Hey everyone!

I'm not new to cars, but I have never owned one with a rotory engine in it. I just sold my current DD and am forced to drive my weekend car (c6 corvette) until I find a replacement, and the RX8 is on my list.

Don't worry I have been doing a lot of reading up on them, ever sense they first came out, so I know of the ups and downs.

I'm currently looking at a 2004 RX8 with a 6sp manual, it has the body package and is grey. The car has 125k miles on her. The only thing wrong with her is the radio stopped working and so did the drivers heated seat. The price we agreed upon is 5500 dollars cash.

So when I go look at her what should I be on the look out for? Any sounds or noises that should worry me?

Does anyone know what the highest mileage RX8 is (that is known on the forum) without having a rebuild.

 

Also, is there anything I need to do or check on the car?

Compression on the rotors?

 

With 125k miles I would doubt its on the original engine. Make sure to have a compression test done and search the forum for the thread called "New and potential owners start here". That will give you all the info you need.

 

Awesome man! Looking it up right now.

 

I think the sound or noise you should look out for is the sound coming from under the hood... a bad or worn out motor mounts. You will notice a shaking or vibrating feeling and that means a worn out motor mounts.

 

Definitely get a compression check done before you buy it. If you want to test and see if the engine is really bad right now for free just start the car and drive until its warmed up and then stop and turn it off. Try and start it right away and see if it struggles or if it even can start, if there are problems there you know its pretty low compression without having to do the real test.

 

I don't agree, as a low compression engine can still turn on just fine and can drive fine as well. Hard starts when the engine is warm can be caused by a falling ignition system or starter, not necessarily because of low compression... To be on the safe side get a compression test either way so you can know how healthy the engine is.

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Like I said he should definitely get the compression test if he plans on buying it.

If he goes there and it wont start when its warm then its obvious that either the current owner does not take care of it or they are trying to sell the car with a low compression engine. It is not a car he should look into buying if either one is the case. This way he saves money and does not have to pay for the dealer test because if the current owner cares so little about it and the maintenance then its not worth purchasing.

If it was having trouble starting when warm because of having the original starter then wouldn't that indicate lower compression as well? If you got an upgraded starter that spins the engine faster then it is like giving a crutch to a dying engine isn't it? Unless the starter was actually going out and spinning at a very low rpm but in that case it would probably have issues starting at any time. Either way it is all just speculation until he checks it out.

 

Thank you so much for the info guys!

I have a compression tester so I would like to pull the spark plug and test the engine my self. What is a good PSI for a strong rotor housing? 180psi+

I will def drive the car a lot before I buy. I found out today that the guy bought the car with 113k miles on it and says it has never had a different engine put in, IDK how he would know unless he has looked up the vin at the dealer. He says his daughter drives it now and she wants a truck. Also said it doesn't use oil....... so IDK if he really knows what he is talking about.

He sent me some more pictures of the car and it looks to be in good shape. The interior was nice, the car looked clean, and the paint shined. It had a few dents but that was it.

 

You need a special rotary compression tester to get an accurate reading. It is possible to get a ballpark figure with a piston compression tester but without knowing what RPM the numbers were made at the numbers really mean nothing. If you want to know if it is healthy you or the guy will have to pay the dealer to do a real test with the proper equipment. Each rotor will give you 3 compression numbers, 1 for each face of the rotor. If the dealer does the test then they should give you a paper with 6 compression numbers and 2 rpm's on it. The reading *should* be normalized down or up to whatever it would be at 250 rpm on the sheet but if not there are tools online to do this.

It is possible that it does not use oil. She may baby it and never check the oil between changes or the OMP could be clogged a bit and it could actually not be using very much oil. If she babies the car and does not drive it hard it would use much less oil than driving it like she should be.

 

That car would scare me. Clueless owner having her dad sell it. Likely run out of oil, or didn't use enough oil to begin with. Both are bad news. Or he is lying, which is worse.

See my sig for the new owner's thread. Compression test details there.

 

Yea I'm having second thoughts about it as well. If I go look at the car it won't be till this week end so I have time to decide.

 

Just bought a new rx8 with 197k on it!!! I know it sounds crazy but the car has good compression and runs like a dream and got it for close to nothing! Anyone have any tips on what could possibly go wrong or if the car is at risk of anything?

 

RX8Help.com will have most of your new owner answers. Welcome aboard