Rotaries only good for 60K Miles? proof otherwise!

[fdlover]

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/251235.htm
 
If on 63K miles its making stock BHP (255.8 bhp), i\'m assuming this isn\'t rebuild territory?
 
how come his has lasted so long? just cos of oil changes, etc every 3k mikes?
 
how does he mean "stupid ECU" thought the Apexi with a good re-map would be better?
 
Apexi ECU and commander, uprated intercooler, straight-through exhaust, and cold air induction is a safe mod, right?
 
could be tempted with this one... even though it hasn\'t had a rebuild everything seems checked and OK\'d

[DRAGON]

He is wrong, they dont go to 100k with regular oil changes.
The standard ECU isnt stupid, its designed for a purpose and does that very well.
From my experience they will not last for longer than 60k miles.

[fdlover]

when he mentioned "stupid ECU" it was in the context of modding the car..."engine is kept standard no stupid ecu and insane boost hikes"
 
steer clear then?

[John Yorke]

I would be interested in his service history, if he is selling this as a top spec car without a rebuild I would want to see how often it has been serviced. 255.8hp sounds about right but its an import and most come without history, if you intend to polish it every week and drive it like a granny it might give you another 10k, personaly I doubt it. Depends what you are looking for, disregard the ECU issue think he is trying to demonstrate its not been abused.

[lockwood77]

The mods you list are perfectly safe assuming the PFC is mapped properly (no silly boost etc.) In fact you could argue a PFC can improve the life of the engine (or at least turbos) by lowering the boost, should you so wish.

I would want to see compression test results if you\'re seriously considering a car with that mileage (or any mileage without a rebuild warranty in place, to be honest).

He says many of the right things, although saying "no sunroof (rare)" is just plain wrong - having a sunroof would be rare! (And would indicate a Type X or UK car I believe).

[Brett]

What evidence do you have that a 13B-REW can\'t do 100k then?

I\'ve seen a couple of UK spec cars do that. (Ok one did 96k and the other was on 110K iirc)  In the US they are getting more than that out of standard cars.

 Water seal failure is more likely than anything else I would have thought?

[nikp]

Compression test results won\'t show whether the water seals are on their way out though. In fact, nothing will. So a good compression test, whilst showing the wear on the engine may be good, won\'t necassarily show that the engine is going to last a long time.

[nikp]

I also echo what Brett says/asks

[DRAGON]

What evidence do you have that a 13B-REW can\'t do 100k then?

I\'ve seen a couple of UK spec cars do that. (Ok one did 96k and the other was on 110K iirc)  In the US they are getting more than that out of standard cars.

 Water seal failure is more likely than anything else I would have thought?

Just experience of FDs, currently have 22 in the workshop! Just my opinion, could be wrong, but that rarely happens:Tongue1

[D1 WTF]

from experience all cars with no rebuild with that sort of millage will do you about 6 months tops before water seal goes.  that car is pretty top dollar for a car without a rebuild and in all honest it doesn\'t look like it warrants that (yes it is quite clean but if buying without rebuild then there is better out there).  if you were interested in buying a car without a rebuild i would buy one that is half that price, tidy it up myself and expect that in 6 months i will have to rebuild it.  this also allows you to rebuild it to your spec etc

however at that sort of price if you were to add another £1k then that would be at the price for a rebuilt engined/standardish car.  which i think would be the better way to go, also if you buy a car off of a well known member off the forum you are more LIKELY to get a better example as generally speaking they are car enthusiasts and look after the cars well.

[sadgoth]

I agree with Brett here, there are a number of FDs stateside that have cover well in excess of 100k, also some UK cars. Thing is we have water seal failures here more than any other cause of rebuild, maybe it is to do with the coolant used in this country (or the % of coolant in the mix?)

[nikp]

Someone once suggested that it could possibly be due to flooding damage. Many of these cars possibly coming of the cargo transporters and then getting flooded at the ports and standing for a long time? Mine certainly stood for a long period of time with a flooded engine at one time, and not a great deal of time after I had water seal failure.

It\'s a possibility.

[RemarkLima]

I also heard that in Japan they don\'t use coolant in the summer months which would lead to slightly more corrosion and more likely of a waterseal failure.

Mine\'s just gone that by the looks of things at pretty much bang on 60,000 Shame really as it\'s compression was absolutely spot on for the age, no troubles at all with it.

[Brett]

Just experience of FDs, currently have 22 in the workshop! Just my opinion, could be wrong, but that rarely happens:Tongue1

Just get a fork lift under them and stack them outside in the sun :Giggle

[RobbieRX-7]

I think another possibility is that our cars go through more heat cycles than the american cars. Their roads are longer putting more miles on the car, our roads are shorter but the car cools down and warms up more often because of the short journeys. Mine was imported in 2004. This year the water seals went at just 46,000. I looked after it as much as possible, never overheated but the thing still bloody went. Irons were tiptop, just the seals.