New engine lasts 3 days
 

Well I was in for a new engine. The original one had an overheating problem.
Dealer installed the new engine. After waiting 3 weeks for it.
So I pick the car up and putter around under 4000 RPM for two days.
The third day I feel a lope in the way it idles. Doesn't seem to have lost any power. But it has a distinct feeling of haveing a 3/4 race cam in it. So back to the dealer I go. They check it out and discover that rotor @ 1 has low compression on one side of the rotor 79 psi, the other sides are at 111 and 113 psi. Rotor #2 has 117-119 psi.
So now I have to get another engine.
Looks to be a side seal has failed, more that likely has stuck. But it could be broken.
Why I have not a clue.
385 miles and it fails. What are you doing Mazda?
This sucks.

That does suck, if 3 fail do you get a free 20B?

you forgot to redline it the previous two days, so of course it died on the third.

He also probably forgot to check the oil every 5 miles and premix.

That sounds like a new record, and not the good kind. :Eyecrazy: That is sucktacular.

Who told you that a NEW engine was installed?? You received someone else's blown engine that was 'rebuilt'. Looks like whoever did the rebuild had a bad day. Anyone know where the rebuilds come from and how they are tested?

wow that sucks. only 3 days... go hassle them, and make them send in a new engine from japan. more time out from your car though. sorry to hear.

weak. sorry prof.

ask for two this time just in case the 'new' one fails again

The rebuilder went to lunch at the time of testing the seals and left it that way

wow, definitely looks like a case of a bad rebuild. Sorry to hear Easy, hope they get it fixed for you really soon!

He knows it was a reman. He just meant new to him.

The motors come from a company in North Carolina. They are tested by the customer (after being torn down by inmates - I kid you not).

I think the new recommendation from Mazda is to check the oil while you are actually driving.

The proper amount of premix is now 3 gallons of 2-cycle oil per tank.

Of course, Mazda tells you not to redline a new motor (which is bad advice if you ask me).

That's like two wrongs making a right. What good will two bad motors do for him.


I actually think they installed a side seal upside down or used one with improper clearance (each side seal is "lettered" and corresponds to an appropriate rotor face) or no spring/inverted spring.

You'd think Mazda would try their best to ensure the quality of replacement motors considering the customer at that point probably is already a bit negative about rotaries considering they needed a new motor.

Mazda is mostly concerned with not getting fined by the Fed and getting people off warranty.
If they can get the replacement motor to just last until the end of warranty, they have maximized their capital.

Because you would loose compression in two chambers, not just one.

Wow, I'm really surprised that Mazda would actually replace an engine that's under warranty with a reman!!! That's f-ing BS if you ask me!

why is that??
A properly rebuilt engine can be just as good if not better then a new engine.
(keep in mind, all the engines that failed were 'new')

rofl.

what rock have you been under all this time? Only a few people got new engines. And their old ones were rebuilt and given to others.

Unfortunately, that is a really big "if" for a motor that is dismantled and inspected by prisoners and then rebuilt reusing as many parts as possible by a factory that has a 3 to 6 week backlog, but doesn't really know the difference between the 4 port and 6 port. (I'm not kidding.)

there's an IF factor involved in every aspect of life, my good man.

What IF a certain someone I know had properly hooked up his WG. ;)

But it can be mitigated by good choices.

What if a certain supplier of silicone hoses had actually not lied about its thermal resistance?

those rat bastards!!

So I was talking to the dealer again today. They said they were gonna call some "Big Wig" at the Reman. plant. And see if they can possibly speed this up a bit. So as not to be another 3 weeks.
Like that's gonna happen.
I think I'll call MNAO and see what they say.

Thanks MM for the info for the masses.

Karl has a direct line to the reman plant, so hopefully he can talk the into bucking the line - especially in light of the "built" motor they sent you in the first place!

He speaks JAPANESE? I thought these engines came from Japan? Are they not?

NO :spank:
The car comes new from Japan, yes.
But the remanufactured replacement engines come from North Carolina.

No, but he obviousree reads engrish better than roo ... :cwm27:

Thanks for reminding me I have to take my paper bags to the recyclers. :rolleyes:

Like I told you today Eric I will call the head guy at the reman center and do whatever I can to get a motor sooner for you. He is not the only guy I can call either.

What a fun read...
Erick Want to borrow my 8. I'm not using it right now.

I was referring to Mazda, not you Karl. I know you are going above and beyond the call of duty. And I thank you very much!


Thanks Dave ,, I appreciate the offer, but I have this Volvo C80 that is very nice. :rolleyes:

Oh wonderful! I know how much Karl enjoys yelling at stupid people.

Ask any of the Berge service advisors!

Karl FTW!

Well ,it looks like Karl contacted the Mazda Reman. Plant.
He tells me that they were very perturbed that one of the new (reman) engines failed.
Well after all was said and done they are going to expidite an engine to the dealership.
Thank you Karl and Berge Mazda. And thank you Mazda.

Sorry but I have never delt with Mazda before. I am an ex technician coming from a Porsche dealer and all warranty replacement engines were:
1. New
2. Shipped to the dealer from Atlanta in 2 days
3. Origionally shipped from Germany
4. The defective engines were shipped back to Atlanta and Germany so they could figure out and correct the problem(s)

It just makes me think twice about Mazda if they are using remans for warranty replacements OR customer pay, regardless of the quality.

they used to ship the engines to japan to find the problem, but once they knew what they were dealing with, that stopped.

My engine was replaced in the summer of 05. I waited 4 weeks for a new engine to come from Japan and the old one was sent back. When the demand for replacements became too great, they setup the reman system.

Yikes! They go through them that fast huh? Maybe I should get a job at a Mazda dealer $$$ :Eyecrazy:

IT is well known that mazda remans are not as good quality as a new japan-assembled rotary. This is even worse news for the 8 owners because if their first engine failed quickly, think about what the second is likely to do?

I have personally disassembled lots of remans from mazda. Their signature is a ton of sealant on the oilpan, which then gets inside and lodges on the pickup strainer. You'll also find a bunch under the head of the e-shaft front hub bolt, and oozing out of the "legs" of the engine housings adjoining to the oilpan.

I've taken apart an FD reman that lasted less than 20k in a stock car. The FD engine came with 9.0:1 rotors. This particular reman had broken all the apex seals on the front rotor. The rear rotor was a stock 9.0:1; the front rotor was a 9.7:1 from an 89-91 nonturbo 13b. Wonder why it broke?

A few engine builder friends of mine have taken apart plenty of remans too and found various build errors. One found a MISSING side seal. Not broken, not worn...MISSING, never installed. In the older 13b there is no way for a side seal to exit the engine while assembled.

Here is some other info:

http://www.rx7club.com/forum/showpos...9&postcount=93
http://www.rx7club.com/forum/showpos...1&postcount=94

-side note-

Denali, Twin Turbo!?:Eyecrazy:

Still waiting on an engine. Mazda said it was shipped /expedited to the dealer.

That is some seriously f*cked up sh*t.

Pineapple FTW.

Mazda Re-manufactured engines

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is a lot of misleading information floating around on Mazda Re-manufactured engines. Some people think they are virtually new engines and other's think they are piles of crap. There was a time when they were not so great but a couple years ago they started putting in a lot of new parts, making them a bargain in some respects.

We have been buying the re-manufactured engines from Mazda for quite a while, simply to use as cores for rebuilds. Customer engines are often so blown up that there are few re-usable parts. This is pretty common for FD motors (13B-REWs) that were detonated by running lean, running too much ignition timing or some fatal combo of the two. What we have found is that Mazda DOES put a lot of brand new parts in their rebuilds...far more new parts than is reflected in the ~$2500 price tag. However -- and this is a big one -- they also often put some scary parts in there as well. Keep in mind, we tear them down before ever running them, so we see the parts in the same condition as installed. Lately, the pattern seems that they are installing bearings that are unbelievably bad. Sometimes it's other parts. A while back, we had one FD engine with two different rotor housings...one was a series 4 NA housing, with exhaust diffuser and different leading spark plug location! Generally, though, it's the small stuff like bearings and the big, expensive stuff is almost all brand new. One that came in the other day, in addition to worn out bearing, the flywheel had ALL BUT ONE pressure plate bolt holes filled with sheared-off bolts. How did they not see that?! Instead of extracting them, we just removed the flywheel and put it on the core we were returning.

Our recommendation is to buy the Mazda Remans for the wealth of new parts, tear them down, check everything, replace any bad parts, port, oil mod and re-assemble. I would never just run one out of the box, having seen what they sometimes put in there.
__________________
Blake Qualley
Pineapple Racing
blake@pineappleracing.com
503-233-3878



This is reassuring :sad: This was written in the year 2006, so I hope they have improved since then.
This might explain the failure of the last engine that lasted 385 miles.

Well the newly re-manufactured engine (as not to cause confusion) has arrived today. According to Karl ( my personal Mazda mechanic) He will have it installed in about 10 minutes( J/K). Looks like it will be Monday or Tuesday at the latest.
Hope this one lasts longer than the last one. Third times the charm.
Again,, Thanks to Karl and Berge Mazda.

I just wish the dealer was allowed to tear these engines down and inspect and determine what the problems are.

My god what is going on,, sorry Abbid, to hear that.
Sounds like Mazda has some issues to that they need to take care of with the quickness!
Did they forget the Apex Seals?
Looks like we have something in common, 3 engines.

Erick - hopefully the 3rd one will not suck. Probably should do a compression check on it immediately after the first day.

Abbid - you just got your first reman and it had zero compression on start-up?

Hmm. Dumb question, but when it was said the dealer isn't allowed to rip the engine apart, that's in all cases right? I know its all replaced under warranty but after seeing the stuff from RotaryResurrection I'd be curious as to how much it'd cost to have them inspect it before install...

Good point. Since I've got your "ear" for the moment, any idea of what an "inspection tear down" might cost at a reputable shop?

Personally I'd love the opportunity to do it all myself someday...but I'd have no idea what I'm doing...

They would, I would think, charge you the cost of a rebuild. Labor only , no parts.

I think Mazda won't allow it due to what horrific things the Technician might find. And then it would permanently scar him for life. Might even cause blindness.:Eyecrazy: