I've been a member for about six months now and i've read alot of posts in that time. Over this time i've kind of got the sense that a turbo rotary is like a tcking time bomb. No real warning signs of a dying motor until one day pop! If a take a compression test of my motor and oil consumption seems normal. Along with little to no coolant consumption. How can i tell how long my motor has? Right now im working on getting my wastegate ported and im going to run about 8-10 psi max daily driving it. no beating of course.

mods:
3" turbo back
3" intake
stock tmic
tII fuel pump
tII drive line
TII cluster
5 lug 91 N/A Chassis

 

It will only blow if something is wrong with it.

 

it all depends on how you drive and how well you take care of it

any problems can always be fixed and when theres no problems its well... the reason you bought a 7

 

exactly

 

we'll seeing as when i swapped in the T2 motor i removed the rats nest and all that stuff so the car runs pretty good and it fairly easy to trouble shoot something when its wrong. I just hope it lasts.

 

Is it me? It must be me? *takes a deep breath* The worst thing that has ever happend to any of my rotaries was a broken oil cooler line, bad starter, and headlight wouldn't work. *knocks on wood* Aside from that I have never had anything else happen to my rotaries in the last 12 years. I mean I have had engine rebuilds but that's cuz I wanted bridge and street ports. Why do so many on this forum have a bad aura about the rotary? Do you guys beat the **** out of them that bad?

 

well i always read about people blowing the motors. Which kindof makes sense becouse who would post... Why is my car running so good? So thats why i think so many people including me have this bad picture of the wankle. Its good 2 hear some good stuff once and a while.

 

Hey it's totally understandable.. Besides they are at least 15 years old or better. So things are going to break, and regular maintainence is important, but I have a funny feeling that alot of the motor blowers are beating the pants out of em'. I didn't say everyone but many.

 

My sister's 143k S5 vert is all-original ('cept for the high-flow cat) and hasn't needed any maintenance besides a new fuel pump and the normal car maintenance everyone else has to deal with, whereas I can't even get my streetported TII to start...

I think the only thing anyone can recommend is, if you're going to modify it, do the right modifications, and do them in a safe, sensible manner... For instance, don't plan on having a running car for very long if you do a turbo upgrade and keep the stock ECU.

 

Yeah I plan on beating my car like a dead horse when she is back with the new motor and upgrades...

BUT... thats why I bought the damn thing... I wanna F'N DRIVE A CAR...

not just some pos that can't fishtail or do proper burn outs...

 

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Makes perfectly good sense. They are fun to drive. Some of us like to burn rubber and some don't. I personally like the looks I get from the wrx sti's when they gun it and I ride thier *** then easily go by them.

 

i'm surprised you dont have fuel mods yet.

with intake and full exhaust, you're probably hitting fuel cut and boost spiking at 10psi.. maybe 12 on a cold night.

 

It's the little things that people forget to check when they blow rotarys. Perfect example is the fuel injectors. So many people blow there engines due to faulty fuel delivery and don't even realize what actually was the exact cause.

Here's something for you guys to think about. Turbo charged rotarys have 2 stages of injection. Sure we all know that right? Now here's the thing people forget. It's the condition of the secondary fuel injectors. Under normal driving situations, only the primary injectors are pulsing where as the secondaries are coming online with rpm or engine load. Under these circumstances the secondary injectors tend to clog faster without you even knowing it. Hell cruising on the highway they usually never come on. With clogs come poor fuel spray and the possibility of the engine running slightly leaner than what it was tuned for. This can present a major problem with boosted engines tuned to the raged edge.

I see so many guys rebuilding their engines and tuning them to higher A/F ratios just to get every bit of hp out of their set-up. During the rebuild most don't ever get their injectors cleaned and flow tested (which IMHO is a must for every rebuild). Say Steve Kahn is tuning your modified set-up and every thing is running perfect. You have a smile on your face and putting down some good power. A/F ratios are in the 11-11.5 range for best power delivery. A few months down the road those injectors that you never got cleaned start spraying badly. Now your perfect tune has become a deadly tune. A/F ratios shoot into the 12+ range and higher. Sooner or later you finally blow the engine and that turns into Then you start to curse Steven and claim he did a shitty job and you want a warranty repair. Anyways you guys get the picture?

This is exactly why the factory tune is soo rich to allow for these situations and different octane levels. My Fd has over 100k and is still on the stock original engine which still runs perfect(even with 89 octane in the tank). A slightly clogged injector isn't going to hurt me much since I'm so rich to begin with. Plus I change my fuel filter every 12k or once a year (which is overkill).

Bottom line, if you want a reliable set-up, take good care of your fuel system and tune with some margin of safety. Oh yea, do what ever you can to keep out the carbon deposits. You would be suprised how much longer the rotary will last (boosted or NA).

 

I wouldn't be surprised if any other 12+ year old turbocharged sports cars, displayed similar rates of engine problems. Even just an intake and exhaust upgrade can lead to higher than stock boost levels, that will always leave an engine more vulnerable to engine wear/damage. Lets face it, it's a sports car, so they will more likely be driven a bit harder, pushed a bit more, and modded more. Something is bound to give eventually.

That said, I definitely see a lot of posts about people popping their TII's on here. Definitely a higher number than NA rotary complaints. I had an aunt who babied an FD for years, and it even developed some engine problems (coolant leaking). I saw that before I bought my TII, and went into it fully expecting a "ticking time bomb". You know what? I loved the thing, and when compression got low (granted, it didn't fully "blow", I didn't let it get that far), and I had to start saving for a rebuild, I didn't regret the purchase at all. When I get it running again, I expect I will love it even more.....sick thing, this rotary fixation is.

 

Thanx for the long replies. Also i forgot to mention. I have a jdm knight sport ecu for my fuel delivery mod. It's not a chip but an actual ecu tuned by knight sport.

 

Thats an excellent thing to have. I treated my 7 good while I had it, but there is no doubt in my mind that long term use of the FCD and full exhaust, contributed to the low compression state of the engine. If it is well tuned to support your mods, that is definitely a great thing.

 

The age isn't the problem. People here on this forum are blowing newly rebuilt engines all the time. It's the little things they forget to do.

 

you will see a lot more threads about blown engines because people vent about it, they won't be making threads about how well their car is running or how long.

 

This is true...

 

Not such a problem once you add a standalone ems system and a street tune.

 

why make a thread about how well my car is runinng??? thats just asking for a blown motor...everytime i brag...snap..somthin breaks...

 

You see statements like this lead people to think rotary engines are so fragile that even mentioning that your engine is running good will send it to rotary heaven.

 

you obviously never met the little red guy on my shoulder with the tail and pitch fork that gets me the minute i say somthing good about my car...when i do...POOF!!! somthin happens..i def. have no comlpaints on teh rotary motor...i have a decent running car and like it that way....

 

Ya i was just playin with ya. That must the same little red guy that tells me to romp on those rich little punks with their auto g35's. Lol

 

double post, clicked post, then stop on the browser, edited, then posted again