Do Rx7's require major management?

Question

I really want an rx7, but someone told me they mess up alot and its always needing something fixed on it.

Answer 1

maintenance is VERY important....do not use synthetic oil

check coolant every week,,that car need only one time to over heat to die ,may be two now....

you have to use it regularly,,apex seal tend to get stuck when not use for a long time ,(,on my experience 1 month ,,have ask every RX owner that have a no start problem) minor problem, parts wise ,,,long hours labor wise,because of flooding...cause by apex seal stuck,,but can be unstuck without dismantling any thing

do all the preventive suggestion and you will enjoy you RX for a long long time

Answer 2

No major problems. Many people use synthetic oil, which messes up the engine and makes it die at an early mileage.
Usually, all sportscars and luxury cars require synthetic, but Rotary engines are not deisgned for synthetics.
They do require more care. You should wait a few minutes to drive after starting the car. If you drive on the highway and you stop somewhere, you should wait 5 minutes before turning the car off to let the turbochargers cool down and slow down. The same goes for all Turbo cars. Not doing this shortens the life of the engine and turbocharger.

Answer 3

Rotary engines require have a completely different maintenence schedule. The first rule is check your oil every week. They use oil to keep things running smoothly. But that's a small price to pay for a superior engine design with less than 20 moving parts. If you treat them well and keep up with maintenence, you can get 250,000-300,000 miles out of a non-turbo before needing a rebuild.

Above all, if you start it up, you MUST let it warm up everytime! If you don't, it'll flood. Also, if it's a turbo, you MUST let it cool down after driving it. Otherwise, you'll burn up the turbocharger(s) and end up with a very dead engine.

By the way, if you're looking at an FC (86-91), you'll want to get a better alternator, from an FD (1993+, 100 amps). The stock one puts out 70 amps and is simply underpowered for the car. In 1989, they upgraded it to 80 amps. Swap the pulleys and it's a bolt-on deal after you connect the sensing wire to the battery.

Answer 4

Rotary engines are different and do require a bit more care than a piston engine.

As mentioned, check your oil frequently as a small amount is consumed every time you run it.

Also, carbon build-up can be an issue with these engines and it's more damaging than in a piston engine. Although you don't want to thrash the engine, you should follow the rule of "A redline a day keeps the mechanic away". Hitting high revs every time you drive the car will help burn up gum & varnish deposits so they don't carbon up. Keeping carbon build-up at bay can keep the engine running for many years.

Answer 5

The rotary engine is not as long-lived as a piston engine. The apex seals will be a major expense to replace, only because few shops do that work. No other issues that I am aware of. Best to do a google search for RX-8 owners groups or forums. They will give you first person answers better than you'll get here.

Answer 6

When they first came out (yes, I'm that old! lol) they did have a lot of problems, but, I guess they kept perfecting it because later, in the late 1980's or early '90's when my younger sister bought one, they had only one problem: they accelerated so quickly and so smoothley that I was going 90 mph extremely quickly on a major thoroughfare (not a highway) in a major U.S. city, as I tried to show my sister the best RPM's to shift gears, before I could realize that it was the SMALL dial on the dash board that was the speedometer, not one of the big ones. The big dial on the left, I believe, was the tachometer, and the big dial on the right was the clock! I was shocked when I realized how fast I was going because it was so quiet and so smoothe. Thank God that well known thoroughfare was recently re-paved, and very well lit as part of the city's redevelopment of a declining commercial area. I slowed down quickly by down shifting and breaking and did not get caught, thank God, again. I wish you could enjoy the smoothe and quiet speed I enjoyed that night. It was a brand new one, and it was SMOOTHE and FAST!! God Bless you.

Answer 7

No not really. They are a fairly simple design. Preventive maint is always the key to long reliable engine life. Plus not driving the crap out of it. The emissions suck, that's one of the reasons it was out of production until the RX8 came out. It's hard to find one where some punk has beaten it to death. It's a rare find to get one where grandpa had it in the garage all it's life. G'luck there chief. You'll need it.

Answer 8

that someone just doesn't know **** about rotary that's all these question are been ask before. Mazda has been building rotary for 30 years they have eliminate all bugs there is.

And to shut everyone up about reliability they Enter the 24 hours Les Man Race with a rotary and won it.