Rotary Engine discussion

[Renesis]

Yeah they burn oil, that's normal it's a seal lubrication process

[M5Rangerover]

seems kinda wasteful to me

and synthetic oil aint cheap!

[Renesis]

Well it's better than seals cracking ($$$ repairs)

[M5Rangerover]

i guess, it just seems odd that a manufacturer would build a car that needs that

[Renesis]

I feel the same way about pistons....











ZING!!!!!

[M5Rangerover]

LMAO

we all have our own opinions

some just more weird than others

[Renesis]

obviously I was joking but the occasion was too good to pass on, I couldn't resist!

[gaemon82]

Well I am glad that both kind of engines still exist, because they are both fascinating. The smoothness of the rotary engine is extrordinary (took an RX8 for a test drive yesterday). But I also like piston engines, just listen to the noise of the BMW M3 CSL or an Alfa GTA engine, fantastic, proper racecar sound. Both engine concepts have their advantages and disadvantages (as for reliability on a piston engine, well, I did over 300,000 miles in my old car and never had an engine problem, nothing at all).

[Renesis]

agreed

[Likwid]

One of my friends has an 87 RX7 Turbo II and an 88 RX7 GTU. They really dont use that much oil.... nothing that would be a burden as far as maintence costs at least.

[zyran]

Yeah the 'M' flash apparently fixes the flooding issue (you can't see any topics about flooding anymore) and improves gas milage. Not too shabby.

[RussTypeS]

Flooding is an issue of the RX-8, but there is doubt as to whether it is the rotary engine in general that is causing it. Many people think that it is actually a bug in the ECU. In fact, Mazda released a patch to the firmware (version M) and so far nobody (on RX-8 Club at least) has reported flooding with the M patch, so it seems to be something that was solved.

i take it you have never owned another rotary. they are extremely prone to flooding. they always have been. the first gens (rx-7) had to be fully warmed up once started. if you turned it off before it was warm you risked flooding every time.

[RussTypeS]

oh yeah, about the oil issues.

its not like rotaries burn oil due to bad design. they have a pump that injects oil into the combustion chamber. there is really no other way to lubricate the side seals. its really not THAT much either. hell my astro van burns more oil (or leaks it all over my driveway).

and forget synthetics in rotaries. i use castrol gtx in my race motors, burns clean and works great.

[Synaethesia]

rotary engines are much more prone to wear then piston based ones and so oil is needed to keep things running friction free around the corners of teh cumbustion chambers where there is contact (see Renesis avatar)

[off/lang]

i take it you have never owned another rotary. they are extremely prone to flooding. they always have been. the first gens (rx-7) had to be fully warmed up once started. if you turned it off before it was warm you risked flooding every time.

True, this will be my first rotary. But I would still argue that it is more of a mazda bug than a defect in the generic rotary design. (How else could a software upgrade really fix it?)

What I've heard is that the ecu was misreading the temperature sensors in certain conditions and starting up with to rich a mix, thus causing it to flood.

[dukenukem]

how do you guys like my new avtar...its a Wankel

[justin syder]

looks like a washing machine without clothes and the shell put on rinse cycle.

[dukenukem]

^^ dont diss the wankel.....or the rotary god will condemn you to eternal damnation

[Renesis]

nice avatar! a bit jerky when it reatarts but it's cool nonetheless! 8)

[M5Rangerover]

i followed an RX8 today... interesting sound.... nothing quite like it... I'm not quite sure if I like it yet