the rotary truths and myths
"rotary engines last forever" - old guy
"rotary engines always blow really fast" - young guy
Rotary engines are vulnerable to catastrophic failure but they experience very low wear. Overheats and detonation are death to seals, while oil starvation from a sudden large catastrophic oil leak is death to everything. The older cars especially had less heat to worry about, better cooling systems and no turbo. The newer ones have barely adequete cooling systems and the turbos can detonate if something fails in the turbo system. Basic scheduled maintenance of the cooling system and turbo is all you need even on the newer cars, but a lot of owners neglect those. Pop quiz! How often should you change your coolant? Thermostat? Hoses? Prevention of catastrophic oil leaks, especially at the drain plug (falling off b/c it wasn't tightened) and oil cooler lines (blowing off from age or poor quality aftermarket), is also a good idea.
Without the catastrophic failures, the engines often go past 300k miles with no sign of stopping. With them, you could blow as early as 30k, but typically it catches up to owners between 125k and 175k depending on model. More possible things can go wrong on a turbo. In racing, especially endurance races, rotary engines outlast piston engines by a large factor.
"rotary engines always blow really fast" - young guy
Rotary engines are vulnerable to catastrophic failure but they experience very low wear. Overheats and detonation are death to seals, while oil starvation from a sudden large catastrophic oil leak is death to everything. The older cars especially had less heat to worry about, better cooling systems and no turbo. The newer ones have barely adequete cooling systems and the turbos can detonate if something fails in the turbo system. Basic scheduled maintenance of the cooling system and turbo is all you need even on the newer cars, but a lot of owners neglect those. Pop quiz! How often should you change your coolant? Thermostat? Hoses? Prevention of catastrophic oil leaks, especially at the drain plug (falling off b/c it wasn't tightened) and oil cooler lines (blowing off from age or poor quality aftermarket), is also a good idea.
Without the catastrophic failures, the engines often go past 300k miles with no sign of stopping. With them, you could blow as early as 30k, but typically it catches up to owners between 125k and 175k depending on model. More possible things can go wrong on a turbo. In racing, especially endurance races, rotary engines outlast piston engines by a large factor.
Last edited by ericgrau; Aug 12, 2008 at 10:42 AM.
"rotary engines last forever" - old guy
"rotary engines always blow really fast" - young guy
Rotary engines are vulnerable to catastrophic failure but they experience very low wear. Overheats and detonation are death to seals, while oil starvation from a sudden large catastrophic oil leak is death to everything. The older cars especially had less heat to worry about, better cooling systems and no turbo. The newer ones have barely adequete cooling systems and the turbos can detonate if something fails in the turbo system. Basic scheduled maintenance of the cooling system and turbo is all you need even on the newer cars, but a lot of owners neglect those. Pop quiz! How often should you change your coolant? Thermostat? Hoses? Prevention of catastrophic oil leaks, especially at the drain plug (falling off b/c it wasn't tightened) and oil cooler lines (blowing off from age or poor quality aftermarket), is also a good idea.
Without the catastrophic failures, the engines often go past 300k miles with no sign of stopping. With them, you could blow as early as 30k, but typically it catches up to owners between 125k and 175k depending on model. More possible things can go wrong on a turbo. In racing, especially endurance races, rotary engines outlast piston engines by a large factor.
"rotary engines always blow really fast" - young guy
Rotary engines are vulnerable to catastrophic failure but they experience very low wear. Overheats and detonation are death to seals, while oil starvation from a sudden large catastrophic oil leak is death to everything. The older cars especially had less heat to worry about, better cooling systems and no turbo. The newer ones have barely adequete cooling systems and the turbos can detonate if something fails in the turbo system. Basic scheduled maintenance of the cooling system and turbo is all you need even on the newer cars, but a lot of owners neglect those. Pop quiz! How often should you change your coolant? Thermostat? Hoses? Prevention of catastrophic oil leaks, especially at the drain plug (falling off b/c it wasn't tightened) and oil cooler lines (blowing off from age or poor quality aftermarket), is also a good idea.
Without the catastrophic failures, the engines often go past 300k miles with no sign of stopping. With them, you could blow as early as 30k, but typically it catches up to owners between 125k and 175k depending on model. More possible things can go wrong on a turbo. In racing, especially endurance races, rotary engines outlast piston engines by a large factor.
If rotaries didnt have to worry about changing AF ratios, they would last a lot lot longer.
I could see a rotary engine being useful as a generator. even a turbo rotary as long as the PSI were to remain constant.
this is also why rotarys are good in airplanes. once they reach cruising altitude, just set it and forget. Its one of the incredibly few benefits the rotary has over the piston engine. Would I fly in a rotary powered airplane you ask? F*ck No! I'd take my chances with a bottle of sleeping pills and a bottle of rum before i stepped on a rotor powered airplane.
-Steve
I could see a rotary engine being useful as a generator. even a turbo rotary as long as the PSI were to remain constant.
this is also why rotarys are good in airplanes. once they reach cruising altitude, just set it and forget. Its one of the incredibly few benefits the rotary has over the piston engine. Would I fly in a rotary powered airplane you ask? F*ck No! I'd take my chances with a bottle of sleeping pills and a bottle of rum before i stepped on a rotor powered airplane.
-Steve
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 8,999
Likes: 1
From: South Bay, CA
If rotaries didnt have to worry about changing AF ratios, they would last a lot lot longer.
I could see a rotary engine being useful as a generator. even a turbo rotary as long as the PSI were to remain constant.
this is also why rotarys are good in airplanes. once they reach cruising altitude, just set it and forget. Its one of the incredibly few benefits the rotary has over the piston engine. Would I fly in a rotary powered airplane you ask? F*ck No! I'd take my chances with a bottle of sleeping pills and a bottle of rum before i stepped on a rotor powered airplane.
-Steve
I could see a rotary engine being useful as a generator. even a turbo rotary as long as the PSI were to remain constant.
this is also why rotarys are good in airplanes. once they reach cruising altitude, just set it and forget. Its one of the incredibly few benefits the rotary has over the piston engine. Would I fly in a rotary powered airplane you ask? F*ck No! I'd take my chances with a bottle of sleeping pills and a bottle of rum before i stepped on a rotor powered airplane.
-Steve
Thread Starter
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 8,999
Likes: 1
From: South Bay, CA
