Blown engine question...
 

When i mention to various motorsports shops that i just got a FD they look at me with the "ticking timebomb" expression and begin telling me how its gonna blow and etc..... and its starting to piss me off :wallbash: . Even though they are 1,000's of FD owners in America alone that have not had any blown engines with their FD. Some people have said that they have seen their rotary engine go as high 75,000. So what i want to know is how many of "US" have had their FD engine blow on them and what was the actual reason? My reasoning in this is to do some research and share knowledge with others via your answers on keeping the FD from blowing. I mean they cant be that bad if they were manufactured from 1993 to 2002. thanks

I blew my motor on the stock engine with 65k, I believe that if I had'nt gone single I would have lasted up too 100k.

i've done 10k miles on a new rebuilt street ported motor and its still going strong. I guess it depends who owns the car. If your a young guy redlining every second obviously its gonna blow earlier. If your a casual driving that just has some fun which with these cars you have to then they will last that much longer. Also, a mechanic who knows wtf he is doing as well as regular maintenance helps tons.

thewird

I've seen them last 150,000 miles although most don't. It depends on how the car was driven, boosted and taken care of.

I've been reading the engine blow stories for some time now and I have yet to see a stock or lightly modified seven running stock boost blow up for no reason.

It's not a glass engine it just doesn't respond well to heat and lean conditions as well as a similar (displacement) piston engine might.

Wanted to add one more thing, by scheduled maintenance, I mean take it to the mechanic while the car is still in working order, not after "wtf, it won't start" :P.

thewird

If its not backfiring, its a sign its running lean folks!

Of course likewise, if your car is doing this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqHEJoADZPU , its running a little too rich there.

thewird

everybody who owns these cars pops an engine.....mine blew with 60,000kms and was from over boosting on a hot day with the shitty stock intercooler.......that thing is a detonator of your so called "time bomb"...call it a newbie learning experience.....get the reliablity mods done....they will save u......get a wideband o2 and a boost gauge aswell......dont drive the shit out of it with old fuel or on a hot day and watch your gauges.....they will save u........then u can rebuild it when the motor gets old and worn and is not producing the compression that u need it 2 before it tosses a seal.......they can last a long time if u know what u are doin with them........i believe that most guys do take an engine out from lack of experience in the beginning... chalk it up as a lessoned learned and an excuse to get the ports opened up

Aquamist.

I have had FDs in the shop with over 120K still running on the original engine, I have also had them come in with for rebuild with as little as 30K. I blew my engine at the track, the cause was the fuel pulsation damper blew out starving the front rotor. That is when I came up with the FPD removal how to....

so far it seems like the reasons/situations given werent just do to the engine blowing for blowing sakesm but things like going from stock to single, shitty FMIC, redlining (youngsters), overboosting, etc.... I know that i have just had my engine reliability mods done and plan on keeping it stock. i just had an ast put on, new plugs/wires, coolant flush, hks filters replaced, oil change, boost/water/oil pressure gauges installed, greddy fmic kit, all belts changed, a new fuel filter and a downpipe. my mechanic has had two FD's so he is very knowledgeable. do we have any more reasons out there?

Mine is at about 30k still going very strong. I'm young and my FD is a daily... i'm certainly not the type to redline every second but it does depend on the driver, how its driven... how its maintained etc...

It's pretty simple really----don't detonate, and don't overheat. Aquamist/Coolingmist water injection is the best thing you can do to give yourself a safety net against detonation.

Many motors seam to lose a coolant seal at around 50k. Rich and his father both had this happen without ever overheating the car. My thermostat stuck at just short of 50k and the car overheated before I could pull off the road. Coolant seal went a few hundred miles later. Failure from other reasons such as detonation can generally be avoided with proper setup and tuning, quality gas, water injection, etc. I think oil dilution is a big problem in these cars and depends how tight the motor was clearanced. That would account for why some motors that were similarly treated and modded have such different amounts of wear. These motors are just more fragile than their piston counterparts.

"If its not backfiring, its a sign its running lean folks!"

I hope you were just joking.

IMO, the two most common reasons for blowing an engine are:
1. Original engine with no reliability mods done.
2. Performance mods done without good knowledge, detonation = blown engine.

Did you upgrade from the stock radiator yet?If not,you want to add that to the list..

Mine old vr went 147k in all stock trim. She still ran great, just decided to rebuild it before it let a seal go. Its all about how hard you drive it, how much boost your run, and maintaince. These arent hondas, you have to do routein maintaince to keep em running, but if you do they should have very few problems.

IMO, early coolant seal failure w/o an overheat incident could often be due to corrosion in the seals' contact areas. Frequent coolant changes *may* help prevent this. Of course, having the cooling fans not come on until 221F (stock thermoswitch temperature, IIRC) is little help in keeping the seals from taking a set and failing, especially with regular use in hot climates/stop & go traffic, where the coolant tends to run hot most often.

Dave