo which sucks but will last a really really really long time and after the brake in feel the same at 3k miles and 100k miles . yeah im sleepy if i spelled something wrong its all good .

Farsyde

maybe you could enlighten us oh wise one as to why we should never use synthetic. i hope you realize the reason the turbo's failed in the 7 is due to the lack of oil coolers in the non GT (think thats what they were called) trim and the port design. The port design has been addressed.

Being your first post you are forgiven but please try to substantiate your posts instead of just blurting out. Now if you are a chemist and you know all about the structure of synthetic oils and can explain why they should never be used, please tell us. This board prides itself on the multitude of realistic information so please be academic.

Ahura

Rotaries burn oil by design via 4 oil injectors in the RENESIS's case. If you inject synthetic oil into the motor, it won't burn cleanly and leaves residue, which would limit your motor's lifetime. This is the main reason not to use synthetic oil. Plus you want to change your oil often since you don't want to be injecting dirty oil.

*ahem* All RX-7's since 1979 (in fact all RX's, I think) have had oil coolers. They are absolutely necessary in rotaries. In the 3rd gen RX-7, the base and touring (PEP) models had one oil cooler, and the R1 and R2 had two oil coolers.

Farsyde

thanks ahura that was the GT models i was looking for the R1 R2. That extra cooler made a world of difference

Ahura

Absolutely. Look at how small the oil cooler is on the 3rd gen compared to previous oil coolers.

Right one


Compared with the earlier coolers

Ahura

The maintenance schedule should be close to previous non-turbo rotaries. See here

rx7freddie

Ahura
your a smart man . also do what u want when u get the rx8 u have 3 years if something gos wrong mazda will fix it hahahaha .