MariesRX8

So how exactly was my Mazda replacement engine created?

Does the reman facility get all the failed engines, tear them apart, save the parts that meet tolerances... then cobble them together with other "good" parts to make a new engine?

Do they resurface or treat the reused parts in any way?

Are the side seals new or reused ones?

Is it really safe to mix parts together which haven't worn in together? I mean like take a 80,000 miles rotor from one engine, and stick it in the 70,000 mile housing from another engine?

Just trying to get a feel for how durable my replacement engine is. It's still running great at 10,000 miles, but I keep picturing and worrying at how Frankenstein'd together it apparently is, lol.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Search. Specifically for post by user "Sleepy-z". It's been discussed at length already.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Hunt through this guy's threads: https://www.rx8club.com/search.php?searchid=10534885 (sleepy-z if the search results are his thread list). He works/worked at the reman plant, and was providing info until his managers told him to shut up.

In general, seals are always new, other parts are only new if they don't have any acceptable used ones in stock. Remans could be 100% used other than the seals, cobbled together from various engines. It's also why the expected life of a reman is 10,000 to 100,000 miles


The remans have the same failure points, but anything involving seal wear is usually worse than a factory engine. But you can kill a factory engine faster than a reman if you overheat it or any of the other options.

MariesRX8

Ah OK, thanks, my bad. I'm pretty good with The Search, but I only remembered reading about how the early remans weren't very good, how they started a new plant or something, etc.

I shall read the links. Thanks

MariesRX8

Like... wow. This Sleepy-z guy is a *fantastic* read! All the stuff we speculate about, and he has like these facts and experience things and all, lol. Apologies again for not searching and finding him, but I'm so glad you guys pointed him out to me.

And after reading about him and his coworkers, I deeply apologize for calling my reman engine "frankenstein'd." Sure, the parts come from all over, but it's nice to see the pride and care that go into making it all work. His posts should be required reading, not just for replacement engine people, but anyone interested in S1 reliability and what typically goes wrong.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Yeah he gave us some good info. Remans are basically hit or miss. My first one lasted 75k and the last one had every reliability mod you could have plus meticulous maintenance and only lasted 30k. Pineapple told (and showed, see my thread) me the housing were really bad and were likely out of spec when the reman was put together. In spec is a fine line, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Clearances are very important in building these things.

MariesRX8

I probably asked you this before, but since I'm on a redundancy roll I'll risk it anyway lol...

How'd your replacements fail? Explode one day, or the usual harder and harder hot starting, weaker acceleration, etc.?

Any early signs that the second one wasn't going to last?

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

My first reman (my original engine died at 22k, loss of compression) was a solid motor and lasted 74k or so, well maintained, Castrol GTX 10W-30, and then all of the sudden she just started stalling occasionally. The power still felt decent but a compression test was done and she failed.

I got my second reman at almost 96,000 miles. It was never a great engine, I had a few issues with it getting heat soaked a few times and it would just run like crap occasionally. But from the start it was premixed, ran the SOHN, no cat, BHR ignition, mazmart mods, etc. so I did expect it to last a long time.

Well at around 25k I noticed some power loss, random misfires at high RPM, rough idle when cold, getting pulled on during a third gear pull with a basically stock RX-8, and I just could not figure it out because everything was checked and even some things were replaced that were just fine. But in the end a routine oil analysis confirmed slight traces of coolant in the oil so I knew it was about done.

It never actually blew, I just pulled it and sent it to Pineapple as a core and had them rebuild me a ported 2008 motor. When they got the core back they pulled it part and sent me pictures and explained why it failed. Basically the housings were done and it had a damaged coolant seal which explains the issues I had with it. According to Rob @ Pineapple the were pretty bad and likely below spec when Mazda reused them. The only good news was that carbon build up was minimal (maybe due to steam cleaning from coolant) and my bearings and just about everything else looked pretty good so I am sold on the SOHD and the use of Mobil1 0W-40.

Emery_

iTrader: (8)

9krpm, thanks for sharing info about your personal experiences with the reman. engines. I too will be getting a reman. engine from mazda soon, and I have been very curious on exactly is typically NEW and what is USED that they put in these engines. I read several of those threads posted by sleep-z and they were very useful.

Now I don't mean to threadjack, but I'm just curious about what break in procedures you used for these reman. engines?

I've been searching, and it seems like people are torn between driving the engine hard during break in or babying it. After reading this post from rotary god and several others. I really don't know what I should choose to do, but I am leaning towards rotary gods recommended break in procedure.

https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...18&postcount=2

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

On my remans I used the Racing beat engine break in procedure. On this one I followed Pineapple Racings' recommendations since they built it and warrantied it.

But, I am beginning to think that after you do a couple of oil changes, driving it like you usually do is fine.