I was quoted $125 for a compression check by the local Mazda shop, Mazdonly. Is that reasonable, or is it too expensive. It seems high to me, but I am new to rotaries.

They quoted $66 for the pre-purchase inspection which seemed quite reasonable.

Thanks for the help.

 

ah.. you can get your own compression checker for like 30 bux..

But there is special equipment that mazda sells designed specifically for checking rotary compression, I think it gives a bit more info than your standard one.. So if they are using that to check it then i suppose 125 is justifyable...

 

Never having asked what a comp. test would cost, I don't know if that's high or not... But it certainly seems so!

What strikes me as odd, though, is that if it were me, a pre-sale inspection would include a comp test...

 

One would think so...

I keep getting spooked at the possible cost of this car. It desperately needs a paint job, and if I add that to the cost of the car I could get something substantially newer that I know how to work on myself...

 

ah, if you never own a rotray then you will never know, the Rx-7 car is somthing you have to own, you can't just read about these cars and know the joy of owning one.


-why not do the "pft" test? that way you know if it has compression or not, but i'm with wae on this one, shouldn't a c-test be included in a pre-sale inspection?

 

the rotary compression tester measures individual compression cycles to evaluate all the apex seals. where as a normal compression tester measures the highest compression through several rotations. if you have one bad apex seal, then you would get compression on only one cycle and no compression on the other two, but the guage would read good compression.

you can test this way by haveing a friend crank the car while you hold the button on the compression checker and watch the needle pop up with each cycle. this won't really help to check actual compression but will certainly indicate whether or not an apex seal is bad.

 

Thanks for the info. The engine was said to be rebuilt nearly 30K ago by the gentleman selling it. I think it would behoove me to have professionals evaluate it before I buy a car so I can use public transportation...

Atlanta denizens: know anywhere besides Mazdonly to have it done? I guess I should post that in the regional foru.

 

$125 is a ripoff.

I recalled $40 the last time I called up a local rotary shop who had those special rotary compression testers. Pretty reasonable. Doesn't take long to do either.

 

I've paid about $80 but it's well worth the cost.

 

So the current consensus is that that is too much. I will look for other shops then.

 

i got mine tested at hayes rotary for $50.

 

do you think they are charging just a labor rate??

 

if it were labor only, it should only cost like $30 max. it's a real quick job.

 

I paid $120 for a compression check, and all around vehicle condition check. $125 might be a little steep for only a compression check.

 

i was thinking that they are charging 60 an hour for labor and are trying to scam him out of some cash. i still think it is a bit steep.

 

Who charges $40?

 

Rick's or something Mazda with it in the name. One of the two. There was a list of other bay area rotary shops I dug up in a thread and I called each one until one guy said $40. This was a year ago when I was about to buy my '88 SE but I never got the comp test done.

 

Ehron, you might call your local Mazda dealership, to have it done on their rotary compression tester.

I had a compression check done recently at University Mazda, which is regarded as the best Mazda dealership in the Seattle area. They are not cheap, but not exotic-car expensive either. I assume a good reputable Atlanta dealership is about the same deal. It cost about $75 including tax, and I received a print-out with all six readings: 3 pulses from both chambers. My readings were all 7.0 - 7.9, which they said is excellent, with anything over 6.0 being good.

I don't know what a good "psi" reading is..

 

Ehron
im on the south side of atl. and i do lots of rotor work...and have a mazda tester. I charge 75 on a normal day but things have been slow so i would do it for 50.