RX-8 owners... a few questions?

[trickyrix]

A friend of mine drove a nice, used, low-miles RX-8 the other day and he was hooked in by the sharp handling and the goodness of the rotary engine. Soooo... other than the usual Wankel bugaboos of oil consumption and crap-ass gas mileage, what's not to love? Any red flags to be on the lookout for?

[Nails]

http://forums.dfwmiata.com/showthread.php?t=16516

[trickyrix]

You mean to tell me we got a "Search" function on this here thing???

Thx...

[altiain]

Thanks Nails - saved me the trouble of typing all of that again.

[altiain]

BTW, everyone complains about rotary oil consumption... my car consumes roughly 1 quart between oil changes (every 2500-3000 miles), a little more if I spend a lot of time at the track. Almost everyone I know with a high performance Honda or LSx-powered whatever has higher oil consumption than my "oil burning" rotary.

[trickyrix]

True... come to think of it, none of the old FB RX-7s I had used more oil than my recip cars, but I always kept a closer eye on it in the Wankels. My dad's FD did seem to use a little more than average, but that could've been a turbo thing.

[channelmaniac]

One tip is DO NOT USE CHEAP GAS.

[CosmosMpower]

My S2000 and RX-8 burned about the same amount of oil, 1 full quart between 3k oil changes. I didn't have any serious trouble with my RX-8, just some interior plastic pieces breaking (which were replaced under warranty). The foglights are also fragile if you hit them with cones and occasionally they like to burp coolant when they get hot on an auto-x course.

[altiain]

One tip is DO NOT USE CHEAP GAS.

Depends on what you call cheap gas. I usually fill up with 93, but I've used 87 on several occasions without issue. I'm not neurotic about whose gas I use, either.

One cool thing - since the rotary is actually designed to burn oil, I don't use expensive synthetic motor oil. I've used Castrol GTX since I bought mine - it's now got 61k miles, three seasons of co-driven National-level autocross competition, almost 3000 track miles, and it still runs fine.

My S2000 and RX-8 burned about the same amount of oil, 1 full quart between 3k oil changes. I didn't have any serious trouble with my RX-8, just some interior plastic pieces breaking (which were replaced under warranty). The foglights are also fragile if you hit them with cones and occasionally they like to burp coolant when they get hot on an auto-x course.

Yep, I broke one of the foglight mounts at Mineral Wells a couple of years ago. Thankfully, a replacement was only ~$40 through Mazdacomp.

[trickyrix]

One cool thing - since the rotary is actually designed to burn oil, I don't use expensive synthetic motor oil.

Yeah, I seem to remember that the FD owner's manual specifically recommended against synthetic.

[2004Busa]

Here's my .02, I only know 2 people that have ever owned them one of them has had the motor replaced 3 times and my other friend is on his 2nd. I also find it very amusing that you have to rev it up everytine you shut it off.

[Titus]

[altiain]

Here's my .02, I only know 2 people that have ever owned them one of them has had the motor replaced 3 times and my other friend is on his 2nd. I also find it very amusing that you have to rev it up everytine you shut it off.

Uhh... who told you that? I've never revved mine up before shutting it off. In fact, I've never done that with any of the rotaries I owned.

As for motors - 61k on mine, and I'll wager it's been beaten harder than almost any other car on this board. lugnutjon's car was autocrossed at the National level for several years (with both J-Fo and I co-driving, so you know it was abused ), has 80k on it now, and it's still on its first motor.

If your friend is on his fourth motor (replaced three times), he's doing something wrong. Maybe he should stop revving it up before he shuts it off.

[Radio-Active]

Maybe his friend is using Synthetic motor oil.

Wasn't that the supposed cause of several of the original 2004 RX-8 motors cratering in the hot summer while at idle?

[POS Racing]

Your buddy may want to hurry up and get an RX8 before Mazda kills it.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/12/26/m...aces-for-2012/

[altiain]

Maybe his friend is using Synthetic motor oil.

Wasn't that the supposed cause of several of the original 2004 RX-8 motors cratering in the hot summer while at idle?

No idea. There's plenty of wailing and teeth gnashing over what is the right oil to use in a rotary on RX8Club.com, but I ignore most of it. I stick to 10w40 Castrol GTX in mine, and have since I bought it. If I'm at the track I occasionally buy a quart of no-name 10w40 at the gas station and use that. It's worked for me so far.

[Miatamoto]

Another RX8 owner here. I had absolutely no mechanical problems with the car (MY06). I put about 1 quart in between oil changes (Castrol GTX). Zero cold start issues (I think that was worked out in 2004).

The car was autocrossed about 3 times a month for the entire time I owned it. It was a great worry free car. The only problems were the ash tray lid popping out and the driverside sun visor breaking.

[apex2apex]

Sold my RX-8 at 46k miles. My dad flooded it one time on a cold start with a weak battery. I also had the tail lights replaced due to moisture under warranty. Other than that, the car was trouble free. Oil usage under normal driving is not much, I used dino oil and change every 3000 miles or less.

It's a bit of a quirky car, but I really enjoyed it even tho I got raped on the resale.

[channelmaniac]

I would think that the dino oil would be easier for the catalytic converter to break down than the synthetic stuff.

Iain?

[duffman692002]

True... come to think of it, none of the old FB RX-7s I had used more oil than my recip cars, but I always kept a closer eye on it in the Wankels. My dad's FD did seem to use a little more than average, but that could've been a turbo thing.

My FB doesn't burn any oil out of the pan but i removed the OMP and premix. :)

Yeah, I seem to remember that the FD owner's manual specifically recommended against synthetic.

Most rotary owners live by this, test have shown that the synthetic leaves an ashy residue that gums up the seals and ports. Ill see if i can find that test and post it up. I run GTX in my rotary and Castrol synth in MSM.