The mechanic knows NOTHING about these cars obliviously. I'd reccomend NEVER taking an rx-7 to him to work on.

The NA RX-7's (non-turbo) are nothing like a turbo motor. I have had my NA RX-7 since it had 60,000 miles on the odo and I have 168,000 miles on it now and the motor has NEVER given me trouble. I've had a few other niggles, cats plugged, some electrical problems, but nothing that would stop me from buying another RX-7. I drive my car hard too--frequent running past the redline. I do my own maintainance and give it plenty of love.

Only thing that is really important with rotary motors is to keep the full of oil, they use some oil, so you need to check it at every gas fillup. Also NEVER overheat it either.

The more I think about this mechanic telling you these lies I just get pissed off. What an ***.

 

Sounds like your mechanic knows next to nothing about rotaries... most mechanics love it when their customers buy unreliable cars. If you do buy an RX7, I'd recomend going somewhere else... I'm not saying he's a bad mechanic, but you want someone who knows what he's doing when working on rotaries, not learning along the way.

No, you can treat a rotary the same way you would treat a normal engine. Its ALWAYS a good idea to wait a bit before driving off, rotary or not. In general, if you do your oil changes when youre supposed to and take care of your car, your RX7 will last as long (and maybe outlast) a piston engine. The only time you really have to pay attention to the differences between rotors and pistons is when modifying them.

 

Lol Jeff! Sound like we're coming from the same place!

 

I know that you have to let it warm up COMPLETELY before driving around but I have never heard of letting it cool down. Boy I hope that's not true because I've never done it.

I use my 7 for day to day stuff and it is kind of a bitch to let it warm up all the time, especially when I'm in a hurry or something, but better that than the alternative. And the perforance makes it worth it for me, at least. I guess it's a trade off in a way, if you want a 7, you let it warm up. If you want to leave right now, get a piston car.

Best of luck with the car, have fun.

 

I've never heard of letting rotaries warm-up COMPLETELY before driving off and I've been working on these for awhile. Sounds to me like this would cause more harm than good. When starting a cold engine, after a minute or so, the oil has had a chance to circulate and the best thing for it is to be driven at low engine speeds (3000-4000 rpm) until it's thoroughly warmed-up. Thats my opinion anyways.

 

i dont let it warm up too much before i drive it
i just dont drive my car hard until its at normal running temp.
also u should only need to let your car warm up once or so in a day because it takes a long time for the engine too cool in this summer weather.
just look at the temp gauge and see if it right on cold or not

 

That mechanic is smoking crack. I had an 88 non turbo for almost a year. I would barely let it warm up and never let it cool down. It never gave me any trouble. Now I have an 87 tII and let it warm up a little more, but I have to let the turbo cool off after hard runs.


Keith

had 85 GSL, 88 SE

have 87 TII

Mods: Bonez intake, downpipe, and cat

 

The reason you let a turbo cool down is because if you don't, the oil will "coke" in the lines and plug them up.
NA's, you don't have to cool down. I would let it get to operating temp. before I rev it up past 3k.

 

I agree with what RXcetera said and that is pretty much my warm up routine.

 

I think his mechanic (obviously a no ROTOR person) means that when not letting the car reach its warm level then turning it off that the car would flood. This is a common problem to 87TIIs especially if the engine is getting old. My car was constantly flooding when i bought it. It pissed me off so i installed a fuel pump switch.

 

Here's my $.02... On my turbo 2, even when I haven't been beating on it, if the weather is warm I sit and give it a good cool down. A couple times when I didn't, and I shut it down with the thermostat reading 190ish, if I shut it down and came back like a minute or two later, the temp had shot up to a bit over 200, because it was no longer getting circulation but the insides of the motor were still hot. A couple times on real hot days it got even higher... I figure letting the motor sit there and stew in its own juices probably isn't the best thing for it....

 

The point of the cool down isn't for the motor it is for the bearings in the turbo.

Not flaming just saying..so no one get pissed.

it has been said before but i think what RXcetera said about the warm up procedure is the way to go..i dont think i would say 4000 rpm though i think i wouldn't go higher than 3000 rpm.
later

 

like a turbo.... getting boost for the very first time....


i would agree with everyone else. baby it below 3k before its warm, beat on it when its nice and toasty.

scott

 

Well damn. All that wasted time.

Whenever I do not let my car (88 n/a) warm up before driving the temp likes to creep up a bit high even with easy driving. On the stock gauge it goes to about 2/3. This scares me. That's why I let my car warm up first. Any one know what might cause this?

 

yes, I know the cool-down is for the turbo. If you haven't been into the boost for the last several minutes of driving though, it's not so important. A cool down for the motor is a good idea though, because when you shut it down the internal parts are still damned hot and now they aren't getting freshly chilled coolant anymore. Can't be good for the orings.

Redwood, it sounds like your thermostat might be getting old and crappy, my eclipse used to do something similar and replacing the thermostat fixed it.

 

Sweet, I just ordered one a few days ago. Maybe flushing my system will help (I hope).