Just got back from the dealer with bad news. They did a full testing of the car minus a compression test and they are saying its low compression. Granted that's what I figured, was having really hard hot starts and once in a while stalled coming to a stop.
I am looking to find a reman engine from a reputable place/person. I saw a lot of posts about Mazda remans for 2-3k but the dealer quoted me 4.5k. My other option is to sell the shell, no rust issues, some dings on the rear bumper.
Any idea what I could expect to sell the shell for, and would the cost of buying a reman engine and replacing myself be worth doing to sell for more?

I'm in the poconos, PA area if any serious offers

 

Wait, the only test they didn't do is a compression test, but they are ruling it low compression? Sounds inconsistent.

However, your symptoms do sound right.

The dealer's price is the most reasonable I've seen, assuming that includes labor. The reman list price is $3,300 currently, so only $1,200 for labor is very very fair. The reman price used to be $2,001, but it increased last year. If you are buying the engine and doing the work yourself, I would highly recommend going with a reman from Mazmart instead, since you will have more post-purchase support and in the event of a DoA engine, you won't be SOL (which you will be if you bought it from a dealer and installed it yourself).

The cheapest quality rebuild is from Rotary Resurrection, Pettit and BHR are other reputable rebuild options though at higher cost.

 

They quoted me 4500 to buy the engine. 6500 total for them to put it in.
I'll take a look at them thanks

 

Guess I could also pull one from a junk yard. If I can find one. Is it the same engine for every year? Or did they make any changes

 

There were 3 different engine designs, and they are not directly compatible, so getting the right engine is rather important. This link will jump to a post in the new owner's thread with the differences, how to tell what you have, and what engines came in what cars: https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-f...4/#post4533721

 

Also worth mentioning is that unless you compression test your junk-yard-acquired engine you might be heading down this engine replacement path again in the very near future (after all, cars don't get sent to the junk yard for no reason).

 

Well yea I'd be looking for one in an accident, more body damage than one that looks perfect sitting out in the sun. Also found a site carmonkey or carmonkeys, they have used engines with a 5 year warranty for 3k, thoughts or has anyone used em?

Thanks for the engine info, looks like I should have the 6 port series 1, I'll check in the am

 

Called a different dealership, and they quoted me a price of $3,300 plus 1,000 core.

Maybe the one I took it to included the core and just rounded it up to $4,500

Also asked them what the warranty would be if I just bought the engine and installed it myself, and they said its the same part warranty of 12 month 12,000 miles. If something were to go wrong they would need to diagnose to make sure i didn't eff something up on the install haha.

I looked at Mazmart and only saw a RE-MEDY A/T 04-05 engine and that was listed at $4,100. Am I missing something there?
(UPDATE) never mind I found the one for $3,225, anyone know off hand what if any the warranty is from them.

thanks again for all the help

 

The $1,000 core gets handed back to you if you return your old engine. If they are including the core charge then they need to give you back the old engine.

I do not know any specific details on Mazmart's engine warranty, though it would be simple to call them up and ask. A friendly helpful bunch.

 

Yea I was aware that the core would be given back to me, just saying maybe they included that in the price while he quickly paged through the work order. Still trying to get the engine rebuilt, rotaryresurrection is not taking them at the moment and neither is BHR.

anyone know any local mechanics to the poconos (18330) that could do it, or does anyone know if JPR rebuilds, I used to live down that way, and could make the trip if needed.

 

You would have to call them I think. There are very few 13B-MSP (RX-8's engine) rebuilders in the country with a good reputation. Most of the other rotary shops with a good reputation don't have any 13B-MSP experience, and the RX-7 engine experience doesn't carry over as much as you, or they, might think.

At 134k on the engine though, I would expect that a rebuild is going to cost you more than $3,000 though. At that mileage, I'd just be going for a replacement engine under the expectation of not being able to reuse anything anyway.

If you had an engine shipped in, I'm sure those of us that are local and active on the forum could pitch in and help you with the swap itself.

 

I think I can handle the swap, that should be like most other car repairs, pay attention as you take stuff apart so you know how to put it back. And I'll either have my dad, or my father in law for assistance.

Anything off the top of your head you can think of that I would need to go out and get a special tool for (ill take any reason for new tools haha)

You really think the engine components are gonna be toast even tho the only real symptom i have is hot start issues? The power still seems to be there when I'm pushing it to redline.

Hopefully last question, most of the core charges seem to be dependent on the core being re-usable, so would I be out the core refund from the dealer or mazmart. or does anyone have any experience with that.

I think where I get the engine from may depend on the shipping, if I get it though the dealer, and just have to pick it up from them as opposed to paying xxx to have it shipped to the house, I may go with the dealer instead of mazmart

 

If your engine still fires cold and runs fine in higher RPM, then it is still a "reusable core". The things that make in not reusable is things like housing warp from overheating, shattered seals that chew up the internals, etc... You just have low compression at the moment, likely from simple seal wear, and the internal components can probably be reused if Mazda reconditions the parts at a level that private rebuilders typically can't.

Most of this is based on Rotary Resurrection, Mazmart, and BHR's comments and discussions on the forums. After ~110k, they all seem to agree that not much is worth reusing from the customer's cost perspective, a replacement engine becomes a better financial choice.

 

And regarding hot start vs feels fine to redline...

The rotary builds compression the faster it spins. A rotary without seals at all can still run as long as the RPM is maintained high enough. All compression problems manifest symptoms down low before up high, and when hot before when cold (because the housing expand away from the rotors faster than the rotors expand, creating a bigger gap in sealing)

 

Hrm,

Theres a used one at a junkyard, from a car that got rearended. gonna call to get mileage etc etc

is there anyway to bench test that engine or anything I can do to see what could be wrong with it.

 

Its sad to think a motor with so few moving parts can cost so much. Wish the rotary caught on a bit more so that there would be a bit larger market.

 

Same thing just happened to me. My engine didn't die, but I was having starting issues. Seemed to run fine once it did get started. Mine had 183k on the engine, I bought it with 23k on it, so I'm fortunate to an extent that I got that much use out of it.

Pittsburgh dealer quoted me $3300 on the engine and about $900 on labor.

 

Still looking at getting the used engine. Maybe I'll get it swap it out and if it doesn't work have the original one rebuilt.

 

Thoughts on premixing to try to raise compression a bit to let it start hot? And if so what recommendation for ratio?

 

It is true that expertise in building rx7 engines does not automatically transfer to the MSP.

Having said that, JPR imports in southern Jersey would be a good option for you. Even thought most of what they do is rx7 stuff (especially 3rd gen), they have built rx8s as well. In fact, the owner used to drive a turbo charged rx8, so they have experience with rx8s. Last time I went there they were working on a few rx8 projects.