Im looking to buy a 1994 Base Rx7 with 7700 miles on it. It has basically been on the show room floor of a dealership its entire life. Its get driven probably 3 to 4 times a year and sometimes more. It is in perfect shape and was just wondering if this car will be reliable and what kind of questions I need to ask the owner before puchasing. Any information would be appreciated.

thanks
Blaine Waddell

 

Sitting is actually much harder on cars than people think.

Brake lines, hoses, seals, tires, etc can all go bad just from aging. Little parts like that you might need to replace, but mechanically and aesthetically it should be pristine

 

he said they recently replaced the tires and clutch.

 

You treat it like any other RX7. Get a compression test done on it, check the alignment, suspension, imperfections on the paint, interior, etc...

Just because it has lower miles doesn't mean you don't do the same checks.

 

FDs weren't all that reliable brand new. I hope your looking to keep this car cherry. If you are going to make it a driver's car, do all the reliability mods along with AI. If you are going to keep it cherry, drive it at least once a month, make sure you hit operating temp and redline it when you drive. Make sure to use some 2-cycle oil when you fill up the tank. If you're looking for a reliable FD, looking for a super low mile example is not the correct way to go about it. Even if you buy a brand new FD, there is still some work you have to do to keep it running well.

 

Hi Blaine,
Low mileage FDs are the only ones I buy as daily drivers and have never EVER had any issues with the cars I've purchased for the last 10 years. All of them have had less than 40k miles and most less than 25k. Currently I'm driving one that had 9k when I bought it and 13k now. Runs perfectly with several autocrosses, my wifing driving it w/ all kinds of gusto on occasions etc.....

MANY people tracked these cars bone stock for years w/o issues when new. FDs are not the nightmare most people will have everyone believing. Sure you can have sequential boost problems but with new cars this is usually something simple to fix.

Things I'd do as time permits:
Change the fuel filter
new plugs and check the wires
add another oil cooler if it isn't an r1/r2
AND THAT's it

The stock AST is fine, I've seen aluminum ones fail as well, just keep an eye on it and when it starts fading to light green or at around 75k miles replace it.

BTW if you don't buy it PM me the info

 

as far as i know, a lot of old cars with such low mileages, that have been just sitting for that long period of time, have problems with coolant seals and if the coolant seal is bad, then you're just waiting for an engine rebuild.

Like Mahjik mentioned above, I'd go through all the tests.

 

What are your plans for the car?

Also, if this is any help: My daily driver is a 1997 Infiniti Q45 (Touring model, fully loaded). I acquired it two years ago 2007 with about 17,000 original miles on it. It was an elderly woman's daily driver, a garage Arizona car that was always maintained.

It's been reliable for me but it's not the same as a "new" car. Those are very well built vehicles, far better than the FD, but it still has a couple little squeaks and rattles. The fluids are all fine although I did a drain and refill on the ATF (didn't flush it). My garage space is for the 7 so I can't garage it, but I live in NC so snow isn't an issue. I wash and wax it regularly but I still notice new little paint chips. I've replaced the battery and tires, plus the alternator because it had a TSB for that model year.

If you are planning on keeping this FD stockish, I would change the coolant and eventually you will need to do downpipe (replace the failure prone precat with a catless pipe before the stock main cat) and AST (replace failure prone coolant tank with a metal one) then just drive it when it's nice out.

 

+1

 

Last week I had a 12,000 mile car delivered from a seller in Illinois. For a REALLY nice car, I'm finding a "REALLY" lot of things to fix on it!

Between 2 jobs and school part-time, it will be weeks before I'm comfortable taking it out on the road. .....it's killin' me!....

jerij

 

This is important. If you plan on heavy modding and driving it every day then a low miles FD might be a waste of money. The value will depreciate faster when the miles start to rack up and/or mods are done.

If you plan on just keep it cherry and as a garage queen then it is worth it.

 

interesting! rotary engines in general don't sit very well and given the current condition/situation of the fd I would get together with a good rotary mechanic and drain all the fluids and spend the next few weeks on bring her back to daily driving condition before any addition of mods.

Just get her back to zero and road worthy before anything. best of luck and what a find

 

Um, why am I the first one to ask for pics?

 

I just bought my third FD and it has a relatively low 38,000 miles on it. I had a full inspection done before purchasing which included a compression check by my local rotary guru. The low mileage issues for my car were a leaking oil pan seal (common issue from the factory) and loose vacuum hoses (Too flexible when new apparently).

Hope that helps

 

can you post pictures for all the forum crack ******

 

I think I saw this car on cars.com. It's going for a good price. It looks very nice in the pics.

I bought my FD with 6500 miles in 05. Did all of the maintance and everything was perfect.

I would ask for paperwork showing what was done to the car or ask Mazda to look it up. I would think coolant changes would be important. Along with the other basics like oil and plugs.

 

Is this the one at North Park Mazda, on San Pedro? I saw it the other day when I was getting an oil filter. I don't have as much experience as many of these guys but I do know it's important to start the engine every month or so to keep some oil on the apex seals and all the other seals for that matter. As everybody has said, it's not necessarily a good thing for a car to sit. Aircraft are a good example of machines that need to be used to maintain longevity and I think cars are the same in many respects. A compression test would be a good indication. I'm sure you'll want to test drive it. Either way there will probably be a few little issues regardless of how low the mileage. I wonder if the oil has been changed very often, or the coolant. Shouldn't these be swapped out a few times over the years?

 

Yeah, pics nao.

 

Make sure that your stock intake, which sucks(get it), doesn't have broken clips on the left side. They'll allow unfiltered air into the engine. Then your engine compression will slip away real quickly.