How long is the Renesis engine sopposed to last? Some guy told me today it's a bitch to fix if it breakes down because of multiple seals, and the need to repair them.

Seems cool to me any wisdom you can pass on

Matt

 

If maintained properly it should last as long if not longer than the average piston engine. But it's still too early to tell. Remember the RX8 and Renesis are only 3 years old.

 

It's cheaper than a piston engine. Look at all those moving parts on something that was invented over 100 years ago.
!

 

The Renesis is based on the 13 series rotary which has been around since the 70's. Properly maintained natually aspirated rotaries that came in the 1st and 2nd generation RX-7s would run over 200K no problem. So I'd expect the Renesis to do as well or better.

Given that it only has three moving parts, if one of them breaks you need to tear down the engine. In most cases it's a rotor seal which would be the equal to a piston ring. I've had 5 RX's and have never had a blown engine.

Here's a cool site for everything that is rotary http://www.monito.com/wankel/

 

Further, "some guy" is nuts. The rotary is much easier to work on than any piston engine I've seen. Granted, if you wreak the rotor housing surface you have to buy a new rotor housing, but they are not -that- expensive. Ditto for the rotors. There are lots of people who rebuild their own engines. You can get rebuilts for as little as $2500, not renesis yet, but soon I'm sure. It's a "simple" engine, if you pay attention to the tolerences.

They do seem to last a long time in normally aspirated form. I too expect the renesis to last - it benefits from a lot of experience.

Some will state there have been a "lot" of failures. I don't think they are correct. There have been some, due to bearing failure, I think. There may be a few other causes as well. Nothing to be worried about. You get a good warrenty, and considering the abuse the engine takes from racer wanabees, it seems to me it's quite reliable.

 

RX-8 friend, that FD in your avatar is sweet. One day I'll have a pristine R1 or R2.