I am looking at buying an 05 rx8 but it smokes at idle any suggestions or am I looking at an engine teardown and reseal? I never worked on a rotary before.

 

With basically no information to go on we can't really help you.


We can toss out all sorts of theories and suggestions, but there are ways that a rotary can smoke at idle that are acceptable, and ones that aren't. Your post also doesn't indicate volume, length of how long it lasts, color of smoke, any possible modifications that might account for it, or the age/mileage of the car.

It could be anything from a coolant seal damaged/missing, oil seal damaged/missing, to ignition failure to no catalytic converter, etc...

 

It has 101400 on it the only mod I saw was a greddy cat back it appears that the cat is in place. The smoke has a bluish oil burning look to it. It seems that the smoke is light. I didn't get to see if it continues when it is hot. I am looking for possibilities that can cause it. If the potential is a few easy to swap seals that won't be a deal breaker. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

What was the ambient temp when you saw the smoke? Might just be normal

 

White smoke is coolant, blue smoke is oil. My car smokes at idle a bit and after getting on it hard, but I have no cat. You should be able to 100% tell if the cat is on there or not by looking because a midpipe and cat will look very different.

I don't think there are really any "easy seals" to replace on this engine that would cause the smoking you're talking about.

 

We are flying blind..........everyone hold on tight!

 

midpipes and cats will look very different if the person didn't take a screwdriver to their cat. Smoke in an RX8 goes from being SOP to overfilled oil to full engine rebuild. You're going to need a lot more info to get anywhere on where it came from. Best bet...find a nice member from your local rx8club chapter and have them go with ya. They can at least tell you if it is normal or not and help you look at the common sources of "smoke".

 

You need a new zero point energy module

and

+1 post

 

The Apex seals will never hold up under vacuum energy.

 

They will if you install a flux capacitor and dump the warp core