Need a new motor, contemplating rebuilding existing, but I don't know if I should have goopy refinish this, or buy new housings. This is the only flaking from both housings, the rest of the surfaces looks workable.

 

New, refinishing housings is a waste of time.

 

And Goopy will tell you that housing will not benefit from their process. They don't add material, they resurface what is there, which means slight loss of more chrome thickness to get the surface finish they get. Your housing looks like that flaking is one of the lesser problems you have there. If you email them some pictures they will give you their take on it.

 

yeah I got a hold of them. That's what they said. I may build a motor eventually, using new housings, but for now, I've got a jdm and sohn on the way. Hopefully with premixing as well, I can make it last a good long while. I'm really new to this world but I'm doing a ton of research every day and I just can't wait to drive this beautiful car.

 

That housing is no good. Get a new one.

 

 

yeah I've decided to not use any of the parts from that motor. I've got a clean looking jdm on the way. Please pray that it has good compression for me.

 

Please update when you get that engine.

Thank you.

 

will do!

 

So I got the motor. I think it has a stuck side seal or something. It starts, but it's smoking like a chimney I mean really really bad. Just looked the the intake and its got quite a bit of oil in the accordion. It idled but wouldn't rev past 2k, thought it was the cat being clogged, took the cat out, wouldn't idle but revved up to 9k, pulled leading plugs which were brand new, rear rotor leading plug was black, front rotor leading plug was shiny as new. Still chrome. Soaking with trans fluid now, hoping for the best but I'm kinda lost

 

Did you try the 20 stomp Memory reset? The new motor will run differently than your previous one. Sadly a JDM motor could be just as bad as your previous one, but this should help it run correctly once you drive it around and let your ECU relearn this motor

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tro...memory-169443/

 

Yeah I reset it a couple times. I know this motor could be junk.

 

Bummer. Sorry to hear it

 

Just had it idling! Now it seems seized and it smells like a burning clutch. I think I'm boned

 

Sounds like the clutch?

If the plugs look black or super shiny, they're not firing, which means the coils driving them aren't firing. No reason to be lost, just search the forum for your symptoms.

Oil in the accordeon means your MAF may need a cleaning.

 

Are you sure that the coil on the shiny plug was working?

it's going to smoke for a while...it could have a ton of oil in the intake and the vent system if the motor was on its side. A side seal won't make it smoke.....it will drop the compression a lot though and make it run like crap. The oil control rings are the most likely issue of its run long enough to burn off all the residual oil

 

I think the coil should be fine they are brand new bhr with brand new plugs and wires.

 

was the other plug black with oil? Or carbon? Often a clean plug means that rotor isn't firing....

 

That's what I assumed, that it wasn't firing but i don't know why.

 

Just to be clear, was it the plugs you received with the engine that were shiny, or the new ones you put in before starting it up? If it's the old ones then never mind the coils. Sounds like all the plugs should be well covered in oil now

Oil in the accordion is going to get sucked down and burned and make tons of smoke. Sounds like par for the course so far. You got it to idle, so that's a good sign.

Not a lot of things smell like a burnt clutch, so is it possible the engine is fine but the clutch wasn't aligned correctly or obstructed causing it to rub and overheat?

 

They were my new plugs, which is why the difference in color was so noticeable. Carbon black on the rear and shiny silver on the front. The clutch should have been aligned properly, I took my time installing it and didn't have any issues installing the motor twice with no help. Someone said to change the pcv valve but I don't know what they mean. The purge valve solenoid?

 

Ah. Then the clean plugs aren't firing. Time to chase the wiring. You can try to swap coils that are currently powering the rear rotor to the front, and vice versa, to see if you can get the fronts to fire. If so, the problem is the coils or the wires, or their connections. If not (which I suspect is the case), then something further up the chain is preventing the coils from firing.

Could you swap the eccentric shaft sensor from your old motor to this one? Possible that it's not reading clean. That would cause things to run poorly for sure. It's near the crank pulley. Do the brake-stomp procedure until the oil gauge needle sweeps on its own after you change the sensor.

Also just to make sure.. the new JDM motor is a 6 port, high power version, like your original one?

Any check engine lights from the time that you had it running?

The other thing that people commonly mess up when installing engines is the injector wiring. It's an easy mistake to make. Is it possible they're cross wired, like the front rotor primary is taking input meant for a secondary?

PCV = positive crankcase ventilation. Whoever told you that doesn't realize this car's PCV is sort of built into the oil filler neck. There isn't a stand alone one you can change. Also sounds like they're using piston logic in a rotary application. In any case, it wouldn't prevent you from running.

 

Jdm is a six port, I'll check the injectors but I don't think I messed with them, as the engine came complete with the intake and harness and everything connected. That's what I thought as far as the "pcv" goes.

 

Oh and the dtc light has been on since i put a battery in it. Boss gave me an obdII bluetooth adapter and i downloaded an app, but it said there were no codes to read. I'll try it again with a different app

 

Some Mazda-specific codes don't show up on all apps, but that is information in itself: usually this is the code for the oil metering pump and it will prevent you from revving over 3k. Check the connection to the OMP. Did you remove it at all and are you currently using the jdm one or your original? Try swapping them over. The pump itself doesn't really fail, but the electronic component does.