'04 6spd sunlight silver

Looks like there might be coolant in the oil, bummer.
Where would you start to check other areas for neglected service?
thx

 

That is not a "neglected service" situation. It's a "You just bought an RX-8 with a blown motor" situation. I hope you got a good deal. But, to answer your question... Look at basic car stuff. Tire condition, brake pad/rotor wear, color of brake fluid, all fluid levels, condition of wheel bearings, condition of suspension components...

Since your motor is blown, I would look at the condition of the catalytic converter and, when the car is ready to run again, at the ignition coils.

I hope you were looking to buy a project car...

 

For a start, check your budget and make certain you have at least $4000. that you can earmark for a rebuild/refurbish. As mentioned above, it sounds as though you have at least 1 seal gone and possibly rotor and chamber damage from the coolant influx. In addition, the coolant might well have compromised the other seals since they were designed to work with oil not glycol. Under normal conditions, a compression test would be the first priority but under the circumstances, would be a waste of time since there WILL be internal damage from the coolant. It will be a matter of how much.

Once the coolant issue is resolved, then have a look at refurbishing other areas of the engine bay as per the following link:

https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-f...t-here-202454/

 

the price was right, and I assumed the engine was toast
this should be more of a long term project

 

Well you need to find our for sure (coolant system pressure test, or send an oil sample to Blackstone Labs, etc) and then start researching.

 

Good ideas, think I'll do a coolant system pressure test and go from there. thx

 

How much did you pay for an '04 RX8 with a blown engine? Generally speaking here, anything over $1500 and the price was not right.

 

Get a compression test also. Describe why you think there is coolant in oil.


It could just be the milky white crap that develops.

 

I've been a little busy but, looks like the coolant system pressure tests ok. I did find one small coolant leak on the right side of the engine. The cel was on so I scanned it and came up with a couple codes I couldn't find: P0403, P3001, P3100 and P3101. There was a thread on the forum here but I didn't see these listed. TIA for any help.

 

Mazda OBD-II Trouble Codes

OBD-II Check Engine Light Trouble Codes

http://www.datsc.com/tabid/123/Diagn...a/Default.aspx

 

Just to reiterate, it's normal for there to be milky foamy stuff on the dipstick under certain conditions. It's actually pretty difficult for coolant to get into oil in a rotary. There is no head gasket to fail.

So I wouldn't assume the engine is toast without a rotary compression test.

Definitely have a read through the New and Potential Owners START HERE! thread. These cars don't really have more issue than others, they just have different ones.

 

looks like p0403 is egr related, still searching for the other 3
I'm leaning to normal on the milky gunk too
thx

 

Are you sure those aren't P0301, P0300? Those would be misfire codes which correlated with needing to replace the ignition coils and are fairly common on an aging RX8. Will kill engine if not solved.

 

I believe you have an issue with your method of reading the codes. There's probably an issue with the reader itself or the OBD port connections. The Renesis doesn't have an active EGR system, so that's a false code. Since you can't find anything on the other two codes, I'd say that they're also incorrect.

P0403 is probably a misread P0430 (more likely P0420) points to catalyst failure, which is very common with failed ignitions and high mileage engines.

P3001 is probably a misread P0301 cylinder/rotor 1 misfire (ignition failure).

P3101 is probably a misread P0302 cylinder/rotor 2 misfire (ignition failure).

P3000 is probably a misread P0300 random misfire code (ignition failure).

 

Welcome..

So, does it run? You may have done well. I have seen threads where a badly flooded car is assumed to have a blown engine and sold cheap. That same care responds well to a few hours of deflood work and a new ignition.

I keep looking for one of those cars. But, like Legot said, there is a good chance there is a horribly failed ignition. After you sort that, check the threads in my sig.