1988 Mazda RX7 from North America - Comments

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.

You can get a rebuilt engine from Atkins rotary and a few other places for less than $2000. Good stuff.

Michael.

Mate you could by an entirely new engine and spend a great deal of money on it for the prices you have been quoted (that is the case in Australia anyway) try and source an engine from Japan. Great prices for insanely fast engines!!!

I was curious as to how many miles the car had on it when the engine decided to go. I am wanting to get an rx-7 very badly, but am very hesitant because of all the "horror stories" of the engines going out at 100,000 miles. My email address is live2rule@yahoo.com.

Your engine could fail suddenly at any point from about 100K miles, on up. Some have been known to last well over 200K, but it all depends on how well the car was maintained. Some of the minor oil leaks, such as the oil filter base o-rings are simple jobs. Others require removal of the air intake system, which can be done in 1/2 hour once you have done it a couple times. Any motor that has over 10 years of service on it will most likely need all new vacuum hoses installed, due to the high heat that rotaries produce. If you have coolant leaks on the block itself, its pretty much over, and any treatment will be a stopgap measure at best. These cars require more monitoring than your average car, but the actual maintenance involved is pretty simple. If the rest of the car is nice, it's worth it to get a fresh rebuilt engine put in. Then it's a pretty good bet you will have a reliable car for a number of years.

The RX 7 that I own surprisingly lasted to 233,000 miles and then it just died, all the ape seals are gone, oil leaks, radiator leaks every thing seamed to happen at the same time.

I bought an rx7 for 160$ and has 110,000 miles. itll run for few miles before overheating. clutch makes noise when pedals up, overheats probably cause radiator and oil leak is drops, and dash lights just don't work. any suggestions as to initiate this rx7 to become more reliable. I have so far done many maintenance except for ign. wires. whats left in particular? is my expensive radiator and hoses hopefully finish my job to keep my coolant cool? any advice to a new mazda owner? thanks.

Hi, I own an original{series 1} rx7, it's a great car I noticed you guys having hassels about the engine overheating, my car has a high volume oil cooler underneath the radiator and it never overheats, the highest it ever gets is less than half on the gauge,and that's when the guys at the drive through are taking to long!!

I've had my mazda rx7 nonturbo for over 200k and it still rides like new. Its had its share of Joyrides too. I don't know what you've been doing to yours.

Hey all- Just wanted to add I purchashed a 88 turbo2 for 400.00 2 years ago and love it greatly, Been on several trips and yes had my share of stupid problems, but what a car even with 210,000 miles original driveline anyone who needs any advise or help feel free to email at itruck69@earthlink.com I have mastered several fixes and know most trix and how tos. Scott.

Well I got my RX-7 free off one of my teachers and its in real good shape 240,000kms and the apex seals are gone it was running real rough and just died my thoughts are that one rotor had died sooner than the other now when I try to start her she just spins like a drill no compression. My buddy has the same problem and he changed the apex seals and it ran beautifully so I'm going to try that, but 400$ and if that's not all that's a lot of cash for me.

I had an '85 Rx7 making me the 3 or 4th owner for $500.00, with over 160,000 miles on the engine and one minor problem (replacing a coolant hose). Other than that the car was a dream until I spun out and hit a guardrail at 80mph. I walked away, but the body's shot and suspension was $700 (minimal) to replace... if I had the money to completely restore it I would have. I'm looking for another one as we speak..."comment" rather.