My son bought an 04 rx8 with an automatic. Got it home and radiator leaked. I don't know if he got it to hot, he said it didn't overheat. Couple of days later drove car in garage shut down "now I know wrong thing to do with out running for a while" and changed radiator. Tried to restart car without any luck pulled plugs and front two have engine coolant in them. Any things to check or help. Don't really want to pull engine at this point.

 

No alternative.

Obviously the previous owner overheated it to the point of melting the side 'O' rings - that is the ONLY way coolant gets on the plugs.

Rebuild or replace.

 

Ok not what I wanted to hear but it is what it is. How long to pull one of these and rough rebuild cost? Can I just replace the orings without pulling the engine?

 

I'm not sure about this but i think it may be easier to replace the whole motor?

 

what state are you in

 

Rebuild or replace the motor. You can't replace any internal pieces without a full teardown (the motor only has 3 moving pieces after all), and putting back together a motor with worn seals and irons is asking for a failure within 10,000 miles. If you do this rebuild yourself, start reading everything you can here on rebuilds.

There are options in the $1,500+ range for rebuilds (assuming you don't need new housings, which you might, and plus any labor to removal/reinstall and shipping the motor). Used engines show up here periodically, and that will be the cheapest, but you have risks there too. 4-port engine is what you need, 6 port isn't compatible..



Cooling system failures are deadly to rotaries. doesn't take much, and by the time the temp needle starts moving it's too late.

 

Good morning RIWWP,
I don't want to hi-jack, but I have question regarding this issue;
Is this a hard and fast fact that if the needle moves, it's too late?
I think mine moved above halfway shortly after I bought my 8 last summer when it was misfiring and the cat was clogged.
I say think, cause I'm not 100% sure, but pretty sure.
(Short term memory function is somewhat compromised.)
I parked it shortly after for a few weeks till I could fix it, and it runs great now.
I also thought I've seen a few posts where people overheated and continued to drive it.
Do you mean by "too late" it does damage that may not be apparent, or debilitating damage?
Thanks for this and all your help in the past.

 

At least I believe that's the response you should get from him.

 

Yup.

Not 100% guaranteed, but luck needs to be on your side. It can happen before the needle moves, and it usually does by the time the needle moves. Some people have gotten away with it, but hoping isn't a good preventative measure.

 

Thank you sir, I saw 3 posts about overheating just this morning and have been wondering about it.

It's been pretty mild so far this summer, so I really have not been able to duplicate those conditions.

I was thinking there may be a connection between misfiring/bad cats and overheating.
It seems to me some posts have both issues.

Or I could be imagining it.

 

Overheating coolant, not really. I do believe a clogged cat can damage the engine similar to an overheating.

However, it is probably more accurate to say: "those that neglect their ignition also neglect their cooling system."

 

Ok, thanks.
I was thinking if misfires get cats to glowing, then cats are clogged, maybe all that " superheated" exhaust 'heat-soaks' the engine, causing coolant to get hotter than usual.(?)

 

The localized heat buildup from a clogged cat certainly isn't good for the engine, and will probably cause the car to run hotter in general, but a properly maintained cooling system should still be able to handle it just fine. It's the internal stress on the engine from trying to pushed exhaust into a highly pressurized exhaust system that does the engine damage (this is my opinion). The coolant seals are just one of the items that could fail as a result.