I\'m veering away from the FD.....

[muckyman]

Guys, reassure me.
I\'m close to buying an FD (black with Mazdaspeed Le Mans style kit), but I\'m getting scared.
I read about flooded engines alot. Do you guys get flooded engines regularly? Has anyone never experienced it?
I know that these are high performance cars, almost super cars - but I don\'t want super car reliability issues as this will be my daily driver.
Are these the type of cars that need tinkering with on a regular basis. (ie oil top ups every week, spark plug changes every 3k miles, 2-stroke oil in the fuel tank every fill up etc etc)
I dread the thought of a flooded engine leaving me stranded - has anyone ever had the AA sort this on the roadside?
A Supra TT is tempting me now for its virtually bullet proof reliability.....
What to do?

[nikp]

1. I\'ve flooded mine. Twice. In 3 and a half years of ownership. The first time i did it i didn\'t know they were prown to it, and I now know how NOT to do it (See point 4). Also, if you make sure you have the right spark plugs, you\'ll hardly ever have this issue.
2. I have never had to call a patrol car out for mine. It\'s probably been the most reliable car I have owned! I\'m extremely impressed with it!
3. erm....all cars require servicing. If you leave out the servicing, then it will be unreliable. Look after it, and it\'ll look after you. If you want a fast car that has a turbo charger, more often than not the oil changes are going to have to be done on a more frequent time scale - turbos like nice clean oil. whether it be an RX-7, Supra TT, or Bughatti Veyrhon!
4. A flooded engine is unlikely to leave you stranded if you know how to get the engine started again. but as long as you don\'t start the engine and turn it off before it\'s warmed up properly, then it won\'t flood!

[sadgoth]

Flooded engines aren\'t as common as you hear, if you start the car then turn it off without leeting it warm up, you risk flooding, but it isn\'t always the case. It is easy to sort (if you can get your hands to the plugs and remove them , remove the fuse from the fuelpump and turn the engine over!). There are many rex owners who have never experienced the flooding problem, I have, but that was because I had an overfueling problem after I had the engine bridgeported running a stock ECU!

Maintenance is easy enough, check the oil level regularly as RX7s are designed to burn a little oil in the combustion process. Oil changes should be done every 3000-4000 miles, plugs (depends on who you listen to) about every 5000. the 2-stroke thing is only if you modify the fuel system and remove the OMP (Oil Metering Pump) which isn\'t necessary (in fact very unlikely) with either the stock ECU or the Apexi PFC.

In short, it is an easy car to live with, if you can cope with the fuel consumption and you do the regular maintenance. The Supra will also require regular maintenance to keep it reliable, the 3l straight 6 is only bulletproof if looked after and if it isn\'t, it\'ll be a hell of a lot more costly to rebuild than the 13bREW in the RX7!

[robedwards99]

6 months ownership and not one flood yet (touch wood!)
I check the oil weekly and haven\'t had to top it up yet either.

[Warthog]

Make sure you get your pilots licence when you do buy one, because they fly.

[John Yorke]

I have owned mine for 5 + years I used it on a daily basis for the 1st 21/2 years, the car has only let me down twice 1st time was a shreaded fan belt 2nd was a split hose to the clutch, not bad in 50+k miles

If you are buying cheap expect problems, if you are buying from a \'club\' member or a known dealer you should be able to buy with confidense, most of the cars out there are 10+years old and they are sports cars and you must expect them to have been driven as such. Dont expect a Supra to be any more reliable and when they DO go wrong you need far more deeper pockets to repair them compared to the RX.

Flooding is only an issue with miss-treated / hi milers, if you are buying one of those I would strongly recommend you invest in a re-build.

My 10p\'s worth :WaveBye

[J.j.]

I\'ve had 2 FDs over the last one n half/two years.  Never flood it once.  

[power_king]

Your best bet is to buy one and THEN research it, just like I did. I am a complete idiot though   :rollin

[J4P RX]

Never flooded or had it not start in about 3 years.  Lots of daily use too, and short trips.  Just starting it to move a parking space etc, no problems.

[Steve Burnett]

I have had mine for 3 years and flooded it twice. Both times I knew it would happen!
The car is actually very good in terms of being fairly low maintenace. Yes you have to keep an eye on the oil and water but other that than not much.
I was scared of buying an FD at first but after 3 years I have been proved its a good car by the car.
If you look after the car then it should look after you, buy a good one and not an ebay P.O.S!
A car with a recent engine rebuild is also a good idea if you have worries.

P.S. Mine is for sale, inc rebuild 10K miles ago (Little bit of sales work there).

[John Yorke]

P.S. Mine is for sale, inc rebuild 10K miles ago (Little bit of sales work there).[/QUOTE]

Would not have noticed .............. walks away whistling

[gsb876]

Had mine for over 2yrs never flooded once, only problem was loss of coolant dude to rad leak as was too close to the Intercooler hence banging hence leakage.

Oil change recommended every 3K miles, can do yourself really, filter change 6 - 10K miles again can do yourself. Everyday driving will be fine but they do drink petrol and a standardish one will be better for everyday use rather than a highly modded rx7  :King

One thing for sure though you drive one you will buy one  :Thumbs-up

[iaint]

Never flooded or had it not start in about 3 years.  Lots of daily use too, and short trips.  Just starting it to move a parking space etc, no problems.

Ditto for normal use including start-move-stop from cold.  That\'s with a lightly modded car putting out 293rwhp.

Managed to stall it after a spin at silverstone (2 x 360!!) and it took a few seconds to fire up but that\'s the worst I\'ve had.  Done 20k miles in it too.

I might have a higher risk of problems after the next set of mods as I\'ll be running cooler plugs to cope with higher boost.

Muckyman - do it!!!

[muckyman]

I want to do it, really I do.
My little 220bhp Eunos Roadster Turbo just ain\'t doing it for me anymore.
Any London meets coming up soon that I would:-
A - be able to talk to some of you guys and see your cars
B - be able to turn up in my little roadster and not get the pi$$ ripped out of me  :Giggle

cheers

[iaint]

I want to do it, really I do.
My little 220bhp Eunos Roadster Turbo just ain\'t doing it for me anymore.
Any London meets coming up soon that I would:-
A - be able to talk to some of you guys and see your cars
B - be able to turn up in my little roadster and not get the pi$$ ripped out of me  :Giggle

cheers

Tonight at the Wharf pub in Dartford, 8pm onwards!  There\'s a thread and directions in the mini-meets section and on the calendar.

A - there should be some 7\'s there; mine might even make a guest appearance if I\'mlucky!
b - most of us are fans of good cars and the eunos/mx-5 is a great car so you should be safe.