Cyle Conley

Bought a rx8 last year that I knew needed a new engine; so I had Mazda put one in, more than I wanted to spend. I then went and put in a new radiator, new brakes all around, new tires, new clutch, and few other odds and ends. The other days my power steering light came on and electric is not flowing to the right places, and now needs a converter to pass inspection. I am very good with maitinace but not with the big stuff. All these problems were from not inspecting it enough.

So should I spend more money getting these problems fixed, or should I try to sell the car? If I do sell it what do you think I can get for it? 2004 sunlight silver, manual transmission.

Thanks

MiRe

Sounds like you're already pretty much gutted and rebuilt the entire car. I highly doubt you could get enough out of it to make anywhere near your investment back.

The question is more rather you're willing to stick with it and hope to find the joy in it, or if you've had enough and want to go with something less... Well, less like the rx8. You either love it or hate it, where are you at currently?

Loki

iTrader: (1)

Steering light could be an easy fix, unplug and clean the electric power steering connector under the coolant reservoir.

The cat converter might be what killed the old engine. Does it not have one at all or it's giving you a check engine light? And does the inspection require that the converter be present or not have any codes or they put a sniffer on it?

A new cat from Mazda is very expent but hunt around the used market. People sell them quite cheap sometimes.

You didn't mention if you had the ignition coils replaced with the engine. You'll want to do that and spark plugs if it wasn't done.

Whether you want to keep the car is between you and the car. You don't have that much to spend and you have a recently rebuilt engine already.

Cyle Conley

There is a converter there, just throwing check engine light; which hasto be off to have it inspected. Mazda quoted like 1200$ for that so I will look around for a used one.

I will clean the plugs for the power steering and see if that works. As far as spark plugs and wires they were replaced as well, along with coils.

I have too much money into it to sell, so as I get more money I will continue to fix it.

Killawatts

If you have a code reader or a tuner, you can just clear the code right before going through inspection.

Not saying you shouldn't fix it, you should. But if it needs to go through emissions so you can drive it, I've done that before with success.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

That might not work if they plug into the OBD.
A lot of people would unhook the battery to clear the CEL and fail anyway.
I bought a cheap Walker direct fit cat for $185, install it a week or 2 before inspection, and put my BHR midpipe back on after.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

Is it gutted?
If it's clogged, you should gut it or remove it before you damage the engine.