1988 Mazda RX7 review from North America

For $1800CDN I bought the car knowing it had been stolen, severely joy-ridden, then recovered. It was a beautiful car - but it needed work.

I replaced some glass, the clutch, brakes, exhaust, tires and some paint. It's pretty hot looking unit especially with the tinted back glass. The interior is like brand new.

I drove the car for a year problem free aside from electrical bugs such as failing intermittent wipers, a fasten seat belt logicon that comes on at random and aninterior light that only works half of the time.

The head lamp failed for the brake lights and the dash lights. Parts and labor weren't cheap.

All the work was a good investment perhaps until recently. It developed a severe oil leak and the radiator cracked at the same time. Here's the diagnosis from a Mazda service department:

Severe oil leak from front cover seals - additional leak from side seals, oil metering pump & lines, eccentric shaft o-ring, oil filter housing o-rings, oil pan/coolant leak from radiator.

For the love of Pete! Has this engine been programmed to self destruct all at once?

I was blown away by the performance of this car in its prime. I once drove it from San Francisco to Vancouver in 13 hours reaching speeds I've never achieved in a car before - never coming close to red-lining. However, it would have been cheaper to fly with all the speeding tickets I got.

Since the recent set of problems it's lost a great deal of compression and I'm embarrassed to take it anywhere with this lousy mother of an oil leak.

One Mazda servicer recommends an engine rebuild at approximately $3000. Another dealer quotes it at $4000.

I haven't decided what to do. I'm tempted to get some CRC block sealer and have my (certified) mechanic buddy seal the mother up for good at $30/hour and see what happens since it seems to be on the way out anyways.

I've never heard of an engine falling apart all at once like mine. The rotary engine was a dream before this happened.