RX-8? How to keep them 'working'?
Discussion
Afternoon chaps
I have been looking at the RX-8 mainly due to their very cheap price. I know they have their problems, but you still see a lot of them for sale with 100k+ miles on them. To me, this tells a lot about the previous owners.
Anyway, not knowing much about these engines I had a good read around the net. I understand they use a bit of oil in the with the fuel to lubricate. This got me thinking it was like two a 2 stroke engine, in that sense.
I use to had two stroke bikes when I was younger, and did 17000 miles on one in a year. It never once had a problem and some days I would be doing more than 100 miles (flat out). I just use to never nail it from cold, and put a cap full of extra oil in the with the fuel for extra lubcriation.
Could you do similar to a RX-8? Or have I totally missed the point?
Any help or info would be good.
Cheers guys x
I have been looking at the RX-8 mainly due to their very cheap price. I know they have their problems, but you still see a lot of them for sale with 100k+ miles on them. To me, this tells a lot about the previous owners.
Anyway, not knowing much about these engines I had a good read around the net. I understand they use a bit of oil in the with the fuel to lubricate. This got me thinking it was like two a 2 stroke engine, in that sense.
I use to had two stroke bikes when I was younger, and did 17000 miles on one in a year. It never once had a problem and some days I would be doing more than 100 miles (flat out). I just use to never nail it from cold, and put a cap full of extra oil in the with the fuel for extra lubcriation.
Could you do similar to a RX-8? Or have I totally missed the point?
Any help or info would be good.
Cheers guys x
Some people do premix a bit of oil in the fuel, either normal 2 stroke or something like this
http://www.pettitracing.co.uk/pettit_racing_mazda_...
I've tried it but you tend to get a little bit of smoke at idle which doesn't look great when you're sat in traffic, although probably worth doing on track. It's also worth noting that they slightly redesigned the oil injection on the R3 to put a bit more oil in.
As far as longevity issues go, a lot of the premature wear seems to be as a result of poor combustion causing petrol to wash the oil off the rotor seals. To minimise your chances it is worth changing coils and leads every 30k (easy DIY and costs are in my profile). Give it a good thrashing once warm, which is no hassle really!
Mine has had this kind of treatment and is still fit at nearly 60k, pulls well and starts within 2 seconds hot or cold.
If I was buying now I would be after a hot compression test before I bought one, I believe that you can keep a good engine in good nick for as long as you like. If it is screwed already then you can do stuff to mask it but fundamentally it will never get better.
Edit, I run it on vpower, not for the extra octane which makes no difference but the detergents to clean carbon from the engine.
Tax is £260 pre-2006
http://www.pettitracing.co.uk/pettit_racing_mazda_...
I've tried it but you tend to get a little bit of smoke at idle which doesn't look great when you're sat in traffic, although probably worth doing on track. It's also worth noting that they slightly redesigned the oil injection on the R3 to put a bit more oil in.
As far as longevity issues go, a lot of the premature wear seems to be as a result of poor combustion causing petrol to wash the oil off the rotor seals. To minimise your chances it is worth changing coils and leads every 30k (easy DIY and costs are in my profile). Give it a good thrashing once warm, which is no hassle really!
Mine has had this kind of treatment and is still fit at nearly 60k, pulls well and starts within 2 seconds hot or cold.
If I was buying now I would be after a hot compression test before I bought one, I believe that you can keep a good engine in good nick for as long as you like. If it is screwed already then you can do stuff to mask it but fundamentally it will never get better.
Edit, I run it on vpower, not for the extra octane which makes no difference but the detergents to clean carbon from the engine.
Tax is £260 pre-2006
Edited by wolves_wanderer on Saturday 9th July 15:06
The wankel engine is inherently a very robust design, only three moving parts, the two rotors and the crank, problem is a lot of owners simply not understanding / appreciating the need to check the oil regularly.
I was lucky enough to write all the sales training material for the RX8 and had extensive driving of late pre-production cars on the road and track during the European launch. Despite them getting a lot of use and much of it hard use there were no engine failures or problems - they were warmed up properly before use and oil was checked daily (not really required).
Mazda did not help themselves by making the process of checking oil levels more fiddly than it should have been.
I would be nervous of buying a used RX8 (and this from an Alfa owner) purely because you will have no idea how sympathetically its been looked after until you come across a problem - service stamps will only tell part of the story
I was lucky enough to write all the sales training material for the RX8 and had extensive driving of late pre-production cars on the road and track during the European launch. Despite them getting a lot of use and much of it hard use there were no engine failures or problems - they were warmed up properly before use and oil was checked daily (not really required).
Mazda did not help themselves by making the process of checking oil levels more fiddly than it should have been.
I would be nervous of buying a used RX8 (and this from an Alfa owner) purely because you will have no idea how sympathetically its been looked after until you come across a problem - service stamps will only tell part of the story
Does anyone offer a rebuild service for a reasonable price yet? I'm sure you can rebuild the RX7 for 3-4k which didnt sound too bad considering that should cure it for life.
If what the poster above me says is true then it would make sense to buy one of these in a couple of years for £1000, have the engine rebuilt and then keep it forever.
I love the RX8, few cars (if any) can seat 4 adults in comfort yet be so fun to drive.
If what the poster above me says is true then it would make sense to buy one of these in a couple of years for £1000, have the engine rebuilt and then keep it forever.
I love the RX8, few cars (if any) can seat 4 adults in comfort yet be so fun to drive.
Interesting thread I have been wondering about these myslef as they seem to offer a tremendous amount of performance for a very reasonable price. I haven't actually driven one though. I have never read a negative car review on this car from a performance standpoint. Though it has been around for a while something like 9 years it still looks unique and I like the style of a coupe but the practicality (albeit limited of a 2+2). There are a couple known issues on the car specifically high oil consumption, high gas consumption and the fact that any engine work would most likely be have to be done at a dealership. The other fact that I find alarming is that in th entire US only 1200 last year were sold! That is an alarmingly number I would guess more than three times that in v-8 engined ferraris were sold here. The question then becomes is it's reputation so very, very bad that buyer's are wary of the car because they've heard stories. Most of the time there are a couple factors driving used car values, reliability, durability, repair costs and overall demand. That's why cars like say a Honda or Toyota hold their values much better than say a equivalent GM or Ford car.
I'd be willing to take the risk as i think these cars are a little unknown I would thoroughly educate myself and talk to other owners first and go from there.
I'd be willing to take the risk as i think these cars are a little unknown I would thoroughly educate myself and talk to other owners first and go from there.
Thanks for the quick reply guys. I sold my Megane f1 a month back, and got myself a cheap run around, but I am finding it depressing. I love the look of the RX-8 and I am trying to justify it to myself. I would look after it with all the correct oil checks, changes etc (im very fussy about stuff like that), but it just worries me if the damage has already been done by previous owners.
Also, people tell me to get a hot compression test.....what seller would let you do that?
Also, people tell me to get a hot compression test.....what seller would let you do that?
Kong said:
Does anyone offer a rebuild service for a reasonable price yet? I'm sure you can rebuild the RX7 for 3-4k which didnt sound too bad considering that should cure it for life.
If what the poster above me says is true then it would make sense to buy one of these in a couple of years for £1000, have the engine rebuilt and then keep it forever.
I love the RX8, few cars (if any) can seat 4 adults in comfort yet be so fun to drive.
Yep, there's a few Places offering rebuilds and IIRC the typical cost is more like 2.5k.If what the poster above me says is true then it would make sense to buy one of these in a couple of years for £1000, have the engine rebuilt and then keep it forever.
I love the RX8, few cars (if any) can seat 4 adults in comfort yet be so fun to drive.
I was a member of the RX-8 forum a couple of years back when I was looking to buy one, I don't think they're unreliable it's just people don't know how to look after them properly.
There were tales on the forum of dealers using the incorrect oil, plus I think most buyers just expect to run them like normal cars rather than maintain them properly. With an RX-8 you just can't get away with running it like that, not letting the engine heat up and cool down, using it for short journeys etc. Then people wonder why they have a f
ked engine after 30,000 miles.
There were tales on the forum of dealers using the incorrect oil, plus I think most buyers just expect to run them like normal cars rather than maintain them properly. With an RX-8 you just can't get away with running it like that, not letting the engine heat up and cool down, using it for short journeys etc. Then people wonder why they have a f
ked engine after 30,000 miles.R12HCO said:
Also, people tell me to get a hot compression test.....what seller would let you do that?
Anyone who is enthusiastic enough to look after it properly will understand why you want one doing. It's no different to being allowed to have a 3rd party inspect any other car before you buy it.wolves_wanderer said:
Kong said:
Does anyone offer a rebuild service for a reasonable price yet? I'm sure you can rebuild the RX7 for 3-4k which didnt sound too bad considering that should cure it for life.
If what the poster above me says is true then it would make sense to buy one of these in a couple of years for £1000, have the engine rebuilt and then keep it forever.
I love the RX8, few cars (if any) can seat 4 adults in comfort yet be so fun to drive.
Yep, there's a few Places offering rebuilds and IIRC the typical cost is more like 2.5k.If what the poster above me says is true then it would make sense to buy one of these in a couple of years for £1000, have the engine rebuilt and then keep it forever.
I love the RX8, few cars (if any) can seat 4 adults in comfort yet be so fun to drive.
wolves_wanderer said:
Anyone who is enthusiastic enough to look after it properly will understand why you want one doing. It's no different to being allowed to have a 3rd party inspect any other car before you buy it.
If you look at it that way, I suppose your right. Its like like a 'normal' compression test or would it take some specialist? I assumed the latter and there would not be many around hence wondering what owner would let you do it! 
Kong said:
wolves_wanderer said:
Kong said:
Does anyone offer a rebuild service for a reasonable price yet? I'm sure you can rebuild the RX7 for 3-4k which didnt sound too bad considering that should cure it for life.
If what the poster above me says is true then it would make sense to buy one of these in a couple of years for £1000, have the engine rebuilt and then keep it forever.
I love the RX8, few cars (if any) can seat 4 adults in comfort yet be so fun to drive.
Yep, there's a few Places offering rebuilds and IIRC the typical cost is more like 2.5k.If what the poster above me says is true then it would make sense to buy one of these in a couple of years for £1000, have the engine rebuilt and then keep it forever.
I love the RX8, few cars (if any) can seat 4 adults in comfort yet be so fun to drive.
R12HCO said:
If you look at it that way, I suppose your right. Its like like a 'normal' compression test or would it take some specialist? I assumed the latter and there would not be many around hence wondering what owner would let you do it!
Most Mazda dealers I would have thought, I know my local one does.R12HCO said:
wolves_wanderer said:
Anyone who is enthusiastic enough to look after it properly will understand why you want one doing. It's no different to being allowed to have a 3rd party inspect any other car before you buy it.
If you look at it that way, I suppose your right. Its like like a 'normal' compression test or would it take some specialist? I assumed the latter and there would not be many around hence wondering what owner would let you do it! wolves_wanderer said:
Kong said:
wolves_wanderer said:
Kong said:
Does anyone offer a rebuild service for a reasonable price yet? I'm sure you can rebuild the RX7 for 3-4k which didnt sound too bad considering that should cure it for life.
If what the poster above me says is true then it would make sense to buy one of these in a couple of years for £1000, have the engine rebuilt and then keep it forever.
I love the RX8, few cars (if any) can seat 4 adults in comfort yet be so fun to drive.
Yep, there's a few Places offering rebuilds and IIRC the typical cost is more like 2.5k.If what the poster above me says is true then it would make sense to buy one of these in a couple of years for £1000, have the engine rebuilt and then keep it forever.
I love the RX8, few cars (if any) can seat 4 adults in comfort yet be so fun to drive.
There's lots of threads on the RX8. In general the oil use is not excessive, and is cheap and easy to keep on top of. Mine is 1/2 litre per 1000 miles. 20mpg is something you need to think about, depends on your mileage if that is a genuine issue or not. The final bit that's down to personal preference is the power delivery. It's all there but it's delivered very evenly over a wide rev range, there's no turbo/vtec style kick and that can make it feel a bit flat. The flip side is it's very responsive and zipping down a bendy road in 3rd going from 5k rpm to almost 9k+ rpm and back again is a good feeling
The crux of the reliability issues seems to be the coil packs and plugs as mentioned above. My compression was tested at 40k miles and was still pretty much as it left the factory, but it needed plugs and coils to resolve a reluctance to start. That's now fine. Don't worry if a rotary takes a second or two to fire, but longer is an issue - use hot starting as one of your checks for a good engine.
The crux of the reliability issues seems to be the coil packs and plugs as mentioned above. My compression was tested at 40k miles and was still pretty much as it left the factory, but it needed plugs and coils to resolve a reluctance to start. That's now fine. Don't worry if a rotary takes a second or two to fire, but longer is an issue - use hot starting as one of your checks for a good engine.
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