[So] My RX8 needs a new engine... in the mean time

So I'm gonna be buying a new car in the next 2 months and an RX-8 is one of the cars I'm considering getting. I came into this thread hoping to see advice on how to spot engine problems with the 8s, and the intricacies of replacing it...

Instead I get my months fill of "lulz" :lol:.

1) Don't buy an '04, and especially not an '04 Automatic. Those things have failure rates of up to 25%. If you insist, buy one with less than 60K on the clock, as Mazda extended the powertrain warranty until then.

2) Make sure all the ECU updates are done, keep twisting the dealer's arm or punching him in the face until they actually do it. The ECU update makes the oil injection pump more liberal with lubrication, which helps reliability.

3) About lubrication - use a quality 5W-30 mineral oil, preferably Castrol. Change the oil religiously, and check it every time you fill the tank. It is meant to consume oil as part of operation. If you're going to be thrashing it, add a little non-synthetic 2-stroke oil to the fuel for good luck.

4) Redline that motherfucker, every single day. Find an onramp somewhere, or an empty deserted street, and open it up. Running the engine at high speeds will help prevent carbon buildup. Carbon buildup will cause the seals to bind, and you to buy a new engine (overnight from Japan).

5) If you start the car, you've committed yourself to keeping it started until the engine is warm. If you shut it off cold, there's a good chance it will flood, which is a huge pain in the ass to deal with on a dark, cold, windy, rainy night.
 
1) Don't buy an '04, and especially not an '04 Automatic. Those things have failure rates of up to 25%. If you insist, buy one with less than 60K on the clock, as Mazda extended the powertrain warranty until then.

2) Make sure all the ECU updates are done, keep twisting the dealer's arm or punching him in the face until they actually do it. The ECU update makes the oil injection pump more liberal with lubrication, which helps reliability.

3) About lubrication - use a quality 5W-30 mineral oil, preferably Castrol. Change the oil religiously, and check it every time you fill the tank. It is meant to consume oil as part of operation. If you're going to be thrashing it, add a little non-synthetic 2-stroke oil to the fuel for good luck.

4) Redline that motherfucker, every single day. Find an onramp somewhere, or an empty deserted street, and open it up. Running the engine at high speeds will help prevent carbon buildup. Carbon buildup will cause the seals to bind, and you to buy a new engine (overnight from Japan).

5) If you start the car, you've committed yourself to keeping it started until the engine is warm. If you shut it off cold, there's a good chance it will flood, which is a huge pain in the ass to deal with on a dark, cold, windy, rainy night.

In other words, don't buy an RX-8 :lol:
 
In other words, don't buy an RX-8 :lol:

No, you should. It's very practical, very fun to drive and best of all - different. But if you want a car with a unique engine, you have to be prepared to treat it a little differently.

It's not that difficult to check your oil while the pump is filling your tank, or drive around the block a few times to warm the car before you park it on the street. It's well worth it, in fact, because you get a really great engine that is unlike anything else on the road.
 
No, you should. It's very practical, very fun to drive and best of all - different. But if you want a car with a unique engine, you have to be prepared to treat it a little differently.

It's not that difficult to check your oil while the pump is filling your tank, or drive around the block a few times to warm the car before you park it on the street. It's well worth it, in fact, because you get a really great engine that is unlike anything else on the road.

Honestly everything you said is things people SHOULD be doing (except the 2 stroke oil trick) on ANY CAR.

1) NEVER buy the first production run of a car, they always have problems.

2) Make sure all recall work is done

3) check your oil and change it as you're supposed to. I.e. do the maintenance.

4) Ok that just what makes rotaries so cool :) Although I've always been told to WOT the engine at least once when driving it to keep the carbon out of it.

5) This is just another good idea to do with any engine, though not required on modern boingers.
 
Doesn't the renesis eat a ridiculously large amount of oil anyway?
 
Doesn't the renesis eat a ridiculously large amount of oil anyway?

Not sure on the Renesis but most rotaries are around a quart every 1500-2000 miles.

The older pre-RX-8 owners tend to remove the oil metering system (which is what causes the engine to burn oil in the first place) and just run 2 stroke oil. This allows them to run synthetic oil, which is preferred by the turbo guys.
 
The dealership insists that the RX8 needs no special oil treatment. They'll tell anyone that wants to buy one that. Everyone else you will talk to will insists the other way. Where the truth lies is a mystery.

Edit: also with #5 of that guy's list: Do you really think that is necessary? I mean, say you have to move your car around in your driveway... Hrms. I've never heard anyone recommend that.
 
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The dealership insists that the RX8 needs no special oil treatment. They'll tell anyone that wants to buy one that. Everyone else you will talk to will insists the other way. Where the truth lies is a mystery.

It doesn't need special oil treatment, just put the oil in when it needs it. Thats true for any car, it runs out of oil, motor fails.

Edit: also with #5 of that guy's list: Do you really think that is necessary? I mean, say you have to move your car around in your driveway... Hrms. I've never heard anyone recommend that.

The RX-8 has a known flooding problem, and I've looked at buying a few rx-7's and one thing they all told me was to make sure the car warmed up before shutting it off. One thing to keep in mind is that when an engine is cold the engine management systems will dump more fuel down it. This is why old carb cars had chokes.

Boinger engines can get away with it, as most are designed to be fired up and driven off. Best way to think of the rotary is more like the high precision German or Italian engines that fail if mistreated.
 
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1) Don't buy an '04, and especially not an '04 Automatic. Those things have failure rates of up to 25%. If you insist, buy one with less than 60K on the clock, as Mazda extended the powertrain warranty until then.

2) Make sure all the ECU updates are done, keep twisting the dealer's arm or punching him in the face until they actually do it. The ECU update makes the oil injection pump more liberal with lubrication, which helps reliability.

3) About lubrication - use a quality 5W-30 mineral oil, preferably Castrol. Change the oil religiously, and check it every time you fill the tank. It is meant to consume oil as part of operation. If you're going to be thrashing it, add a little non-synthetic 2-stroke oil to the fuel for good luck.

4) Redline that motherfucker, every single day. Find an onramp somewhere, or an empty deserted street, and open it up. Running the engine at high speeds will help prevent carbon buildup. Carbon buildup will cause the seals to bind, and you to buy a new engine (overnight from Japan).

5) If you start the car, you've committed yourself to keeping it started until the engine is warm. If you shut it off cold, there's a good chance it will flood, which is a huge pain in the ass to deal with on a dark, cold, windy, rainy night.

Your post was hugely appreciated and is making it very hard for me to decide that the Mini Cooper S is the car for me. All those things are easy to do especially since i recognise that it is a special motor and needs special care... frankly non of it sounds too hard. The biggest thing turning me away from the RX-8 is the fuel consumption and the RWD (it snows here) although I feel the RX-8 would be a great car to acclimate myself to RWD - never drove RWD before.

I'm gonna start test driving cars in 2 weeks, so expect a No Boss edition "which car should I buy" thread coming soon...

I'll have the tuna, No crust.

dude wtf :lol: :lol: :lol: +1
 
Some interesting advice has been given here...carbon build up can be an issue but its not quite the dire situation with a rotary as some will lead you to believe. No harm in redlining the engine whenever the mood suites you :D

As for lubrication, there are 2 schools of thought: one says mineral based oil only & the others say synthetic is just fine.

FWIW, my engine builder recommended Amsoil after the engine (a 13B turbo) was run in. I never had any issues with running my rotary on Amsoil's synthetic oil. While running the motor in, mineral based oil was used.

Never heard of running the motor until warm before shutting it off to prevent flooding...it is better for all reciprocating motors to get up to operating temp & run them for a little while before shutting them off.

To the OP - why not join a specialist RX8 forum like the RX8 Club: http://www.rx8club.com/index.php

Cheers.
 
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I am actually on RX8club.com, I just never got involved in posting or anything like that so I direct all my car questions here, because atleast I am slightly barely small-time here, over there I'd just be another dumb question about the RX8.

Here I am another dumb question about the RX8, but I do it with love and care.
 
I wouldn't be too concerned with people perceptions or responses on any forum. The RX8 Club has its fair share of know-it-all posters but don't let that put you off posting questions there. How else are you going to learn all things RX8 related? :)

FWIW, the RX8 Club Australia is a very friendly forum...join up & post there if you are concerned about posters responses to your questions.

Take a look at this as a starting point:
http://www.rx8club.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=446&start=0

Cheers.
 
Valid point, was more joking then anything. I used to do a fair amount of posting on it, I totally forgot it existed, to be honest until this thread. I posted on it a bit tonight after you linked it.

I'll check out the Australian one too.
 
I am actually on RX8club.com, I just never got involved in posting or anything like that so I direct all my car questions here, because atleast I am slightly barely small-time here, over there I'd just be another dumb question about the RX8.

Here I am another dumb question about the RX8, but I do it with love and care.

Sounds like the RX-7club. I stopped going to all of the rx club sites because the community is just full of assholes on those forums. It's the biggest thing that turned me away from an RX-7.

God forbid you want to do something slightly out of the norm. It all of a sudden becomes impossible, expensive, and dumb because it's already been proven that the known way to do it is shittier but "works" for 3 people.
 
They'll also lambaste you for any decision you make with your car.

ITS ALL STOCK? WHAT THE FUCK?

OH WAIT, YOU PUT THAT BODY KIT ON IT? WHAT THE FUCK?

YOUR WHEELS ARE BLACK? WHAT THE FUCK?
 
I swear those forums work something like this

  1. Turn on Computer
  2. sign on to rx7club
  3. disengage brain
 
Hehe. Yes, there are quite a few tools on the RX7 & RX8 club forums. Sadly, it is the same on very nearly all forums & more so on car related ones.

I visit the ausrotary forums more often then any other rotary forum as the loud mouth, know-it-all clowns are put back in their place very quickly & the discussions are quite civil.

Further, I wouldn't allow the postings of a few morons discourage me from buying an RX....that's quite sad from my point of view.

Cheers.
 
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Hehe. Yes, there are quite a few tools on the RX7 & RX8 club forums. Sadly, it is the same on very nearly all forums & more so on car related ones.

I visit the ausrotary forums more often then any other rotary forum as the loud mouth, know-it-all clowns are put back in their place very quickly & the discussions are quite civil.

Further, I wouldn't allow the postings of a few morons discourage me from buying an RX....that's quite sad from my point of view.

Cheers.

The rotary "club" sites all pretty much suck. It's not "a few morons" it's a large number of assholes with a few dumb ass know it alls. There are several guys on there that really know their shit (I won't name names) but seem to hate anyone that posts a question on a subject that may have been addressed before, or anyone that tries to do something even slightly out of the norm.

Nopistons and the smaller sites are far better for a nicer discussion. The clubs are useful for their for sale section and for letting off some steam.
 
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