Rx8 huge oil loss!

[stylus350]

Evenin.

I have a friend with an RX8. He was having a spirited drive on some back roads when the car lost power suddenly. He nursed it along for about half a mile until there was somewhere to park it. It was running rough.

I went over and checkd the usual stuff - plugs were good with no evidence of flooding, there seemed to be a good strong spark from each coil and all 6 \'chuffs\' sounded strong and even.

Checked the oil and it was just above minimum so put some in although he swore he\'d checked it the week before I put it down to him being a complete mechanical noob. Started up and yep it ran rough. Looked under the car and the oil was pouring out! Switched it off.

Had a butchers underneath but it looks like it\'s coming from between the back of the block and the gearbox. Shaft end seal or something?

Any ideas?

[steve garbutt]

Looks like he has a rear bearing failed.

[antnicuk]

I agree with steve,   We bought an RX8 which was doing exactly the same. It was the bearings that were shagged.... completely. Most people who own RX8\'s dont appreciate the fact that they have a rotary engine, that coupled with the fact that Mazda, in their infiniite wisdom, put and even smaller sump on than usual means people are forever driving with little or no oil in them

[stylus350]

Thanks for the response kids!

I was thinking along those lines but I cant get the correlation between shagged bearings and sudden poor running, low power and a resistance to start?

[steve garbutt]

When the rear bearing fails it allows the eccentric shaft to move slightly, then you can have a scenario where all the rotor tolerances change so the rotors collide with the plates and the tips prematurely wear.
Resulting in oil escaping from the rear bearing more than the seal can cope with and hard starting/poor running due to low compression and friction on the side plates.

[stylus350]

Thanks again for the replies.

Sooooooo.... what\'s an 2004 50k RX8 with recalls done and history in Grey and very very nice condition, but a broken engine worth?

Not much I know but ballpark?