Ok guys,
Ive been looking for a 3rd gen RX-7 for a little while, but Im waiting for the right deal to come across... I live in Washington state, and there are a few... but I have some questions.... when do the turbos usually go bad? like milage wise... because there are some with 40-60k on them going for 15,000 at a dealership... some people tell me that means its time for new turbos... but I wanted to see here first... also there is one with 60k miles and says when the car starts up smoke comes out, but he says his mechanic says its oil from the turbos... is this correct? oil cooled turbos? Or could he just be pulling my chain? He says its going to need new turbos... so how much would this cost???? His price is 11,000 obo before replacing turbos.. is this a good deal? Thanks for any info that I get, it helps!!

 

The stock turbos are oil cooled.

Smoke at startup is normal.

Turbo seals are bad when you car smokes at mid to high revs, and you car is consuming large amounts of oil. Ask the seller about how much oil the car consumes in a week or month. If he says, "How do I find out?", then that car could be in serious trouble. At $11k, that car is not likely to be in very good shape (or it's an automatic).

 

i think turbos are less subjective to mileage of the car because depending on the way you drive you can drive without hardly ever using the turbo, especially the secondary.... if your car smokes white smoke at hard acceleration that's one sign that your turbos are about to kick the bucket

 

What if you get a puff of grey/black smoke under hard acccel??