Hey everyone been quite a while since I frequented these boards, hoping someone can be of assistance.

I have a 3rd gen RX-7 which has been unused and garaged for about 5 years. Prior to parking it, the car was overheating and at the time I was troubleshooting the issue myself but never found the root cause.

I am looking for a rotary mechanic in the Sacramento area whom I can tow the vehicle to and have them bring it back to life for me.

My old mechanic closed up shop around the same time as it was parked and this car has always been serviced by Rotary specialty mechanics since my paranoia of ruining my engine is high.

Also a side note, can anyone tell me how the 3rd gens are fairing for sale atm. Are they moving at all due to the economy? Are they more or less sought after than they were 5-6 years ago?

Thanks as always.

 

There's basically ZERO technician in Sacramento. There's this one guy, name Scott, used to work for Checkpoint. Last I heard of him was 4-5 years ago where he worked for a Mazda junk yard in Sunrise area. I think some Russian purchased the yard and unk where he went. There is also Ben, who runs Rotary Evolution in Marysville, CA. 45 mins or so away, but he recently just move to Las Vegas. So sorry for the bad news.

-when was the rebuilt on the motor? or has it ever been rebuilt before?

How long did you have your car running (in overheating) before shutting it off? Could be a coolant seal issue... You will need to do a coolant pressure test just to make sure.

Good Luck.!

 

Not good news! Shortly after I posted this thread I found a thread about the last mechanic (specialist) that worked on my car. The last place I took my vehicle was to Wolf USA and it was worked on by Chris Green. I found a thread about him ripping customers off and taking parts out of their cars. This may have been my situation because my overheating issue started occurring very shortly after picking the car up from him. So who knows what is really going on with it or if those claims we valid to begin with.

This vehicle is on its second engine which has under 60k on it. I have always been very paranoid with overheating so whenever I see it spike (have digital temp gauge), I stop the engine. I am also reluctant to troubleshoot any further and risk my engine.

Do you feel I am taking a risk taking this to a normal non-rotary mechanic since this is only a overheating issue? Or do the same risks apply that I envision, a non-rotary mechanic ruining my engine?

Thanks for the feedback!

 

IMO I will never bring the car to any tech here in Sac. Check the sticky thread for a list of shop in the bay.

 

I think there are probly quite a few techs that could fix an overheating problem, since that is not necessarily Rotary specific. Like radiator, cooling fan, thermostat, coolant leaks, etc. I think with some decent searching you could probably narrow it down yourself.

If you have coolant seals that are leaking though, that would be more rotary specific but also easy enough to identify yourself. Just do a little searching before you tow it any where. You just might save yourself some serious money.

FD's are still selling although car sales in general are still slow and prices are down.

 

Check with apex944 and see whats up he might be able to help you out he is in elk grove but he should be able to help you out

 

Ben @ Rotary Evolution was the only person I trusted with my car while in the Sac area. Hell, I'd tow it to LV just for Ben to work if I still lived in Cali. Suggest you scour the forums for feedback on Bay area shops. I don't like talking ill about folks but Chris fell back into bad habits and it cost him. He is/was smart as hell tho'. He diagnosed my overheating issue over the phone and was dead on.

My car ran fine with a/c on but would overheat otherwise. Found out the fan relay(s) failed and only operated with a/c. The overheating damaged one of the inner coolant seals. I was sucking coolant into the motor but no damage to rotor housing/surface because the car never sat. My fix was routing the fan controls thru the PFC I purchased during rebuild/upgrade.

Best o' luck

Evan

 

Just sent you a PM boatdrnx

 

Agree with ricerj try josh (apex944)

 

Haha and josh chimes in on this

 

Thank you all for your suggestions!

Looking forward to bringing my beauty back to life. I have a feeling that once I do, I won't want to sell it anymore.

I was thinking the same thing about the overheating issue as I hoped that since it was the cooling system, a specialist isn't quite as important.

 

hey josh, I read that ur the go-to rotary technician in sacramento. I have a rx8 that I wanna get checked out

 

Were you ever able to find a rotary mechanic to work on your fd or get it running? I'm in a similar boat right now and looking for someone who is knowledgeable with these cars. In roseville btw!

 

No sir, if you find anyone let me know got this rx8 sitting in the driveway.

 

Mike Haag runs Haag performance he built my engine for my fc you can contact him (I used fb to contact him) and see whats up. Im not gonna sit here and speak for the guy on what he is going to take on all I can say is he is a solid guy

 

I did reach out to him but he only built motors unfortunately and does not work on fd’s :/

 

Not a rotary shop but you could try overkill performance (I know the guy who runs it) he is a knowledgeable guy and see if he is willing to take on your vehicle