Poll on RX-8 engine replacment

[Test Drives Unlimited]

You could buy a car with £5,300 :Giggle

[AMH]

You could buy a car with £5,300 :Giggle

Actually you\'re right - RX-8\'s around for that sort of price now.

[exiled-viking]

buy the car take the low mileage engine out sell the rest off on flee bay get a engine for less than 2 k :wiggle happy :driving

[Test Drives Unlimited]

There`s you all thinking I do`nt know anything about RX8`s :Giggle

[KrisD1]

My engine ran low on compression on the rear housing due to bad oildelivery to the apex. After talking to mazda europe and japan, they gave me a new engine with new cat.

[RX-8888]

My engine ran low on compression on the rear housing due to bad oildelivery to the apex. After talking to mazda europe and japan, they gave me a new engine with new cat.

Yep that is the issue, poor delivery to the Middle of the Apex Seal, it will kill all Series I\'s earlier that it should.

That is why Pre-Mixing (2 stroke oil in your Petrol) is your best friend.

[RX-8888]

Some don\'t like what I say, and I am not trying to Bait or upset anyone, but the reality is Mazda got is wrong on the Series I., this is a fact.

Every other rotary engine made that had MOP Injectors in Rotor Housings (FC and FD RX-7) had a Middle Injector for the Middle of the Apex Seal, the Series I RX-8 does not have this...yes they have 2 side angled injectors which lubricates the Ends of Apex and Corner Seals, but the oil does not make it to the middle of the seal.

Series 2\'s or R3 does..

[PhillipM]

I\'ve a sneaking feeling ours has killed a seal, off to Hayward for a compression check shortly...

[Will66]

Clubbed it?
 
One of the problems that has occured is that the oil feed pipes to the rear rotor get blocked and no oil from the Oil Metering Pump gets through.  Other things include knackered coil packs delivering insufficient spark and the engine overfuelling to prevent knocking and washing away the oil lubricating the rotor housing.

[bungobuns]

Mine went bang, engine being replaced under extended warranty.  A lot have failed because the oil pipes that supply the rear rotor oil injectors get clogged apparently.

As a prevention I have always added a small amount of ROIL by neways (its a type of Teflon coating; it works brilliant in injection moulding tools where heat and friction is an issue) I add Roil to my engine during routine top ups of oil.  And I believe that the Teflon coating probably saved my engine.

Recently whilst on the motorway and yes I was revving hard! the oil light came on.  Which at first glance I took to mean that my antics had burnt a lot of oil and it was hungry.

I did drop my revs back to under 4k and figured I will top up when I get off the motorway. I drove about 3 miles on this plan.

When I checked the oil level, it looked empty according to the dip stick, but I figured I must have smeared the dip stick as I removed it from the engine. (The dip stick on the RX8 is horrible to remove and especially to refit and often you can upset the reading as a result.)

So I decided to add about a pint of oil and take another reading from the dip stick.  The reading was same . At that point I knew something was really wrong.

I looked more closely and discovered a lot of oil in the subframe of the car. I knew this oil was not there a 3 days ago from a recent inspection. I then looked under the car and sure enough the 8 was bleeding onto the road lots of oil.

Not only that there was a perfect trail of oil on the road from my car. I arranged for the car to be uploaded and recovered to a garage for repair.

One sleepless night and the cause of the fault was the identified as the nearside oil pipe which runs from the engine to the oil cooler. The pipe had corroded badly and failed. (metal fittings on the pipe not the rubber)

Interestingly enough Shields Mazda Glasgow had checked this problem and apparently replaced all the oil pipes and a lower spoiler as an advisory from Mazda. Clearly they billed Mazda for the work but didn\'t do it.

The other oil pipes appear to be fine.

However the failed pipe is not easy to visually inspect without dropping the sump guard which involves a lot of labour.

Also to replace this pipe you have to move one of the air-con hoses which means a costly top up of gas.

So my advice is be sure of the condition of these pipes on your RX8, and don\'t accept that your dealer did carry out the work as described.

Hopefully Mazda will pay some or all of the costs for this work but it is a grey area and may mean a good will from Mazda.  

The pipe is in horrific state of corrosion it looks like its been on the bottom of the sea bed for 20 years.  It should have lasted 15 years if it had been properly galvanised by the manufacturer.

I have been very lucky and my engine survived motorway speeds with I suspect no oil.

Adding the Roil to my engine was not recommended by Mazda, but my 8 is eight years old and has perfect compression.

 So I would say adding a little 2 stroke now and again would be an extra assurance and would on the balance of things only help to reduce wear and tear on the engine.

I wonder how many of the owners of failed 8\'s actually ran their 8 in properly?

The 1st 800 miles you were not suppose to let the engine sit at the same revs for a prolonged time. Also not suppose to take it above 5000 revs ( no fun for the 1st month or so. Also you were only to use full 98 octane fuel at the start, I think from memory you had to do this for 3 months or so.

Bare in mind that most modern engines today are bench run in and require no special treatment, so its fair to say a lot of owners will have neglected this process and red lined from the start (because its good fun, we all know why they did it, blame Mazda for making revving a car to 9500 rpm) and I hazard to say they chucked in any old fuel, because petrol is petrol and they all need to be made to a standard, right? Sorry wrong you get what you pay for in life and petrol is no exception.

I do feel Mazda should have given you a Oil level gauge rather than the stupid pressure gauge. I feel this gauge could have been serviced by a warning light.

I doubt in the cars that suffered the death of the engine that this event was pre-warned by the oil pressure gauge.

So guys check all those oil lines carefully. If you get a leak you may not be so lucky.

I wonder if anyone has tried any after market oil coolers? I did think about doing this.  I have a policy with break downs that I will usually replaced failed parts with a better quality item.

[AMH]

I wonder how many of the owners of failed 8\'s actually ran their 8 in properly?

The 1st 800 miles you were not suppose to let the engine sit at the same revs for a prolonged time. Also not suppose to take it above 5000 revs ( no fun for the 1st month or so. Also you were only to use full 98 octane fuel at the start, I think from memory you had to do this for 3 months or so.

I was told all about not holding the same revs for the first 500 miles but nothing about not going over 5000 (or less as mine was a 192). Although to be fair I think it was a couple of months before I properly discovered the beep so I doubt it was an issue. Never been told anything about fuel choice.

No run in at all on the R3 although again I was quite cautious at first anyway.

[bungobuns]

Of interest I asked the Mazda Dealer head mechanic about the failed engines and he stated that the engine failures he had seen were a direct result of those oil pipes failing.

The trouble is there is no warning until it is too late.  

Frankly the material that these pipes are made of is abysmal at best. Looking at the new pipe it relies on some small sections of nylon shielding to protect it from heat. Not forgetting  a very unconvincing layer of paint which probably cant resist the heat and will disappear when in contact with any salt moisture.

Frankly those hoses are poor quality. These pipes should have been made from Stainless steel (Austententic) not carbon steel.  Even if they had galvanised the metal work on those pipes that would have been a big help.

It seems to completely replace this pipe will cost about £200.

I think it is frankly sick of Mazda to charge this price for such a poorly manufactured pipe. Congratulations to the penny pincher\'s at Mazda who saved a couple of pennies by specifying a cheaper hose pipe in the 1st place.  I am delighted that this poorly specified pipe has cost Mazda a fortune replacing broken engines.

I feel fitting an after market oil cooling system now is not just a cheaper option but also remove a serious design flaw with the car.

But for now I will patch my 8 up with this new hose and then look into dumping the Mazda oil cooler system.

[Vulcan]

So my engine went a couple of weeks ago, Is currently being rebuilt by Hayward Rotary in Newbury, Carl Hayward was extreemly helpful and more than happy to run me through everything and even let me visit to see my engine and bits and the failed parts. My car is a 55 plate 231 with 54k mile on. I checked the oil religeously every week, but it would seem that she prob wasn\'t right when I got her and then pushed her hard cos it didn\'t have the performance that I was looking for, and the end result, Cracked Apex seals, this is what mine looked like when I went to see them:
 
Cracked Apex Seal

 

 

 

[alexh]

You might like to know that it is up and running again. I took my car into Haywards Rotary this afternoon and it was being started up for the first time.

[Vulcan]

Awesome stuff! Did she start straight off? I Carl called me this afternoon to say she was going again, picking her back up 2moz, can\'t wait!