Eddy Hernandez

So I got a ‘04 RX8 6 speed. Recently just went out on me. Heard it’s the Apex seals. But anyways. I bought another engine from a friend on Base. (I’m located in Georgia) the one he sold me was the 4 port Standard Renesis. Was wondering if it’s possible to switch parts from my old motor to the new one. Or Vise Versa. (This is my first Rotary so I’m still learning a lot about this car..and this forum as well)

UnknownJinX

That would be a lot of parts you have to move over from your old engine, mainly the side and centre plates, which may or may not be reusable depending on the wear on them.

You are much better off with a reman if it's an engine issue. Speaking of which, what's the symptom? Are you sure the engine is dead?

Loki

iTrader: (1)

"apex seals" sounds a lot like what people who don't know rotaries say about rotaries. What is the actual problem?

If that new engine doesn't have known good compression I wouldn't even bother with it. They are the most likely to fail and the most expensive to replace. Get a known good 6-port from a rebuilder, such as Rotary Resurrection or Pettit Racing down in Florida. You can't put a 4-port into a 6-port car easily.

Read the New Owners section on RX8help.com so you you're up to speed.

Eddy Hernandez

I have a buddy with an FC RX7 he’s got it boosted and he’s pretty into these. He says one of my rotors is making contact with my housing...don’t know which rotor but yeah. That’s what he tells me.
so I had it for about 5 months, 60,000 miles it now has 69,000. It had idle problems. Would just stahl our as well during idle. Bogg our on me too while driving on the high way after about an hour of driving. Thought I was the fuel pump and even my ignition coils. Even my coolant jacket seals cause I’d get major white smoke on cold startups. There was a lot going on with it. Took it too the dealership on day for recalls. Was driving home and about 20 mins into the trip, hit traffic and it died. Just shut up. All electronics were up tho. Couldn’t get it started and had to push start it. That’s when it went down hill. It started back up but while driving to a gas station it sounded horrible. Like if it were rodknock on a regular piston car. Got to a gas station and it died again. Had to push start it and drive it home about 30 mins away. It would start smoking once I’d hit a high rpm. After that never started again and currently have the engine out.

Eddy Hernandez

also when we did a compression test, he had me use the push the air release button so it would get the compression for each pump and he said if for every singular one if it was below 85psi it then the seal was bad. Some got 90 and some barely hit 85.

Loki

iTrader: (1)

I.. I don't think you should take advice from this friend any more.
"making contact with the housing" is not a thing and "pushing the air release button" is not proper compression test procedure even with a basic tester, and the resulting numbers don't mean much if you don't know what rpm the engine was turning at during the test.

With that out of the way, it definitely sounds like the engine is in bad shape. White smoke from start up is coolant seal failure and smoke at high rpm points to a lot of blowby. Was there oil in the intake when you took it apart?
Since you suspected the coils and fuel pump, did you go ahead and replace them? What about the catalytic converter, was it ever inspected/replaced? What kind of condition is the cooling system in? Any overheats?

Because, here's the thing, if whatever killed your engine is still on the car, and you put a new engine in, it'll kill that one too. So we actually need to figure out what happened here.

Try to sell the 4-port you bought, there's nothing you can do with it.

Eddy Hernandez

replaced the Coils. Spark plug wires, spark plugs, and even the Fuel pump. Catalytic converse tee was gutted because when I checked it out it was clogged af. I took it to an exhaust shops and they told me it was fine. The car would actually over heat too. Was on the way to a Dragstrip with my Car Group and once it got pretty heated that’s when the car would die. I’d push on the gas and the more I pushed the more it would actually slow down. I couldn’t go past 4K rpms. Eventually even after not going past 4K I couldn’t even drive it. It died on me. We eventually found out it was the Eshaft position Sensor. Because the symptoms for a bad ESS was literally what was going on. But it was too late by then. That’s when the engine had a loud knocking sound. And we couldn’t start it or anything

Loki

iTrader: (1)

Hmm. Do you still have the plastic undertray that goes under the radiator and front bumper? It's necessary for proper cooling. These engines really don't survive overheating well.

Not going over 4k could also be limp mode from the OMP sensor. Many scanners can't read the Mazda-specific code for it, so it wouldn't come up when you check for codes. Did you have a code for the ESS?

Eddy Hernandez

yes I still have the undertray. And yes once we had everything figured out with misfiring and everything the final code was for the Crankshaft Position sensor.. which obviously it don’t have a crankshaft it’s the Eccentric Shaft.