Why do RX-7 FC have some many mechanical problems? from Apex seal to engine flood, and cooling problems?

 

its at least a 15 year old car now... its going to have problems if not kept up properly....

 

Buy a 15 year old car with 1000 parts and fix ONE at a time = somethings always in need of repair. If you put off repairs, the queue of things that need fixin' gets huge. I can name a dozen parts i'd like to fix in my FC as of right NOW.

Plus, the FC was a cheap performance car to begin with, this isint a Ferrari. (Although some people tell me they break even more? )

 

First: You very rarely see threads saying "My car works fine, no problems, I'm happy." They show up on occasion, but if you read ANY automotive forum, you'll think the cars are junk, because people post when they have problems. I fall into the "It's working fine" category. I start new threads on occasion, but generally I don't post with problems, because things are working.

Second: The car is as old as some people on the forum. They generally have not been previously owned by rotorheads, just random people. I know for a fact the first 2 owners and at least 100k miles on my car were via female owners. My 6th ports were totally seized up, and the carbon buildup inside the engine when I tore it down was impressive. Not exactly the best thing for a rotary - no high RPM work at all for a long time.

Find any car that's been neglected from the late 80s. It'll need work. My Subaru needs work on a semi-regular basis, but it's a great car. The '7 has had a good deal of work, still needs more, but is a great car. However, RX-7s are, as a rule, less tolerant about neglect than some other cars. Take a late 80s Toyota, change the oil every 15k miles, overheat it a few times, beat on it, and it'll still run, though not very well. Do that to a '7, it will chew up an engine in short order. Does that mean it's worse? No, it just means it doesn't tolerate neglect as well as some other cars.

-=Russ=-

 

That's the story of my RX-7, except 3 female owners and another 30k miles, and I haven't torn down my engine yet.

-Twofer

 

The "problems" that you stated in your post aren't exactly problems...

 

If you just go by the posts then you'll think the car is junk, just like syonyk said. It's like when my dad was telling me that all rx7s were problem cars and that he's never seen an rx7 that ran correctly. My retort was, "Of course all the RX-7's you've seen have problems. Your a mechanic! Why would someone bring you a car that is working fine!?".

 

My 87 base, one owner with 75k, when I bought it 4+ years ago, has been a vey reliable car. The only failure I have had is the door handle broke last week.

Any other problems I have had with the car are due to me. Had to replace the clutch, after I took it to the track. It has been running hot this summer, because I put an e-fan on it that doesn't pull enough air. The ride isn't as 'nice' because I put lowering springs on it and I have to wait for it to warm up, because I did the tb mod (won't do that on an na again!) If I had left the car stock it would be better than it is now.

Granted, the po took very care of the car, but it is still 19 years old now. I would drive it across the country, tomorrow, as soon as I put the stock shroud and fan back, that is how much faith I have in the car with 103k on it.

 

Absolutely. Me too - I'd take it anywhere in the US in it's current state. I should replace one of the front wheel bearings at some point here, but it's not that bad yet, and it's just fine rolling along normally. I'd take my car out to the mountains if I had an opportunity to, and time off work, and a reason to be out there.

-=Russ=-

 

Apex seals take a very long time to actually wear out. Most of the time they break due to detonation caused by poor modifications that allow the engine to run lean. Try the same trick in a piston engine and you'll get melted pistons and cracked ring lands.

Flooding is caused by old injectors that are dirty(easily fixed) or an old engine that has low compression.

What cooling problems? Rotaries are no more likely to have cooling problems than piston engines. Overheating is usually caused by old components wearing out (just like any other car) or modifications that take power past what the cooling system can handle (again just like any other car).

You need to stop listening to whoever's feeding you all this BS.

 

w0w thanks that really clear it up for me

 

FC's wernt cheap performance cars, they are very realiable if taken care of properly. I know a guy 210,000 on an original 13b that runs excellent and fires on the first crank every time, no flooding problems

You wann know a cheap car, any car that has the name F O R D on it. lol

 

I would consider the 7 to be a " high maintenance" car. Becuase if you run the wrong **** and dont take care of it, things will go wrong. Also, you can never be sure how the previous owner took care of it. The same can be said for any car, its just more apparant with rx7's. People think they are doing a good thing by babying the car, but the truth is that you need to wind it up at least once a day to keep the 6pi working properly and not seized up like syonyk said. I had one guy tell me that he ran straight coolant in his 1st gen and thought he was doing something good. People are ignorant, and rotaries are much less tolerant of ignorance in comparison to piston engines.

 

ya these motors are just like a engine in any sports car. they need regular matinance and a good bit of spirited driving on occasion. say if you were to get a bmw 5 series and only change the oil every 8k miles and never flush the rad for a few years or never do rutine matinance to it. it will die a mizerable death. any sports car be it an rx-7 or a bmw or a lambo or vette anything. they have to be treated right. and occasionaly driven the **** out of