[MoxMonkey]

lol everyone who bashes rotary's reliability either has never owned one or if they did didn't take care of it

mine is pushing ~240k km's without issue

 

[Aevum]

the main problem with rotarys isnt reliability, it is somewhat of an issue becuase it runs at higher RPM´s, therefore oil changes are more frequent and maintenance windows should be closer,

the main issue is that wankel rotary engines tend to have the fuel consumption of a piston engine about twice the size, which is the original reason why when mazda tried to export their first gen rotaries to the US and europe, it was just during the 1970´s oil embargo, and they didnt sell very well,

 

[skyline889]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoxMonkey /img/forum/go_quote.gif lol everyone who bashes rotary's reliability either has never owned one or if they did didn't take care of it mine is pushing ~240k km's without issue

I have never known an FD (Don't know any one who still runs an FC) owner that did not have reliability problems. The FD runs notoriously hot and if you've ever pushed your car hard or been to a track day, the 13B will give you problems no matter how well you take care of it. Because of the way the Rotary is designed, it has a laundry list of problems just because of the way the engine is designed, couple this with the fact that the FD was poorly designed in terms of cooling to begin with and you'll definitely have fun if you ever do anything more than drive from point A to B every morning. Overheating, pressure loss, carbon build-up, and blown apex seals, are just some of the problems that most of the guys I know have run into. While there are less things to potentially go wrong on a Rotary since there're less places where something can go wrong compared to a standard piston engine, it doesn't mean that less things will go wrong.

 

[AndyRx7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyline889 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have never known an FD (Don't know any one who still runs an FC) owner that did not have reliability problems. The FD runs notoriously hot and if you've ever pushed your car hard or been to a track day, the 13B will give you problems no matter how well you take care of it. Because of the way the Rotary is designed, it has a laundry list of problems just because of the way the engine is designed, couple this with the fact that the FD was poorly designed in terms of cooling to begin with and you'll definitely have fun if you ever do anything more than drive from point A to B every morning. Overheating, pressure loss, carbon build-up, and blown apex seals, are just some of the problems that most of the guys I know have run into. While there are less things to potentially go wrong on a Rotary since there're less places where something can go wrong compared to a standard piston engine, it doesn't mean that less things will go wrong.

You're half-right and half-wrong with these comments - the reasons the FD is so notoriously unreliable relate primarily to its extremely complex sequential turbo system (i.e. hundreds of tiny vacuum lines, buried and invisible, all ready to become brittle due to heat and pop off, causing umpteen hard-to-trace problems), and rather inadequate stock cooling system, rather than anything inherent to the rotary. In addition, many people ignorantly perform seemingly basic mods - e.g. replacing cats w/ midpipe, air filter, downpipe - without the fuel to match (the stock fuel system cannot keep up to a few such mods), and therefore suffer the problems you mention due to lean conditions. NA rotaries (and simplified FI ones, tuned properly) are a totally different story; you'll find many, many, many 1st and 2nd gen NA Rx-7's going strong at high mileage. My rather modified (i.e. ~ 60% higher power output than stock) 12A FB is going strong at 25 years old and 140,000 kms, for example, with no problems relating to 'the way the engine is designed'. And let me tell you, it's seen a lot more than being grannied from A to B!

 

[AndyRx7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Audio-Fi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Rotary engine fail within 2 years or less.

You are so far off base it's ridiculous - mine's been going strong for 25 years!

 

[MoxMonkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aevum /img/forum/go_quote.gif the main problem with rotarys isnt reliability, it is somewhat of an issue becuase it runs at higher RPM´s, therefore oil changes are more frequent and maintenance windows should be closer, the main issue is that wankel rotary engines tend to have the fuel consumption of a piston engine about twice the size, which is the original reason why when mazda tried to export their first gen rotaries to the US and europe, it was just during the 1970´s oil embargo, and they didnt sell very well,

running at higher rpm's is not an issue go look at honda engines that rev just as high and run for stupid amounts of time without issues

sure an engine that's run harder will cause more wear on oil resulting in it needing to be replaced more often but the main issue isn't with wear on rotary motors it's the fact that oil provides lubrication for seals which is more important than being rev'd to 7-8k all day long

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyline889 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have never known an FD (Don't know any one who still runs an FC) owner that did not have reliability problems. The FD runs notoriously hot and if you've ever pushed your car hard or been to a track day, the 13B will give you problems no matter how well you take care of it. Because of the way the Rotary is designed, it has a laundry list of problems just because of the way the engine is designed, couple this with the fact that the FD was poorly designed in terms of cooling to begin with and you'll definitely have fun if you ever do anything more than drive from point A to B every morning. Overheating, pressure loss, carbon build-up, and blown apex seals, are just some of the problems that most of the guys I know have run into. While there are less things to potentially go wrong on a Rotary since there're less places where something can go wrong compared to a standard piston engine, it doesn't mean that less things will go wrong.

sure there are known issues but it doesn't necessarily make the car unreliable. if it's a known issue do something to address it. why do you think most fd owners upgrade their cooling systems why because it's a known issue with them so they do something to PREVENT problems from occuring

i drive from point a to b and have plenty of fun with my fc and if i did I wouldn't go street racing and then post when i crash my car only to edit it later on

but to address most of the issues you talk about

overheating - dealt with through preventative upgrades as pretty much anyone who is going to push their car will do or else it really shouldn't be a problem unless your car is seriously running poorly

pressure loss - i'm assuming your talking about engine compression? if so every car will lose compression over time it's just the nature of things wearing down

carbon build up - entirely dependent on driving style, severity can be controlled but still the engines life is finite so it will eventually die but depending on what you do you can decide when this will happen

blown apex seals - try getting a decent tune or not running ****ty gas. sure apex seals will blow (engines have a limited life span) but prevention through regular maintenance (yay oil changes every 3k) will prolong the life. go read up on some rotary boards to see why apex seals blow usually it's related to poor tunes or bad fuel

but yah
the rotary is a great motor and will last just as long than it's piston pushing counterparts so long as the owner takes care of it (which from what i've read you didn't on the one your parents bought you)

 

[fureshi]

the rotary engine is fairly reliable provided that you don't perform a lot of mods that push the limits of the engine. most of the FDs which had reliability issues that i know of had way too many mods without enough reliability mods. my stock FD only had 45k miles on it when i sold it and other than maintenance, it didn't have any problems. that is of course with me being careful when stuck in traffic to make sure that the engine didn't get too hot, changing the oil every 3k miles, maintenance every 2 years, etc. FC/FD are amazing cars and although they can be finickey, they will reward the driver with a pure driving experience.

 

[skyline889]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoxMonkey /img/forum/go_quote.gif running at higher rpm's is not an issue go look at honda engines that rev just as high and run for stupid amounts of time without issues sure an engine that's run harder will cause more wear on oil resulting in it needing to be replaced more often but the main issue isn't with wear on rotary motors it's the fact that oil provides lubrication for seals which is more important than being rev'd to 7-8k all day long sure there are known issues but it doesn't necessarily make the car unreliable. if it's a known issue do something to address it. why do you think most fd owners upgrade their cooling systems why because it's a known issue with them so they do something to PREVENT problems from occuring i drive from point a to b and have plenty of fun with my fc and if i did I wouldn't go street racing and then post when i crash my car only to edit it later on but to address most of the issues you talk about overheating - dealt with through preventative upgrades as pretty much anyone who is going to push their car will do or else it really shouldn't be a problem unless your car is seriously running poorly pressure loss - i'm assuming your talking about engine compression? if so every car will lose compression over time it's just the nature of things wearing down carbon build up - entirely dependent on driving style, severity can be controlled but still the engines life is finite so it will eventually die but depending on what you do you can decide when this will happen blown apex seals - try getting a decent tune or not running ****ty gas. sure apex seals will blow (engines have a limited life span) but prevention through regular maintenance (yay oil changes every 3k) will prolong the life. go read up on some rotary boards to see why apex seals blow usually it's related to poor tunes or bad fuel but yah the rotary is a great motor and will last just as long than it's piston pushing counterparts so long as the owner takes care of it (which from what i've read you didn't on the one your parents bought you)

Wow, what did I do to you? I was merely sharing the experiences that I've seen or heard of with the FD, I definitely didn't mean or think I offended you in anyway. Heck, my comment wasn't even targeted towards FC owners at all since I don't have any experience with them nor do I know anyone who does. I just thought this was a forum where civil conversation could occur rather than backhanded insults and and criticism. About your comments, I've been catching the bus for the past two years because of my arrogance (When I'm not driving a 7 year old minivan, which most of the time I'm not since it isn't really mine anymore) and no I'm not asking for sympathy now, and yeah I was a spoiled brat back then, but that's not who I am right now. Right now, I'm getting ready to purchase a car (4d sedan, soft suspension, and extremely slow) with the money I've been saving from work and investments over the past two years. I'm actually pretty excited since the car I've been saving for is the same one my grandfather used to have before he passed away, so it's been almost a dream car for me for a while and now I can finally afford it! I think I have my head screwed on a little tighter than it was two years ago and I don't see the humor nor the necessity of you posting something like that. I've been trying to give back to the forum that I've learned so much from, and while my efforts aren't on as grand of a scale as ASR's generosity, I try my best.

Now, can we please get back to talking about cars again? I've gotta say, I hope there's more hope to these rumors than the Supra rumors that have been flying around for the past few years. A new RX7 would definitely keep Nissan and Infiniti from getting complacent with the G and the 350 in years to come, not to mention that it would simply be great to have a such an amazing car back in production! Hmm, if the Z is back and the RX7 is back, maybe there's some hope after all for a remake of the Supra...albeit with the inevitable, probably less of a focus on performance and more of a focus on value. Lol, though I'll probably be nearing my mid-life crysis before I'd even consider buying a sports car rather than a regular daily beater, I wouldn't mind seeing a cheaper reincarnation of the old NA Supra. Let the aftermarket do what it wants in the quest for more performance but give the average buyer enough to keep him and the sales happy. Hopefully the bean counters at Toyota realize there's now money to be made in the semi-reasonably priced sports car market. I love the RX but the Supra, despite being a bit of a porker, is definitely one of the greatest imports to ever hit the USDM.

 

[krmathis]

Nice to see a return of the famous RX-7.
A really stunning car, imo!

 

[jpelg]

I loved my '83 RX-7 - classic, first-gen style (similiar to this 1985 model):

Most fun I ever had with a car. No reliability issues to speak of. Girls loved it too

.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I haven't had any reliability problems with my 1988 FC3S. NA, 144k miles, zero mods, stock everything, and maintained properly. And no racing. I've had to replace wear items, but for a 20 year old car, it keeps going. I know the seals will go eventually, but I think the 13B is dead reliable.

A bit of a gas pig, so the daily driver is a 4 banger. But I've driven no other car with such excellent road manners. I have to keep it.

 

[ezkcdude]

This is confusing. I have a Mazda 6 for the last 4 years and I love it. I have always thought about upgrading to an RX8 - but now there's going to be an RX7? Is Mazda screwing with us?

 

[AndyRx7]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpelg /img/forum/go_quote.gif I loved my '83 RX-7 - classic, first-gen style (similiar to this 1985 model): Most fun I ever had with a car. No reliability issues to speak of. Girls loved it too .

Similar experience here! Here's my '82:

 

[Cata1yst]

Which means that current used RX-7's might go down in price, so i can begin my Veilside imitation project

W00t

 

[lottocdr]

turbo cars are awesome
but i think i'll take the GT-R
lol