My RX8 that I bought in China got water flooded into the engine and it stoped cranking. Dealer inspection results in engine replacement because Mazda Japan wouldn't allow them to open the rotary up in China. In a sad sad turn, insurance does not cover and the offical Mazda Parts China quote for a replacement is US$16,000... god. Given the car is US$52,000 here I guess I have to eat it up being screwed by Mazda China to be able to enjoy a modern marvel like the 8 here...

My question is I found Mazda Parts China is offering a short engine block part that cost US$7,200. Assume water got in the Rotary Housing and the apex seals got messed up and caused the engine to die.. I could get the Short engine block option for US$7,200 instead of the whole block for US$16,000!!!! right???

Really appreciate the feedback. I need to order the part soon as my Autoexec skirts, ram air intake and Wedsports SA70TT rims that I ordered from Japan before the flood just arrived. Will post up pics as soon as the baby is fixed and new parts are installed.

MANY THANKS!

 

short engine block? that's going to be a completely different engine I would think... not a rotary. there's no different rotary that mazda makes really... at least none smaller than the renesis (that I know of). I dont know what a fair cost for the engine replacement would be in china, but since the car is so much more, I guess $16,000 could be right... even though that's damn expensive lol

 

Knowing the industrious ways of China, I am sure there is an imitation rotary called Lenesis available. :D Sorry no help here.

 

Thanks.. The short engine block is offered by Mazda Parts China as a replace part for the RX8 so I guess it is something I can have the dealer call in to check.

However, the dealers here are staterun so they are clueless and lazy. I just don't want to get screwed by them forcing me to order the full setup becaure they are too lazy to replace just parts of the engine when swapping out the whole setup is easier..

Nothing can beat Chinese at the imitation thing... news just reported today that fake eggs are being sold here..geezzz fake eggs...I guess Lenesis is not out of the question.

Anyone that has replaced their engine under warranty know if Mazda NA replace a "short engine" or full block?

By the way, I could go the route of getting a ported one prepped by a sports team from Japan like I did for my RX7 in Hong Kong. but that is illegal here...and the car will no longer pass annual registration.

 

mazda sends a whole new engine from their Remanufacture plant. (though I hear that's changing)

 

they have restrictions on a 52,000us car? I mean ****, if you can afford that in the PRC, just bribe the low-level tester and get the ported engine from Japan. Sounds like you're in a real predicament tho. Can you give us a little more insight into what you do in China, and how you've come to own two rotary powered vehicles there? (I'm assuming you had the rx7 after 1997 :p)

 

look for a wrecked RX-8 and part it out

 

Thanks. I guess they don't tell you in NA if the engine replacement is for the whole or short block. My guess is the reman is the short block part as the oil pans and electronics are kept. Will leave fate decide if the dealer is going to screw me for $$$$$ or $$$...

I used to be an investment banker for a US Bank in Hong Kong. Owned the FD (Spirit R stock look but fully modded mechanicals for the night and weekend worrier) and an E46 M3 for the daily driver. I moved to Beijing last year to give up the $$$ to follow my dream to do something in the education space and help needed students. When leaving Hong Kong, I sold the M3, storaged and keeping my prized FD for life and move to Beijing, bought the RX8 for night and weekend worrier and last week a mitsubishi outlander for daily driver.

Mazda has sold less than 200 SE3Ps in Beijing, the Capital of China, so figure around less than around 800 SE3Ps across all of China (all of them less than 2 years old) You can find less than 10 second hand ones in the whole country here let alone a crashed one.

To thank you, I am uploading the pics of the SA70TT and Yokohama AD07 that will hopefully get put on my 8 soon...

 

$16000. Wow I had no idea the engine was so expensive.

 

Can you buy a new or used RX-8 engine from a US dealer or someone here for that matter and import it into China? I don't know about the tax implications for you.

$52,000 for a RX-8 in a country where the income level is pretty low. Wow, other than foreigners, only the rich Chinese can afford one then.

 

whole vs short probably has to do with the completeness of the engine in the crate (like you figure), although i'm also guessing...

i don't know how well dealer-manufacturer shorthand survives multiple translations (you could end up with some funky stuff.)

hopefully someone else will be able to comment who actually knows

(what, there's no "rx8club.cn" ???)

 

^^^It's not...

 

Short block is minus all manifolds. Its basically the keg so to speak. All Remans come this way.

 

Wow, that is a crazy price. Don't know that pricing structure over there, but when I blew my engine here my Mazda dealership was going to charge me $8500 for the engine & installation which I still thought was outrageous. I wound up getting an almost new 06 engine from MazMart for way under $3000 & installation was $800.

 

there was someone on here parting his car out. He was selling the renesis with 12,000 miles and an ecu for something like 3k. Look around. 16k is bull.

 

Thanks, I think the import option is probably not going to work.

Rotary Inspired, thanks for the comment. I will make sure my dealer goes for the short option without manifolds...

 

Where are the Chinese 8's coming from? if they are euro spec cars as they are in Malaysia and Australia then just import one from here. They are $2500 AUD and you could combine that with flying over one of the local Australian Rotary mechanics and have them install it for WAYYYY less than $16,000USD

Btw..nice choice on rim. I have a set of 18x9 SA70tt on order.

Cheers

Andrew

 

Water will not destroy a rotary. You can't "hydro-lock" the Renesis.
Look for a different shop or find someone local with some mechanical aptitude.

Pull the plugs and see if it will spin.

 

Have seen the dismantled results of a water damaged 13B-REW engine before & its not nice. Would expect a 13B-MSP to be no different.

Firstly, try to import your own "used" engine from Australia. a 6-port 13B-MSP engine usually sells for around AU$2500 here in Oz. Shipping toyou may add another AU$1000. Mechanic to remove & install new engine another $1000.

Beware though, flood damage usually means everything electrical is destroyed unless you dismantle it fully, clean & dry it out whilst fixing any solder joints on PCB's that are starting to corrode etc. Very messy

If you still have to buy a complete "short block" then do so & attach all your previous ancillaries but again, you may have to take the throttle body control apart to clean out the water damage & the control soleniods may also be suspect.

Its going to be a long road ahead depending on just how much water & for how long.

REgards

 

Hey man

Im in Hong Kong right now, pm me if you want me to call some places up and ask for the price of Short block (Say, Dealerships, TopRacing, SuperGT,etc)

I mean 16K for the short block only ? Wtf ?

or you can just pm me with ur phone number and name, I'll give you a call and we'll talk about it

 

Did I miss something? He didn't say it was flood damaged, just that it ingested water.