bstdh23

ive had a fd for 4 months and already had to rebuild.Im curious of who has had the best luck out there and how long your motors have lasted post mileage and mods thanks

moconnor

iTrader: (14)

It is hard to answer your specific question, but what is really reliable is that at least once a week someone wanders on to this board and asks 'How reliable are rotarys'.

alphaxxn

Reliability is a relative term.

A stock car with just reliability mods (exhaust/ast/radiator/intercooler) that is driven responsibily *can* last for 100k

As mod's go up, reliability goes down it seems.

birdy01

i'm not sure but i think its just on luck. i've had my car now for almost 2 yrs, DD and i've had no problems. i push it hard everyday and so far have put over 20k and boost is fine. i have a buddy who bought his car 3 months b4 me and blew his motor last yr already.

Blizare

depends who you buy it from i think :P

On my eagle talon i rolled 196K miles then rebuilt.

the fd whould never last that long.

bstdh23

to narrow it down lets say an fd with bpu's maybe even a a single turbo fd (street car) or daily driver.not a race car not an idiot that never drives out of boost,just your normal average fd owner.im just curious of how long their able to last if built right

scotty305

iTrader: (2)

Mine's at 64k, no problems. I've heard of at least a couple that made it to 150k. Proper car and maintenance is the key, especially not beating on the car before it's warmed up.

-s-

fd3s_rx7

iTrader: (13)

just don't boost if you want it to last long.

joeyz87

I got mine with 88k drove it 4k miles and I'm pretty sure it needs new motor. Wont know for sure till tomarow. Once i get new motor i'm only driving fd at night when it's cool and theres no traffic, no more pizza delivery, and no more overweight females in my ride. I think there pretty reliable for a turbo with 9 to 1 compression ratio. I think it's the 91 octane gas that killed my motor.

HP TriFactor

maybe I missed something... 91 octane killed your car? Or was it the driver, or the cooling system?

SpeedKing

iTrader: (4)

Neither pizza delivery, nor fat chicks, nor 91 octane gasoline did your engine in. Sell the FD after you get it fixed - you're an idiot.

adamtassell

I live in australia, down here 98 octane is readily available and I wouldnt run my wrx or an fd on anything else. I reckon with a jap turbo car fuel quality is important as they are designed with jap quality fuel in mind, which i believe starts at 98 octane. This will be even truer if vehicle in question was modified. I don't think that 91 octane is really used here, i think it is more 93, 95 or 98 octane.

Sweet7

FDs are plently reliable when built correctly, tuned correctly, driven intelligently, and maintained properly. Real simple

jeffrored92

Hey mate, the US uses different rating system to us. Don't quote me on this but I think in Australia we use RON while in the US they use the average of RON and MON. Since RON > MON the US values are lower for the same quality fuel and I think our 98 is equivalent to their 93.

In West Aust, typical pump gas is RON 91 which is roughly equiv to 87 octane in the US. Premium is RON 95 which is equiv to 91 octane, while BP ultimate is RON 98 which is equiv to 93 octane in the US.

I've had my FD for almost a year. It's been very reliable (only issues on the road have been a cracked radiator drain plug and a split clutch line) but has cost me a fair packet in maintenance (LIM gasket had to be replaced).

Crispy Beef

Yup, you're right, had this discussion the other day, here's an interesting link I was given that explains it nicely:

Octane Ratings

The UK - aswell as Japan and Australia - use the RON number as the rating at the pumps.

tsmysak1

SEcond that. Educate yourself and don't slack on the maintenance. Keep good records and it will serve you well for a fast car.

Treat her like a queen, she'll treat you like a king. Treat her like a dog, she'll treat you like a dog trainer.......er....something like that.

adamtassell

So now i know, very interesting.

What year is your FD?? Was it an import (I'll be able to tell by the year I guess)

punkrawker

i have 2 fb's and 1 fd. my fd has very low miles...33,568 exact. and my first fb i got when i was 16. then it had 70,000 on the motor (NO REBUILD) and finally i had to rebuild it @ 240,000 no probs, besides starter, alt., etc. now i am restoring that one. and my daily driver (fb) currently has 157,000 on the orig. motor. and FB's were suppose to be the unreliable ones!!!! I drive all of them HARD!!! every time I drive them! IT really depends on how you take car of your Rotary!
Drive them Hard as hell, but frequent maint. is KEY. especially the OIL. i change mine every 1000 miles maybe a little much for some. But never have i heard of a FB going 240,000 hard driven miles on the orig. motor!!! It pays to pamper!!!!

bstdh23

my fd is an 93 blk base,might be a dumb question but for those new owners out there as well as me what are some key maintenace issues the need to addressed for any fd owner? besides a better radiator

jeffrored92

It's a 1992, Australian Delivered.

There is stacks of info on good maintenance around, have a bit of a search and see what you come up with.

BobfisH

Not read this thread, but the simple answer is....not as reliable as most piston engined cars. Whoever says otherwise is talking ****. You can run a piston engined car with no coolant, low oil etc and minor damage occurs, do the same with a rotary and boom.

Take care of your rotary and it WILL take care of you. Neglect it, itll BITE YOU IN THE ***, HARD.

You also have to remember that some of these cars are getting on for 13 years old now. Stuff NEEDS replacing. You have a blocked injector after 70k miles? (which is plausible) boom. simple as.

an RX7 is NOT a turn the key and go car. It is a car that needs to be cared for as much as it is driven.

t-von

iTrader: (8)

You want reliability use distilled water (not tap) in your cooling system, keep the internal seals free from carbon sticking, and cool the car down before you shut it down from a hard drive(this does not mean letting the car idle after a drive that's the worse thing you can do). Those small things plus routine maintenance will add a **** load more miles to any rotary turbo or NA.

t-von

iTrader: (8)

I disagree with this. A personal experience 10years ago proved differently. I lost my radiator in my 81 GSL 12A on the highway coming home from school(engine had 150k). I stupidly drove the car at highway speeds 7 miles to town with the temp gauge pegged on "H". I got to the service station and put in water and drove the car another 5 miles all the way to the house. I had the radiator repaired and the car drove fine then it started leaking again within a week. Engine still ran with needle pegged on "H". Finally after a week my mom tried to drive the car and the engine locked down during start-up. I think the only reason my engine lasted so long was because of the large capacity stock 1st gen front mount oil cooler.

A few years later my sister lost the radiator in her 92 Mercury Sable on the highway. That engine only lasted about 3 miles. The car was smoking bad. This engine would barely turn over. My rotary never smoked like that and it was abused far worse. Her engine only had 120k.

BobfisH

well topping up an overheated engine on ANY car with cold coolant is a BAD IDEA! This could have contributed to your problem.

Yes i agree that piston engines are not bullet proof and i over exaggerated, but you have to admit, rotaries are a lot more finnicky and prone to **** up quicker than piston engines if not kept in tip top shape. I drove my old piston engine car home once 10 miles when my fuel injectors failed purely by turning on my wet nitrous kit and turning the n2o tap off (so the kit only injected fuel) I drove the car a further 50k after fixing injectors without issue then scrapped it.

Can you even IMAGINE doing that on a rotary?!

t-von

iTrader: (8)

Could have but the engine still ran long enough to get me to the service station. That's my whole point. This is also one of the main reasons rotarys are really good as an alternate airplane engines. If you loose all the coolant the engine will continue to run. They do get damaged but they will still run. Rotarys don't seize up due to coolant lose like a piston engine will.