Llama

Hey guys, understanding that no engine lives forever, what would be the key things to do to keep an FD's rotary in good shape. I'm looking to have one as my daily driver so any tips? This would be starting from stock. (Yes, I've read up on the three "reliability" mods. )

Thanks, I'd love to hear from the real pros on this as it'll be my first rotary and I'm not sure what to really expect (or even if I SHOULD expect to use an FD as a daily driver.)

MrRx

iTrader: (1)

change the oil normaly at 3k, keep all the fulided toped off, never over head the car, never boost while the car is cold, Just commond sence stuff, The more you jack *** around with it the shorter its life will be, My father who only drove his Rx 50miles each way to work and back put 139K miles on the stock motor before it blew.....His rx was totally stock, with no "Reliabilty" mods

KaiFD3S

iTrader: (37)

just do the reliability mods and thats it, dont do any high performance mods or drive the car too hard and your car might last longer..

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Read this thread:

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/how-much-trouble-fds-359348/

diablone

iTrader: (2)

The environment in your avatar is a good reason not to use the RX-7 as a car to depend on. The Impreza makes a far better choice.

Larz

If you have it as a dailly driver, make sure work is close enough for you to walk in.

DaleClark

iTrader: (55)

My FD has been a super daily driver for the past few months. Some key things are -

- If something seems to be a problem (coolant leak, oil leak, etc.) get it fixed NOW and get it fixed RIGHT. I see a lot of people wondering how long they can go with this leaking or the other, or how they can fix it "really quick". Do the job right. Most problems can be conquered with a good weekend. Use the right parts - don't bitch and moan about the Mazda price, use a cheapo replacement or hacked part, then bitch when that fails.

- Keep it close to stock. The farther you get from stock, the less reliable it will be. There are exceptions, but the overwhelming majority bears this out. Asking for double the stock output will greatly accelerate wear and greatly enhance the chance of something failing.

The more I've read and the more I've thought about it, the more I think a lot of the problems and bad reliability rep the FD has are primarily due to poor mechanics, abuse, and neglect.

Now, for a daily driver in the snow, I can't help you there. I live in Florida and have yet to drive in the snow (I HATE cold, BTW ) so I can't comment on the use of the FD in the snow.

Dale

Llama

hehehe, thanks for the advice. Likely I'll get a beater for the terrible environment up here but at least I'd need to get to work in the FD in the summertime.

Thanks for the link to that other thread, too. Much appreciated. Looks like everyone's saying it's not a reliable DD. Well, gonna go take one for a spin tonight, anyway. Sometimes you just have to learn the hard way.

DaleClark

iTrader: (55)

Thing is, a good daily driver can typically be had for cheap. Of course, you can easily fall into the Daily Driver Trap - "Well, while that's out, I might as well bead-coat the super whamodyne to 9nm's and replace all the hardware with NASA grade 15 fasteners"....2 years later, the car's still on jackstands . Ask me how I know . That's why I have a plan to keep my FD a daily driver and keep the mods simple - I prefer driving a car to looking at it pretend to hover 2 feet in the air.

Anyhow, seriously, if you need a good, cheap *winter* driver, that shouldn't be very hard. Had a guy here buy a $1200 Toyota pickup while he rebuilt his motor, then when he got it back on the road he sold it for....$1200. Only out gas and oil changes on it.

Dale

Dale

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

The reliability mods, plus maintenance. Never wait for a maintenance item to fail, do it 1) if you don't know when it was last done, or 2) if it's due.=

Things that have a maintenance life:
- fuel filter
- oil/oil filter
- coolant hoses
- coolant replacement
- tranny oil
- differential oil
- spark plugs
- spark plug wires
- alignment
- brake pads, brake bleeding
- accessory belts

Things that ought to last but don't:
- vacuum hoses
- FPD
- injector cleaning / new o-rings and seals
- engine grounds

Things that need inspected and replaced as symptoms arise:
- engine mounts
- differential mounts
- suspension bushings
- pre-cat (if not a downpipe), catalytic converter
- shifter washers and bushings
- transmission bearings (if it gets noisy, find the problem before it eats the shafts)
- turbo control system solenoids, chambers, and check valves

Dave

dgeesaman

iTrader: (7)

With your immune system down, you're also prone to infections like "well I really should install an xxx, so if I wait till my next paycheck I can get that too"

Dave

JConn2299

This was an FD, right? I'm just curious, how did the engine finally go? Coolant seal? Apex seal? Something else?

cover8

You either can afford an FD or you cant....if you are "waiting for the next paycheck" to change the oil YOU CANT AFFORD IT!

This means that the FD is a no-compromise sports hard meant to be driven hard...the fact the motor is a grenade is part of the package...i.e. after 40k miles on a reman, you are on borrowed time (for most cases)

This forum is plagued with those who falsely ASSume just because they can afford to purchase an FD they can afford to operate an FD.

MrRx

iTrader: (1)

This was about 2 years ago, one of the apex's blew in the front rotor, which also took out the primary turbo.

fun stuff, So far he's put about 70k more on his current engine, Still runs with the best of the, I drove it yesterday (mines still broken)

JConn2299

OK, thanks. I'm always curious about how well maintained stock engines go. Modded ones you can often see how they're pushing the envelope. But there's no reason well kept relatively stock engines shouldn't go significantly over 100k.

And your Dad, he never even replaced the stock AST? And it didn't leak? And what about the pre-cat? Was that still on the car? If he still had both those items, then that tells us something about how far they can be pushed too.

MrRx

iTrader: (1)

haha, Well no he still has the stock AST, never leaked either, the stock radatior died just recently, with 213k miles on it. the motor was all stock untill it blew, now he has a downpipe on it, but thats it.

We still have the pre-cat in storage, it was in pretty bad shape.