RxJaye

iTrader: (2)

Was wondering How many miles peopl have on there 8s, Who has had engines replaced and why they were replaced.

Trying to figure out how long to expect my engine to live.

Mine was replaced under recall about 8000 miles ago. I drive alot of highway miles, not much in town at all. Im a mechanic so the car will have the best of care. Just trying to find out what to expect.

VOODOO8

You can find story/details on the replacement of my factory motor at the link below. I'm about 20K miles into the second motor now -> so far no issues.

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...ht=blown+motor

johnpps

2004 rx8 manual engine replaced at 31,000

expo1

92,700 miles on my original engine.

Nemesis8

iTrader: (3)

damn - somebody sticky this info

~55,000 in about a week - zero problems on a 9/03 build date

RxJaye

iTrader: (2)

Mine was replaced due to the recall at approx 25000 miles, right before I bought the car. (2004 MT Velocity Red GT). I talked with the tech that did the swap and it failed the vac test but drove great. Im not a mazda tech, I work on Chrysler Corp vehicles. Ive had lots of friends with RX-7s but no 8s. Just wondering what to expect out of the engine.

Thanx in advance for input from all that leave it.

MPG > HP

88+k and going strong. See sig for miles on previous RX's. The '84 was best (1 owner) but was totaled in an accident. The GXL (2nd owner at 50k) was fine to 290k, until I lent it to my brother who returned it after a few hours with 15lbs oil pressure down from 40lbs. It blew after another month. He probably detonated it by a combination of not letting it warm up and bogging the motor. Lesson learned, be sure to provide some precautionary "orientation", before loaning out your rotarys. The GXL rebuild blew after only 20k, but appeared to have been caused by OMP feed line failure/misinstallation, occuring just as the rebuild just came out of warrantee. Lesson learned, be sure your rebuild mechanic isn't going through a nasty divorce! The GS (2nd owner @ 50k) blew on it's own at 190k. Never was that strong of a motor and blew under high temps driving around in hilly terrain at low speeds. Lesson learned, heat kills! Had it rebuilt at Rotary Reliability with good results, but spun out in an early AM freak downpour (so heavy I couldn't see my headlights!) & semi-totalled, so ended up giving it to charity and buying the '8. May help my son rebuild his used '88 TII that has low compression in the front rotor (may be blown side seals). Looks a lot simpler than the several recip rebuilds I did back in the day, but need to be really organized to minimize any delays/interruptions in the short block assembly sequence.

New Yorker

10,050 miles on the original engine. Not a single problem. Completely trouble-free.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

29087 miles on original engine, 05. Full synthetic oil only. No issue.

sharkman

my 05 had 16k miles before i traded it in....i had the usual issues...squeekie breaks, weird knocking sound in engine , and rear axel noise that the delership said they could not find anything wrong in it. I had the transmission replaced after the recall also, a couple of scratches here and there that got fixed and earlier this year got rear ended by a blind old lady....now......my new 8 has only 540 miles on it with no issues and loving it.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (3)

The 04 AT I just bought has 111k miles on the original engine. Single lady owner, mostly highway commute mileage from what I was told. Compression is a bit weak but car still hot starts and idles acceptably. I have been running additional 2 cycle premix in the tank which did help compression/starting/idle stability slightly. No coolant loss or excessive smoking.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

55k miles on first motor... ~17k mile on replacement. all is well..

beers

Rick

The original engine in my 8 was replaced at 16k because the Mazda Tech could not stop it from knocking under WOT using 87 octane. Talk about throwing parts at it.LOL Heck, I can even use my 8 as an octane tester for other grades. Since i've owned my 8 I've had two bad tanks of 89 and one bad tank of 92 octane.
Anyway, I don't think the problem is 100% carbon related because it has knocked on 87 since day one and the new engine knocks on 87 too.
I would take it to the shop again but I've lost my faith in them. My fix is to run only 89+ octane and pray the fuel stations octane ratings are true.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

I dont really see whats the point of this now.

This is pretty much like asking *How long will one live, and why?*

Whats the point ~~~~

Rick

^Well, after we answer the guys three part question he is going to know how long his engine will last

aipat

I just got mine back after having the engine replaced under warranty. The original engine had around 31,000 miles (2004). My wife was actually driving it with my little boy when all of a sudden the car died (while driving!). When Mazda finally checked it and ran diagnostics, the service guy said it failed (compression) so the best thing was to replace the engine. This is my first rotary and I love the car, but was a little concerned and disappointed when this happened. Is this a normal occurrence with rotaries? The thought of trading it (we have a little boy and another one on the way) for something else scares me, but I have to think of my family's safety. Any thoughts out there??

savedsol

Same exact mileage and year as above. In the shop now.

I did ask if I could buy and have them install a MS flywheel as long as it's apart. Lemons into lemonade right?

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Some people who never smokes or drink or ... just none of the bad habits can die at the age of 20

Some people who just love to drink and smoke, its rare but, some can live like 80 without any health issues.

So its really hard to say how long will an engine last. but of course if you take care of it, Im sure it will last longer than others thats being abused everyday.

I think the problem is that your wife baby the car too much. Plus is a 04.