WranglerFan

I didn't actually overfill, but the other day I was about a quart low so I added the half quart I had. It was getting dark and I didn't use a funnel (flame on) and toward the end of the bottle I could hear oil hitting the ground.

Even though I could clearly see that I had the oil bottle in the neck I thought I'd shine my phone flashlight around and see how much I spilled, there was none... I didn't miss the neck but the ground WAS wet and fresh so where did this oil come from? Ive been busy with work and haven't got to jack it up and search for the source but I was wondering if theres any known issues or similar cases. I tried searching but only found a ton of threads about busted oil pans and actual overfills. I checked the oil afterwards and had NOT overfilled.

My engine is basically completely failed anyways so I'm not panicking, but I am trying to squeeze all the life out of this engine that I can so I'd like to patch this up.

Side note: I have a catch can installed but I hardly see how that could change anything, just thought it might be worth throwing out there. Also, said catch can is making it hard to find the leak because I bought a cheap one and it didn't have a gasket in the bottom bolt which caused oil to leak everywhere and I haven't got it cleaned yet. (I get a TON of blowby the second I hit 5750 rpm thanks to what I'll assume is a dead corner seal so I try to avoid doing so but the 8 climbs so smoothly it catches me off guard occasionally)

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

ouimetnick

Hard to say with out jacking the car up and inspecting. Perhaps the plastic oil neck is damaged and leaking where it meets the engine. Maybe you have a leaky or rusted oil pan.. Not sure if leaking oil cooler lines would leak when adding oil. Either way, have you thought about having the engine rebuilt before it's entirely gone? Might be cheaper to rebuild a failing engine then to rebuild a FAILED engine.

WranglerFan

Pretty sure it's already failed... My thoughts were to buy an engine from rotary res for full price (keep my old core) then tear down the old core and see what kind of shape its in. If its rebuildable, I may rebuild and eBay it cheap to recoup some cash or keep it as a spare for peace of mind. (Or buy a roller and use the second engine for it lol )

I don't actually have a solid plan, everything depends on finance or if this engine just up and quits on me before I have finances but that's my ideal scenario.

I really want to crack this engine open. If it weren't for the possibility of having to replace rotors and housings I could afford to rebuild it now but if I find 1 bad rotor or housing I'll be without a car for a while. And for some reason I feel like it's going to have at least 1 of each bad. Plus I want to save enough to rebuild the tranny too, it's got 100k miles and the tranny is pretty soft accompanied by a very noisy throw out bearing. Might as well do that while the engine is out. theres actually a fairly long list of to do's while I have the engine out, 100k miles with minimal service from the previous owner... it'll take some time and money to restore. I'm tempted to cut my losses and get rid of the car but any rx8 is hard to let go of.

I bought this car confident that I could rebuild it but after hearing how many novice rebuilds die after a few thousand miles I'm losing confidence in myself. I have an experienced mechanic to help me but this is the first rotary he's seen. If I can say one thing about the man though, he takes his time and makes sure everything is done properly and with precision. He can't move very quick any more but he pays excruciating attention to detail.

WranglerFan

As an add on to me saying its already failed, I asked the seller to do a compression test, (they did it wayyy wrong but the guy said he got like 68 on the front rotor and 70 on the back... so he used a standard tester) but even still, it should average better than 68lbs. major hot start issues, major blowby that overflows the catch can and soaks the air filter if I rev past 5750 while actually on road. On paper I think this engine qualifies as failed.