RX-8 Owners, How Are Your Engines Holding Up?

@42-43k now with new plugs, wires and coils in at 35k regular 15-40 rotella changes at or around 3-4k with the factory mazda filter.

After 3 time trials, 8+ autocrosses and DD (before I got the P5) I've not hand any issues!

Oh its a 10 S2 sport btw.

~80k on the girlfriends RX-8. Used for DD/auto-x/HPDE. Did coils, plugs and wires a few k miles ago. Compression test a couple months ago and it was solid. Never any trouble starting, flooding, smoking etc. Engine's been really solid.

Car's a 2006 with the manual trans.

As indicated by this pic, I just turned 200K miles.

The original engine blew up at 85K miles but I suspect that was caused by a poor repair job after a front end collision.

Anyway, the engine appears to be perfect…oil consumption, fuel economy, subjective sense of power; everything seems fine.

So, how are the other Renesis rotary engines on this board doing?

still perfect for mine, though something is clicking. I'm assuming it's something powered by an electric motor since revving the engine doesn't change frequency of clicking. These have electric fans, right? I haven't had time or light in my garage to check.

For the record I'm only around 15k miles, so nothing better be wrong yet...

I bought mine a 2005 at 130,000 miles with the original motor and an internal coolant leak. Rebuilt the engine myself, and it is fabulous compared to my FC. Had to replace the starter motor since then.

Rufledt wrote: still perfect for mine, though something is clicking. I'm assuming it's something powered by an electric motor since revving the engine doesn't change frequency of clicking. These have electric fans, right? I haven't had time or light in my garage to check. For the record I'm only around 15k miles, so nothing better be wrong yet...

Yes, it has electric fans but I don’t think that’s what you’re hearing as the interval should be on the order of minutes. When I shut mine down, it always sounds like a scene from a Transformer movie…burrrr, ping, click, pop. I’ve never had a problem (2005 – original owner) but I imagine trouble shooting, if ever necessary, will involve a cell phone and a credit card.

Still want the experience. I miss my FB. From these posts I gather the RX8 is more reliable than a 911 but not as reliable as an STI? Better than the Camry experience of the magazine's recent past? I think that many people bought these cars expecting them to be transportation appliances and didn't realize that there was some care and feeding involved. My chance to buy something quasi-exotic at less than used civic prices. I have unlimited towing insurance.

lateapexer wrote: Still want the experience. I miss my FB. From these posts I gather the RX8 is more reliable than a 911 but not as reliable as an STI? Better than the Camry experience of the magazine's recent past? I think that many people bought these cars expecting them to be transportation appliances and didn't realize that there was some care and feeding involved. My chance to buy something quasi-exotic at less than used civic prices. I have unlimited towing insurance.

Then rock on with your bad self! Go at least '06+. Lots of little things fixed at that point.

Thanks, 04, 05 are cheap in Ontario ($4000) 06 and up prices are all over the map I'm hoping to find unmolested with under 100k( metric ) about 55k miles. I'll post when I bite. I'm planning to drive all year. Would drive the Miata but there's enough snow this year that I can't see over the snow banks.

Now that I've had my Mazda3 for nearly 7 years, I'm ready for a change of pace. I drove an RX-8 years ago, but at that time it wasn't a good fit for my life: fuel economy, cargo space, insurance. Now my commute is short (fuel economy) and I'm married (SWMBO's Jeep takes care of cargo), and I'm over 30. If the '09 and newer engines can last more than 150k miles, I'm game.

clutchsmoke wrote:

lateapexer wrote: Still want the experience. I miss my FB. From these posts I gather the RX8 is more reliable than a 911 but not as reliable as an STI? Better than the Camry experience of the magazine's recent past? I think that many people bought these cars expecting them to be transportation appliances and didn't realize that there was some care and feeding involved. My chance to buy something quasi-exotic at less than used civic prices. I have unlimited towing insurance.

Then rock on with your bad self! Go at least '06+. Lots of little things fixed at that point.

Supposedly the series II (09+) cars had even more issues fixed, but a lot of new issues arose. For example, double the oil pressure and low sales volume means only mazda oil filters work. Also, a new ECU that has no easy option for tuning.

Also supposedly spot welded chassis, and the R3 model has performance goodies with no heavy luxury goodies. Don't expect to get one for $4k, though.

I'm mostly interested in a first generation car. I have been looking for a base 6 speed with cloth seats. Not many around and the ones I find have been ridden hard and put away wet. I may have to take what I can find although I have a concern with headroom when I'm wearing a helmet in a car with a sunroof.

<img src="" /> 50,000 miles and running strong. Fluid changes, 2 sets of spark plugs, one set of brakes, 1 headlight bulb and 14 tires so far.

Baroness has an 06 with about 28k on it. No particular issues. The sunroof had a problem closing, but that got fixed under warranty.

Is there truth to the addage that it is good for the engine to run it up to redline occasionally? Or does that actually do anything at all?

lateapexer wrote: Still want the experience. I miss my FB. From these posts I gather the RX8 is more reliable than a 911 but not as reliable as an STI? Better than the Camry experience of the magazine's recent past? I think that many people bought these cars expecting them to be transportation appliances and didn't realize that there was some care and feeding involved. My chance to buy something quasi-exotic at less than used civic prices. I have unlimited towing insurance.

911s are much more reliable than RX8s imo of course. Is there a particular era of 911 you think are unreliable? I mean you're comparing a car that spans decades against the RX8 that was built for a handful of years.

The basic engine design in the RX8 is almost as old as the 911 engine.

The modern 911 certainly does not have the same engine as it had in 1963.

pilotbraden wrote: 50,000 miles and running strong. Fluid changes, 2 sets of spark plugs, one set of brakes, 1 headlight bulb and 14 tires so far.

I sure hope there's been some autocrossing or something in there to go through over 3 sets of tires in 50k miles!

pilotbraden wrote: 50,000 miles and running strong. Fluid changes, 2 sets of spark plugs, one set of brakes, 1 headlight bulb and 14 tires so far.

Does that include snow and competition tires, or is it that hard to resist lighting them up?

aircooled wrote: The basic engine design in the RX8 is almost as old as the 911 engine. The modern 911 certainly does not have the same engine as it had in 1963.

My response was specific to the rx8, not all rotaries, since it's the focus of the thread and seems to have more reliability issues than other rotary engined vehicles.

I never implied the current 911 has the same engine it had since 63, but thanks for pointing that out. I was curious as to what era he thought was unreliable, since there were so many changes over the years.

In reply to BAMF:

2 full sets of snow tires and a set and a half of summer tires. The stock Bridgestones wore the rears very fast, so I bought 2 fresh ones for the rear as the fronts had 2/3 depth tread. No real racing but extremely hard street driving

bruceman wrote: Had to replace the starter motor since then.

Bruceman,

As you probably know, premature starter motor failure on a rotary engine often indicates a hurried resurrection (due to flooding or stuck apex seals) in its past. I mothballed my FC with 285,000 miles on its original engine for about a year. When it came time to sell the car, I brought the engine back on line with the old ATF down the spark plug holes followed by extended cranking on the starter motor trick. I burnt out the starter motor in the process but they aren’t that expensive and I get a really good understanding of what’s going on just by listening to it crank.

As indicated above, my RX-8 turned 200,000 miles on Saturday - yeah! On Sunday, I tried to go into the office to take a certification exam but was greeted with a dead battery. No big deal…an hour later I’ve got a new battery in the car but now I’ve got “Startus, Interruptus” and for the first time in my eight years with the car, I’m flooded like a common rotor newb. For those that don’t know, in addition to fuel, air, and spark, rotary engines require trust to operate. So, starter be damned, trust-n-crank, naysayers be damned, trust-n-crank, and as always, they eventually come to life with a celebratory cloud of blue smoke.

My car is stupid looking, has no torque, and gets E36 M3’y gas mileage but its agility and precision are absolutely world class and after being to the moon and back (485,000 miles) under rotary power, I’ve come to really trust them.

Made it to work on rotor, passed the exam, life is good.

200k miles? I feel like a rotary noob!

RX Reven' wrote: I brought the engine back on line with the old ATF down the spark plug holes followed by extended cranking on the starter motor trick. I burnt out the starter motor in the process but they aren’t that expensive and I get a really good understanding of what’s going on just by listening to it crank. ... So, starter be damned, trust-n-crank, naysayers be damned, trust-n-crank, and as always, they eventually come to life with a celebratory cloud of blue smoke.

I thought the standard procedure in this case was to fire up another RX-7 from your collection or call a buddy with a tow rope? A mile of spirited towing beats changing a starter, right?

Been playing with cars since 1964 and Porsche owners still haven't developed a sense of humour. I had the same sort of conversation about British car reliability and irritated the Porsche crowd the same way by suggesting that my Cooper"S" was at least as reliable.

I should clarify the Porsche comment. People don't often buy Porsches to use as everyday, drive through the snow and sleet, go to work appliances; They buy them for the driving experience. I think RX8's should be purchased for the driving experience as well. Kind of like Alfa Romeo's and Lada's.