Looking at one. Done some reading and spoke to a mazda workshop guy, and both come up with flooding issues if you turn the engine off before its upto operating temps, which then causes the car to not start afterwards, and which then fouls the plugs and can have you up for new sparkplugs quite often.
Just want to talk to someone who owns one, and discuss their experiences.
Cheers
ninja_man,
Jun 26, 4:11pm
i reckon they are a bit unpractical! and not as nice looking as the older rx7
jono450,
Jun 26, 4:16pm
bort one for the wife had it three days, got it new never had a chance to find faults some one decided they liked it more than her and never saw it again!
skyline_guy_r34,
Jun 26, 4:25pm
What sports car is practical! I asked a question to current or past rx8 owners. Did not ask on other peoples thoughts of them.
Cheers
skyline_guy_r34,
Jun 26, 4:26pm
Bloody bastards ae. Dont suppose you know much about the flooding problem then!
o0kyle0o,
Jun 26, 4:29pm
any1 know much about skylines here!
jono450,
Jun 26, 4:31pm
haha no m8 i drove it from auckland to hamilton and it was good pleanty of powerbut never drove it after that, the missishad no poblems with it but hey it was new and 3 days its probably not going to find any faults she has a turbo mini now
I have had a few rotaries, from RX3 to series 1 and 3 RX7's.Rotaries grow on you, love em for the fun and accept the faults, of which there are fewer and fewer in newer models.
mugenb20b,
Jun 26, 6:04pm
And you think owners will know more about them than people who have to work on them!
guider1,
Jun 26, 7:00pm
A guy I know bought one for his wife. flooded & would not start. They had it towed to my old work & even on the jumper cart still wouldnt start. In the end we removed the plugs & left them out overnight hoping the fuel would evaporate. Put the plugs back in the next day & it still wouldnt start. Fitted new plugs (over $300 retail as they run a primary & secondary plug setup) & it started. Needless to say it went from the workshop straight onto a car lot back for sale. Not an impressive car to drive either I thought.
gasngo2,
Jun 27, 8:47am
my mate races one,get rid of the factory exhaust and replace with a performance type set up,the front plastic grill needs to be modified,ie drill holes through it to let the air in,put a k&n hi/flow air filter in the box,or better buy one that has already had the performance goodies installed,get the model with the higher out put engine.
wrong2,
Jun 27, 10:12am
the RX7 is more pratical !
the mini doors are an excellent work-around instead of sticking to the coupe body
hrt,
Jun 27, 10:27am
Depends what you count as practical, the boot is actually pretty huge and if you're only taking 2 people then there is plenty of room. Limited room in the back, but the seats are there if you need them.
If they flood then take the fuel pump relay out and crank it for a while to get rid of the excess fuel and it should start again without much of a problem.
Simple, don't turn it off when its dead cold. And if thats too much of a hassle then put a turbo timer on set to 5 mins for when you just want to move it and walk away!
Never had problems with mine, though I've never turned it off when cold. Runs like a dream, very very smooth power and fun to drive. As people have said above, go for the 6 port engine, 6 speed manual.
ginga4lyfe,
Jun 27, 10:50am
yes is a problem with them, and the sparkplugs are not cheap either, just give it a good thrash now and then( weekly ) and never leave it to run less than 30 minutes and you should be fine ( thats what my old boss told me anyways! )
ninja_man,
Jun 27, 12:00pm
no, im just saying the rx7's look much nicer to me, but thats just my opinion
loose.unit8,
Jun 27, 12:11pm
I find it hard to believe it's a big problem in RX8s.
I know flooding was a problem in the Series 4 Rx7s.When I owned one, it did happen every now and then.All I had to pull the plugs out and give them a clean and (just for good measure) spray engine start on the plugs and reinstall them.Took 15-20mins but would start as easy as.In the Series 5s and onwards (batmans) as a work around if they flood, you just push the accelerator to the floor [this shuts off the injectors] and crank it over for 10 seconds, then start it as normal.I've owned a batman for 3 years now and the only time I've had to do it is when it was leaking air from the intake manifold and so it was actually over fueling due to a problem.
esprit,
Jun 27, 12:14pm
It's a bit of a pin in the arse if you need to get the thing up to temp every time you drive it though. Something like just moving your car in the driveway ends up costing you $300 in new plugs! That's a pretty bad fault. poor engine management.
loose.unit8,
Jun 27, 12:21pm
Works for RX8 too, in fact it's the procedure listed in the user manual.
"The RX8 (and many other new cars which comply with EURO 4 emissions) can be prone to flooding. The reason for this seems to lie with the need for the catalyser to be warmed quickly to comply with EURO 4 emissions. This means that initially the engine runs very rich increasing the risk of flooding if the engine is not allowed to warm up before switching off.
The manual gives advice on starting which will minimise the chance of problems. The recommended procedure is to depress the clutch; do not touch the accelerator; crank the starter until the engine starts, even if that means cranking the starter for up to 10 seconds. The engine sounds a bit different from a piston engine when starting and can take longer to catch but it??
brants,
Jun 27, 6:40pm
The flooding is not a big issue for me ive flooded mine twice in 4-5 years. It helps to have a good battery and theres a better starter motor you can get for them which should prevent it from happening.
The issue i have is there not fast enough and the only worthwhile way to get decent power out of them is with a turbo kit which will be around 10 grand plus. Apart from that its a fun car to drive and its hard to find something as practical to replace it with.
grangies,
Jun 27, 6:45pm
No answer LOL.
dyln.sampson,
Jun 27, 6:59pm
Do not buy this car! I had one and had to get whole new engine for it bcos one my girlfriend was taking quite alot of short trips and fouled to plugs she kept trying to start it and stuffed the thing.
flybye_in_a_rx7,
Jun 28, 7:18am
yeah prob wana do a bit more research bout a car like this if you were to buy them. as everyone else is saying they arent made for short trips.
carstauranga001,
Jun 28, 7:49am
My wife had one (till I sold it on her), loved it and wants the one on lot now. They are great, fit four adults and even the low KW autos go good if you use the tiptronic. If you want manual get 6 speed as high KW engine, don't buy a 5 speed. Downside, a bit thirsty and yes can foul the plugs, but I only had that with one on lot and started a couple of times a week but not driven. Wife does short round town running and had no probs. If you get one check the oil on a regular basis as they use oil, a bit like a two stroke does if that makes sence.
As with all sports cars make sure you get an unmolested original car which is grade 4 or better. Do not buy if dealer can't show auction sheet as many are accident damaged and rebuilt.
fiatracer,
Jun 28, 8:42am
esprit wrote: It's a bit of a pin in the arse if you need to get the thing up to temp every time you drive it though. quote]
Not an uncommon issue I'm afraid - backiong out of the garage to wash the car, turning off while still on cold start cycle. The worst is when you try to restart, it pushes more fuel into the chambers, which then washes oil off bores, the car loses compression. it then cranks really fast with no hope of starting. I've had this exact issue on BMWs, and my current Jag. Even removing plugs and 'cooking' them on the BBQ didn't help. In the end, a small propane gas torch pokes in the plug holes was used. The unburnt fuel "popped" and burnt off after a few goes.RX8s are notorious for this problem too.
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