Engine and APEX seals question
 

Ok, say you blow your engine. Why do you have to rebuild it? Why cant you just replace the Apex Seals? Instead of replacing everything, why not just a little peice? Thanks

You do understand that you need to dissassemble the engine to replace just and apex seal right? So once you break it all apart you need to replace all those gaskets such as the water o ring etc. Usualy what happens when you pull it appart it ends up needing a bunch more stuff. And most people spend the thousand dollars on a rebuild kit that comes with everything. However in a case such as an engine that was rebuilt for say, less than a year or something and you blow an apex then you need to buy or find a seal to replace it then go and buy a "water and oil o ring set" these cost about $130. Plus you always need to replace the oil control o ring's no mater what. these run about $100 and that is all that is realy required as long as everything else is in reasonable shape. The reason why shops don't recomend this is because they have to warranty them adn they want to sell the extra parts. Hope this helps.

CJG

Bah! Don't need 'em unless it was smoking when it came apart. If it wasn't, re-use the suckers!

Only problem with waiting until the engine blows before you rebuild it is that it takes out "hard parts" like housings and rotors sometimes/usually... makes more sense just to "freshen up" the engine regularly. Think of it this way... you have an old piston engine, and you know you beat on it and rev the snot out of it a lot. Do you replace the con rod bearings and bolts now, or wait for one to blow and put a hole in the side of the block? (The correct answer is C: Avoid the whole problem and get a rotary instead) The tricky part is knowing when to freshen up the engine... my engine didn't give me a 2 week notice, more of a 5 minute warning :( Now I have at the minimum a destroyed rotor housing, probable destroyed side housing(s) (the engine smokes like a mosquito fogger now), probable destroyed rotor.

Oh well, like they say... to cook a potato in a microwave, put one in for 20 minutes and wait for it to explode. Next time cook it one minute less than that!

I am talking about the rubber o rings. just wanted to get that streight. Also once the engine is run for any leangth of time then the orings become somewhat molded and they are like oval shaped. Also when you tear the engine down they usual break or they have shrunk. thats WHy I say to alwyas replace them. I hate burning oil. I do re use the side seals and hard seals and all that stuff if they look good. Peace.

CJG

I don't even bother pulling 'em off the rotors... besides at something like $100 for all eight O-rings that's quite a chunk of change for what you get. Gasket set costs only $90...