What would you do to make your RX7 the most durable and road-worthy vehicle out there (as far as you can anyhow)? What reliability modifications would you perform and what are the most important? I see some RX7s lasting 130,000 miles, and some lasting only 10,000 miles. What makes the difference? Is it the fact that some people don't take proper care of their RX7s? Is it that people start modifying their vehicle and don't take into acount proper methods of doing so? What weight of oil is best, and what are the key problems to look for that are known to all RX7s of the 3rd generation? I don't want to have to worry about my engine blowing or other such problems going wrong all of the time. What would it take? Thanks a lot.

 

well for starters this would be the first place to go and im almost positive you'll find your answer here. http://www.rx7turboturbo.com/robrobi...eliabiltiy.htm
another thing is that many peopl also race there cars and its common knowledge that a car that is pushed hard and raced usually wont last longer than a car that is drivin lighty....but if your gunna be driving the car lighty then whats the point

 

Recently there was a very interesting thread which asked for responses from owners of high mileage original engines. The one thing I noticed was that when the engines did finally go, it was because of a leaking coolant seal.

I know there is an upgraded replacement part, but unfortunately to install it, you'd need to remove and disassemble the engine.

The coolant seals really do seem to be 'the weakest link.' The only thing I can think of to do is to keep the coolant fresh, make sure the car doesn't overheat, make sure the waterpump is working properly, and do some cooling system upgrades. If anybody has some other insights, I'd really love to hear them.

 

and make sure you don't use so-called "extended life" coolant....Dave at KD Rotary thinks that stuff may attack the seals....just use the standard green stuff and change it every year, very important PM

 

also, anything that gets heat away from the engine and turbos is going to help the engine run happy

I swear my engine/turbos run cooler with a wide open exhaust, but there is no way I can verify this assertion....just a lot less "popping" after shut down, ha

 

It may take a developmental engineer to come up with the true story of what happens to the coolant seals. What I've heard is that the rings can deform over time and let coolant seep through. It may not be a matter of just keeping the entire engine cool, but of not allowing it to heat or cool unevenly.

 

I think the high engine temps is what is causing so many engine failers, the stock fans come on at a very high tempurature and I think it eventually causes the 0-rings to fail and it causes other systems to weaken with time.I have my fans coming on at 210F instead of 230F I think in the long run this should really make a big differance in engine life combined with all of the other reliability modds.

 

Throw in a V8!!! heh But in all seriousness there is no such thing as a "bulletproof" FD. You can do all the reliability mods under the moon and it certainly won't hurt the car at all by any means, but it certainly won't make it bulletproof either. You have to understand that these are high performance cars that weren't built with longevity in mind. These are not Honduhs. For some reason a lot of people think that if you do a few "reliability" mods these cars will run forever, but that's just simply not true. Enjoy the car for what it was meant to be which is a pure raw sports car. Do the reliability mods anyway as it's definately a good safeguard against a lot of known issues and you'll be able to enjoy the car much more, but just don't expect it to run forever like a Civic.

 

the margin for error on an FD is narrow, and the tuning window is small, but if you stay within that wondow the rotary engine is very reliable....unfortunately, too may ignorant people blow these engines up because they are uneducated, don't know what they are getting into, and/or don't keep up with the preventative maintenance

or they overrev the **** out of it when the clutch lets go...hehe...no offense Jim

 

GET AN ALUMINUM AIR SEPARATOR TANK (AST). One or more of my coolant seals went bad on my stock 95 RX-7 becuase of about 30 seconds of overheating when my stock plastic AST split in 2 pieces. THIS CHEAP *** PIECE OF PLASTIC COST ME A NEW ENGINE. DONT LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!!! EVEN IF YOU STOP DRIVING IMMEDIATELY LIKE I DID, IT CAN STILL SKREW UP YOUR COOLANT SEALS. REPLACE IT IMMEDIATELY!!!

 

Check out this site. It gives a lot of information on buying a used RX-7 and what to do to make it bulletproof.

http://rx7.voodoobox.net/infofaq/bguide3g/bguide3g.html

good luck

1FAST7

 

Lets not for get about one of Mazda's biggest blunders. The Miata fuel filter! Change your Miata fuel filter on your FD at least every 15k miles. Not every 60k miles like it recommends in the owners manual.

 

As far as reliability, I'm knocking on wood, since for the past 2.5 years I've been making 305 to now 322 rwhp at 12 psi. To me thats pretty reliable. I really think alot of people mix and match compontents without the right ecu upgrades and blow the engine through their own inexperience trying to tune the F-con, SAFC, PFS PMS, PFC, etc and not knowing really what their doing. Not trying to step on many toes, but you see alot of e-mails to the big list and posts on the forum about what mods should I, etc, and about 2 months later, its "I just added this or that and my engine popped, why? type questions. Throw in the dealers replacing engines because the map sensor line popped off the map sensor and you have the perceived unreliable FD. Hell my 1st gen, granted makes less power and less stress to make it, had 212,000 miles on it when I sold it. Sure you have some bad apples in any car line, FD included, but I'd say it would be right on par with the industry average for major work if the mistake I mentioned above were factored out. I feel confident that even with my currenr setup, I'll hit the 150K mile mark on this car, I might be wrong and some may smirk, but hey, I love this car and I'll keep it anyway with no complaints.

Tim Benton

 

There is some wisdom in these posts, but that said...

NO FD WILL EVER BE BULLET PROOF!

They can certainly be reasonable, but they cannot match the reliability of a Tercel or Civic. You pay for performance.

much can be done to make them more reliable. The coils can go out like light bulbs. The radiators are flimsy. Soooo many hoses and solenoids. Poor grounding. Age is now becoming our FD's biggest problem.

 

To have a "bulletproof" FD you have to start with the engine. All the other little mods will help but the stock seals in the engines crack over time. My coolant seals let go last April leaving me no choice but to get a new engine. Dave at KDR said there were like 18 other FDs up there with the same problem. It usually happens because the car was overheated at some time (usually by the last owner who won't tell you) Tearing a new engine down a putting in silicone seals and o-rings, having coolant and oil porting done (streetport can't hurt either ) will take this engine a long way. Upgrading the apex seals to 2mm Hurleys will help if you want to turn the boost past 12 psi. Do the eccentric shaft plug mod to keep oil flowing at a much higher rate through the engine. Eliminate the AST since you don't need it. Silicone hoses will help with boost leaks. upgraded radiator is a must to help cooling. 180 degree thermostat helps. Change fuel filter, spark plugs, and coolant every 10-15K. Change oil every 1500-2000K. I use 20W-50 all year and just let it warm up a little in the winter. Synthetic oil in the manual transm. and differential helps. There's more little things you can do but it starts with tearing the engine down and going from there.