Of interest possibly: My wife's '05 RX-8 (36,000 mi) was towed in to Mazda
for the fourth time in three years for a starting problem. Starter spins
engine like crazy, but no firing takes place. Engine finally "floods", or
battery dies. There is a secret warranty on this engine that extends the
warranty of the drive train to 80 or 90,000 mi. They have decided to replace
the engine with a reman. Svc mngr says that it is a seal problem, probably
due to the low mileage.


Herb Karkheck


You sometimes need to take what they say with a grain of salt.

I had heard a rumor about the early RX8's not having enough apex
seal oil and wearing out prematurely. Mazda changed the metered
amount around 2006 I think.

I add 1/2 oz of two cycle oil per gallon in my 2004 with only
30,000 miles and I have had no problems so far.

Within a week of getting it... it flooded to the point of not
starting. I think Mazda reprogrammed the computer to solve that
problem. It has not happened since.

I don't think the two problems are related.
At this point there is nothing you can do but it is rather
easy to check the apex seals with a compression checker.
If they put out three 80 psi pulses in a row the seals
are OK. Too bad you did not do that from our point of view
before your took it in to the dealer, Now we will never know
what the real problem was as I am sure they will also
reprogram the computer for the flooding problem.

In any event I would mix the 2 cycle oil with the fuel
to be certain the apex seals get enough oil. I have had
a couple of rotaries out of the six I have owned starting
in 1973 with over 300,000 miles on them.

If you change the oil, and keep the cooling system
in good shape they run for ever. I have run Mobil 1
for years and it is head and shoulders above mineral
oil. For some strange reason Mazda does not approve
despite the fact the huge Japanese oil company Idemitsu
sells synthetic rotary engine oil. Synthetic oil
lives at 500 F while mineral oil fails around 250F.
The apex seals run at 500F during full power.

There are some small nylon lines on the top of the
engine that feed the apex seals with oil. These tend to get
brittle and can crack after about ten years so those
should be replaced. The test is try to break them by
moving them around. If they break replace all of them.

Some engines are prematurely in junkyards because of
this problem.

Paul Lamar