As I've never owned a rotary engine and the part of the UK I live in suffered with flash flooding this morning it made me wonder; How does the rotary engine (specifically the RENESIS) behave when driven through deep water (6 inches or more) where there's likely to be a lot of water psuhed into the engine compartment? Is it likely to be the same as any other petrol engine. I know the RENESIS is mounted pretty low down compared to piston engines, could this be a problem in these circumstances?

I'm slightly concerned about getting stuck in a big puddle with my RX8 (when it eventually arrives!)

 

Sounds like you should have purchased a boat.... j/king

 

the renesis, per se, would be about as sensitive to water entering the chamber as any other 10:1 compression motor. you can get a thing called hydrolock...which is really really bad. but in most cases, water really doesn't enter the combustion chambers and it should flow out of the same intake outlet that leaves fall out and other debris.

maybe you can get raising springs? :P or heck a 4wd kit ,)

the car is relatively low to most cars anyways, i would believe you'd have a harder time keeping water from flowing into the muffler before you'd have a problem with water in the intake...this is of course assuming the engine is on. if it isn't, well, uh, maybe build ramps and park it on your roof? j/k

 

I've driven my RX-7 in heavy rain before. Had to go through some good size puddles. No problems.
For your car to injest water, you'd have to go through like 3 ft of water.

 

Thanks for the responses guys!