TampaSport20 said:
From what I remember the engine replacements usually were from buyers inexperienced with rotaries, and were unaware that the engine "uses oil" and that this is normal operation. Mazda however, went ahead and replaced the engines under warrantee anyway.....
Mazda had the Cooling and Fuel system issues in 3 model years of 3rd gen RX-7's...I call that multiple, as in "MORE THAN ONE"..It was also the ENTIRE RUN of FD's in the US, which tells me the recall wasnt discovered until AFTER at least 1995, so they were overheating the whole time before that.
"THE RADIATOR CAP PRESSURE RELIEF VALVE RELEASE PRESSURE IS SET TOO HIGH. THIS CAN CAUSE THE COOLANT TO REACH TEMPERATURES THAT EXCEED THE THERMAL DESIGN LIMITS OF SOME COMPONENTS OF THE COOLANT SYSTEM. SHOULD THIS OCCUR, ENGINE COOLANT CAN LEAK COLLECT ON TOP OF THE ENGINE. "
Over pressurization CAUSES overheating, GEEZ.....
I never said there was an ENGINE recall...GEEZ....
Since I am getting my words picked apart...the qustion I was posed was how many ROTARIES have you owned, not how many FD's
I had an FC with a 13b....
That sounds a little redundant.....
Mazda realized later that the rotary creates a LOT of heat, and turbo's create even MORE heat, thus the engines tend not to have a long lifespan....this is why the Renesis was NA, and even on a mazdaspeed version of the RX-8 there are no plans to turbocharge it....
thanks for the info. Very interesting.
and I suspect witht he amount of exhaust rotary engiens generate it doesnt really meet emissions if its turboed. Carb emissions wise you cant turbocharged mass production engiens that ar big and heavy with exhaust gas. but supercharging is completely okay. hence the supercharger for the Mazdaspeed RX8 (rumor). and why would will only find turbos on small 4 bangers and diesel engiens that are mass produce...extoics are different. Side ports were also designed for emissions so now it actually recylces unburnt fuel mixtures.
plus the side port design doesnt really suit a turbo that well.
I say the bad rep comes form not maintaining the car correctly. I will admit that it requires alot more TLC then your normal honda motor. my friend read up on every single thing before he bought his RX8. He even knew that burning 2 stroke oil was much better and idealy better but its too much to tell the average joe to replace 2 kinds of oil. most of the time they forget to even add oil once a month. some actually see that as a big hassel.
The rotary were of course nutorious for overheating and they generate alot of heat like said many times. but they were also very prone to flooding...cold starts needed to be very careful. they also adressed the oil lubercation issue. your apex seals have to be flexible enough to scrap the oil onto the walls of the housing. problem was taht oil would not neccesarly get to the end causing adnormal wear and tear. uneven spread.
Mazda engineers decided to do oil injection and grove the housing so that fuel and oil will be mixed in with air and oil will be attracted to these groves. and then the apex will continue to swipe oil onto the housing while its being burn in the combustion process.
The newer engines you can take them off and they looks completely new and actually chrome and shinny with abosolutely no wear on the housing. I will try to find a pic of one of the race cars after the season wa over. looked like a brand new engine.
alot of the new engine builders are trying to put alot of new designed in old 13B engines. Like in some places they try to replace the rotors with similar rotors in the RX8...where the sides slope down.
this comming from a guy who has been around alot of rotaries and hangout at the mazda dealership. I know more about rotaries then piston engines. I dont think they are bad unreliable engine. I think they have a s*** load of potential. I would not drive one everyday...not because of reliability. Its plenty reliable when I take care of it. its jsut that its not very gas friendly for daily driving. racewise and pushed to the limit its just as gas consuming as your average race car. 787B actually used less gas then what it was aloted back in lemans...it used less gas then its competators and a special motor oil was developed. Rotary 1! you defiantely have to read up and know what you are doing. if you feel like you can do this then stick with apiston engine. But for the love of god dont stick a piston engine in a rotary car. its just wrong. in my eyes...I absolutely hate mutts. lol
let me say this.
Ferrari powerband without the ferrari price.
Renisis redlines at 9-10K
Ferrari 360 modena GTC peaks at 8560 rpm and redlines like at 9K. no other engine besides the old S2000 F20C and Toyota 4age will give you that kind of power range.
What does Tsuchiya (drift king) like? his high reving 4age hachi
Toyota alantic, F1, indy car, champ car, Star mazda...all have high reving engines. its really a crazy feeling to bring your car past 7000 rpm.
high reving engines create alot of strain and abuse. But how they feel...aw pure sex! Like a F1 car or motorcycle. its worth the extra care to feel those revs!