michael14 Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Im going to look at a rx8 tomorrow afternoon, waas just wondering what people think are some key things to look for and/or some questions to ask regarding maintenance (besides obvious stuff like how often is oil changed) the more help the better, cheers in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
escortwags Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 - take a compression tester, only way to know whats going on - If its at 100,000kms+ without a rebuild it's going to need one sooner or later - check cold start, check hot start + thrash it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R100 Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Be prepared to fill the oil up every 3 weeks. They chew through oil almost as fast as petrol. Or just drive it till the oil light comes on like i used too. Yeah like he said above. over 100 thou means it will need a rebuild soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwi808 Posted December 4, 2013 Share Posted December 4, 2013 Unless you actually know how to do a compression test on a Rotor, then you'll just be getting random useless values. Do not buy and RX-8 unless in is 2005 or or less/younger (ie 2006 etc.) This is the best advice I can give you. Pre 2005 these cars do have some issues. 6 Speeds drive real nice. 5 Speeds are pretty lame. Another really bad fault with RX-8's is the top tanks crack and leak. This is very bad but hard to check for without a cooling system checker, and it is hard to do a visual inspection of the top tank as it is burried under heaps of plastic. 100,000 ks on an RX-8 (2005 or younger) is not a problem at all if the car has been well serviced and looked after. Ask to see the service history. No Service history no buy buy. Ever. After a 100,000 you can expect to replace the coils. Do no buy cheap aftermarket ones as the fail. Genuine MAZDA ones are not cheap. You can also expect to be doing the plugs and leads at the same time. You can see if any of this work has been done by CHECKING THE SERVICE HISTORY. An easy test to check any rotary engine is how well they start when hot. If they struggle to start when hot then thats a reall give away that compression is low and the engine is tired. Also, there shouldn't be any smoke on start up. A little bit if shes done some K's, but smoke is bad. If it is a Japanese import, make sure it has an AA sticker verifying the K's done. If the car has beed modifed from the original air intake system, find out how long ago, as that was about how long ago it started getting thrashed. But, do not buy one if it is older than a 2005. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael14 Posted December 5, 2013 Author Share Posted December 5, 2013 How come dont buy one earlier than 05? Its an 03 with around 140kms from memory, its a 6 speed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael14 Posted December 5, 2013 Author Share Posted December 5, 2013 Am going to google how to compression test it now haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.