Most unlucky rotary owner??

[L18M]

Anyone had more worse luck with rotaries than me?

(NB not having a dig at anyone just trying to find someone more unlucky than me to make me feel better lol)

In short:
- water seals fail (ok this is a given on an old car)
- 1st rebuild (water seals pinched so overheated but at least i just made it home)
- 2nd rebuild good no probs initially
- mapping session after run in (inc oil change etc), on way home engine suffers oil starvation and welds itself together
- used block swapped in, got her started and as soon as oil pressure builds up the oil pressure sender flies out the block covering everything in oil.
[this is only to date, who knows what else will happen next ]

not to mention "owning" the car for nr 4yrs nw but only driving her for a year :Hammer

anyone who can beat that gets a biscuit :Giggle

[Mir]

Ok that would make you feel better.
 
Bought the Car in Japan important her here and discovered that the Oil Seals were Leak hence;
 
First Rebuild
After the first rebuild was done, collected the car and took it to the Petrol Station, guess what? Exactly! BANGGGGG
 
Reason: A well known Rotary Specialist told me to put the foot down as soon I get the car to see whether it will withstand the abuse-Sorry I cant name him.
 
Second rebuild
Collected the Car, But it never sounded Right! Checked and decided to rebuild it again, Reason: The side seals were not cut right!
 
Third Rebuild
Collected the Car, The car drove like a Dream! Drove it for 2 Months without a problem. The so called specialist, said let me simplify the loom for you, Collected the car from his garage and after driving it down for half a mile from his garage, BANGGGGG
 
Reason for a Bang
Discovered a Stone in the Engine housings-how it got there, I dont know what to say!
 
Fourth Rebuild
Rear Oil Injector Failed
 
All the above happened in 3 to 4 months
 
Got Fed up with the 13bs So bought a 20b!
 
Collected the car in March 2010 and it went bang in August 2010.
Reason
The car detonated! No one accepted the liability
 
Second Rebuild on 20b
Rebuild it again and collected it on the 16th November 2010, Drove home and Banggggg
 
Reason
Some Foreign particle went into the engine and cracked the side seal of the middle rotor (this is according to Pip\'s version)
 
Third Rebuild of 20b by WGT in Feb 2011
Used mostly new parts!
 
Now Its running sweet! Dont know for how long though
 
Regards
Mir

[Brett]

I\'ve got at least one rotary that I\'ve owned for years and never even driven... Does that count? :Giggle

[dthebuk]

just for contrast liam. I\'ve owned 3 rotaries since 2007, not one has gone bang.

is it possible that theres something on the car thats not been replaced when the new engines have gone in thats causing all the failures?

[Prof]

just for contrast liam. I\'ve owned 3 rotaries since 2007, not one has gone bang.
 
is it possible that theres something on the car thats not been replaced when the new engines have gone in thats causing all the failures?

I was going to be cheeky and say the driver :Giggle
 
I\'ve had several rebuilds, but they can usually be traced to failures of ancillaries, also the more you live with the engine, the more you know when things aren\'t right - might not save you having to rebuild it in some cases (water seal failure), but it can make the rebuild much less expensive.
 
Losing an engine to det or mechanical failure is down to the tuner / engine builder or some combination of those or lack of good maintenance and care from the owner - although it\'s often not so cut and dried.
 
My advice is to build with good quality parts - don\'t have to always be new - just don\'t use anything suspect or on the edge of tolerance.  And never scrimp on seals / fuel parts or the opportunity to replace parts that are hard to get to when you have the opportunity.

[clive]

Really really sorry to have heard all this unfold over a long period of time and sadly it sounds like people who have played with the car rather than because its a Rotary and this could have happened just the same if it was a piston car.

This sounds like just defence of the Rotary, but its not as I have had worse with piston cars.

One season I won lots of races and was aproached by an "engine builder" for me to run his engines for free the following seasons and having little money jumped at it !

From having won lots the previous season I then had a season where I raced just waiting for the next thing to break and went through five engines in one season, needless to say, we parted company for the next season .

OK I know I don\'t race Rotarys but in 14 years now across many different cars I have lost one water seal and had one tip rattle down the exhaust pipe on the way to Trax one year,

This constitutes many many thousands of miles of Rotary miles.

I know this does not help but at least it gives you an idea that this could have happend just as easily if it had pistons and not Rotors

[m1tch]

Engine 1: OEM engine, 89k miles, 7.2s on the front, 6.9s on the rear, currently in use
Engine 2: Hayward rotary FC/FD hybrid engine, 1500 miles, basically new, currently sitting in garage

I like having a spare engine

[L18M]

Mir: i guess u win the biscuit lol
didnt realise you had that much trouble with yours!

dthebuk: you\'ve not put much miles on them in 3 years did u?

prof: lol "the driver" has not driven it much, maybe 4k miles

clive: not ripping on the rotary engine, love it to bits (literally bits). i know can happen to pistons but just unlucky when it comes to the fc =(
i bet if i got a nice spanking 2002 year fd i\'d still run into probs.. just not destined to have a rotary lol

[clive]

clive: not ripping on the rotary engine, love

No don\'t worry, I knew you wasn\'t, I was just giving a piston comparison

 I was really pleased to see the car at   Beaulieu just wish it was still OK for you.

[RyanT]

I\'ve had mine 4 months now use it as a daily driver. It has 42000 on the clock and mid 8s all round. Starts first time everytime and never had a problem. I read these sort of posts and worry about mine blowing up, but it seems like such a strong engine i think I have been one of the lucky ones. I guess only time will tell

[HaywardRotary]

I cant beleive how bad some peoples experience is with needing repeated rebuilds!
It just shouldn\'t be that way I think.

[RyanT]

I know the that one day it will go pop and I expect that, but too repeatedly need rebuilds would do my head in, and I wouldn\'t be happy with the people that did it in the first place. When mine goes I will without a doubt be heading to you guys at Hayward.

[Mir]

Carl at Hayward is a Top man RyanT! Good choice.

Mir

[Mir]

@L18M so where is my biscuit?

[bmatharu]

Carl at Hayward is a Top man RyanT! Good choice.

Mir

I\'ll second that