This forum has helped me take my car from the its original state of overheating and half-boosting to a cool and smooth running beast. I've taken her from 76k to almost 80k in the year I've had her, with everything holding strong - my dad says compression levels are tip-top, even at these stages of the original engine. Now, even though I got the car for a steal - $7.5k - the only way my dad (the co-buyer + mechanic) would help me get my dream car is as an investment. That means money in < money out in the end when I eventually part with the car (for a the next gen 7?!). Reading daily posts about 'blown' engines is scaring the crap out of me, because I live 400 miles away from my dads shop, and can't afford shelling out ~2.5k for parts and labor over here at my local rotary shop. The car feels great - when driving it I can't imagine why or how the engine condition would rapidly decline at this point, since I commonly hear that 80k is the life expectancy of the original engine (stock). I'm also a bit confused about the term 'blown' - is that used for apex seal failure only? I guess what I'm looking for with this post is some responses to what I can expect from a stock 7 that has the basic reliability mods and nothing more, and currently holds solid numbers, and what indications of an approaching death might be.

 

if in stock form and all maintenance is performed correctly you should be good for a while.

i have heard some on there with 125,000 plus, not many because most everyone wants to upgrade and things go down hill fast once you start.

 

if you treat her right.. she will treat you right... they only last as long as you keep up them... from what you are saying, your motor sounds like it is in great shape...

 

I have owned my 93 for only just over a year now, but I do know that owning a 7 will hardly be an investment, at least in a monetary sense that is. They can, and eventually will, require quite a bit of TLC. Sorry to disappoint there. But for the investment in the spirit of a driver, that's something these cars can be. As you said, you've seen a lot of horror stories already, but they will be quick to tell you it's worth it to them for the ability to own and drive such a machine. Lots of cars are unique in their own ways, but rotaries are a breed of their own. Nothing else sounds like them, and nothing else drives like them. That's where the investment is. As long as you know what problems to keep an eye out for to hopefully prevent a major malfunction or make the current problem even worse, you should be ok. 'Blown' doesn't always mean apex seal failure. Just like with piston engines, blown is more of a general term. It just means you're looking at a rebuild, or replacement. Apex seal failures are usually the culprit though, which does mean a teardown and rebuild. I'm not an expert on rotaries, I'm just relaying what I've learned on here myself.

 

Has anyone actually measured a stock FD vs stock FD with reliability mods to see which engine last longer?

What I'm getting at is whether or not keeping it completely stock in fact equates to your engine lasting longer.

 

An engine can last 10 miles or it can last 100k miles. Its all about how it was built, maintained, tuned, care for etc etc.

FD's that are modified tend to end early due to alot of things. You change air/fuel mixture, people run higher boost due to spikes from free flowing mods. Lack of general maintenance, spark plugs, fuel filter, plugs, o2 sensor etc etc.

IT can all lead to early disaster.

 

kevin from rotary resurrection wrote a great posting about what blows FD engines and the short of it is heat. Heat is the main factor with rotary durability.