The Ultimate Beginner's Guide to the Mazda RX8

Sorry kid but the absolute worst advice you could give to any future rotary owner is to tell them to warm up their engine before driving by idling. That is a recipe for excessive carbon build-up. What you want is to heat up the combustion chamber as fast as possible. This is the only way to fully burn the mixture after a cold start. You have to understand that the enlongated combustion chamber takes a very long time to heat up. Plus you have a 9lb hunk of cast iron called a rotor in each housing that also takes a VERY long time to heat up. When these engines are cold, the engine needs more fuel to operate. When the ecu injects more fuel to start the engine, this excessive fuel will coat the rotor face and wont fully burn off. This is what causes the plugs to foul sooner than later because the wet apex seals are sweaping past the plug holes and contaminating the plugs. Ever notice how these engines seem to have a slight misfire during cold idle? Wet plugs are that reason. That wet contamination is what causes the notorious engine flooding from turning off a rotary engine with too cold of a combustion chamber shorty after a cold start. Flooding has nothing to do with water temps. Also, the state of tune will also be rich which dumps more fuel during warmup. This excessive fuel will start to create carbon deposits because the heavy rotor takes to long to heat up when its turning slowly at idle. Ideally what you wanna do is this. Start engine, wait for oil pressure to register then, slowly raise rpm to 2,500-3,000 rpm for about 10-15 seconds. This won't damage the bearings trust me. This will more quickly burn off the excessive fuel dumped in from the cold start and cleans the spark plugs because they are now being forced to rapid fire and generate more heat quickly. Now GO DRIVE THE CAR. There's no need to let it sit there and idle. Driving the car puts more load on the engine and makes it heat ip much faster. I've owned and rebuilt engines from all generations of rx7's (including the 20b in my fd) since 1991 so I have an extensive history with these engines.

”Hey you know how the rotary engine works? Well let me tell you anyways”- Every rotary owner ever

I used to hate the rx8 and thought it was ugly. It’s amazing how much can change if you just give something a chance. Now that I look at it, it’s one of the best looking cars ever made

One think you did not mention is that these engines need to see red line a few times during every trip. That helps with apex seal life by preventing carbon buildup on the apex seals which makes them rigid instead of a small measure of pliability. Also a good idea to let the engine idle for 20-30 seconds before shutoff.

2:23 - "German engine in a Japanese car." Here is the point where you can make a WWII reference, and then cap that off by explaining WHERE it is built.

I got my RX8 at 95k miles, he had just rebuilt the engine fully and finished the soft break in period :) The car is wonderful! Can’t wait to make it track ready!

7 years, 180.763 miles, not a single problem ! I bougt my R3 in 2011 new, i drive it like i stole it XD And never had an issue, i keep the oil on good level, regular spark plugs change, oil change every 5 or 6000 miles, never premixed my car, and she stil runing like when it was new, the same compression, she's helthy i must say . If you do it right it will last, but if you are careless it will blow :D

Forgot one tip (unless I didn't hear it). Change spark plugs once a year. Whether u need to or not, the ignition part of the RX-8 is of utmost importance.

The single best suggestion for these cars is to make sure it has the newest starter motor, 2kW motor with 14 tooth gear. This is stock on newer models. The older years have slower starters which don't start as reliably on with engines. This is the single biggest issue with these cars and why they have bad reputations on starting, flooding, etc. Second, Mazda has long been putting in 20 weight oil in these cars. I don't know why they chose this, but fundamentally you want the thicker oil for heat handling and sheer resistance, both good for rotaries. Most aftermarket builders suggest 40 weight or higher. These thicker oils offer more protection and wear resistance. If you live in cold climates, you do have 0w40 (numerous brands) and 0w50 (Eneos) available for good cold temp viscosity. If you want to run a 60 weight oil, you need to go to 10w60. There is no 5w60 or 0w60 for cold weather. The oil change intervals don't need to be as short as the video suggests. Plus you don't need to watch the oil levels. The cars has a low level light that comes on at -1 qt. While on most cars, the oil light means low pressure. On the RX8, the oil light is simply low level. It has a separate pressure gauge. Mazda already assumes consumers will be lazy, so the light there is for the lazy folks. You will add 1 qt every 1000 miles. That's just standard use by the spray injectors for lubrication. My only other suggestion is to watch spark. The coils go out every 30k miles, and it's just a good time to plan to put in new plugs and cold every 2 years. The single biggest failure mode for these engines is a plugged cat that heats up the exhaust side and overheats the seal springs. Once you heat up a spring too much, it stops being a spring (the metal loses its springiness and softens). Your seal stops sealing well, and the engine runs crappy with compression loss. Things can go worse from here. Make sure ignition is always in good shape. If the car seems to behave poorly one day, pop off the left front tire and take a look at spark. Check all 4 plugs for spark and general wear. If one lacks spark, replace the coil. Replace plugs of they look worn. It's nice to just do everything together just so longevity of consistent for all.

This dude answered all of my questions about rx8 in just 10 mins meanwhile everyone alse i asked around didnt know crap lol

Great guide! The Rx8 is such a symbolic car, that knowing these things is almost a must :)

Ah the rx8, the displacement of a i4,the power of a v6 and the gas consumption of a big v8

Always enjoy your videos man..this is my sec 8 the first one was a S1 and I ended up getting rear ended. But it was a blessing in disguise. My insurance company ended up paying me more for the car then I originally paid for it so I ended up with a 2009 R3. First modes on mine were mid pipe by bhr and coil pack by bhr and a rebuild by Atkins rotary just cause I had time to let my 8 sit for a few weeks. You could feel the power difference after the rebuild

Just bought a 2003 rx8 6speed with a sunroof 😎 100k miles but was rebuilt in 2017 and done 1500miles since 🙌🏻 prayers to keep it on the road 🙌🏻

Had one of these and loved it. Nice job, and good info.

A ton of worthy and valuable background info on this awesome car. Thanks for putting this cool video together guys!

Thanks for the video. I had two FC's and have been wanting another rotary. Good stuff man

Just bought an RX8 this weekend and this guy's video really help! Thanks man, I'm looking forward to owning this car for years haha

Love your channel man. Really great stuff keep it up!

Thanks guy for this amazing video. Ii felt a little lost before waatch this video, but your information makes me clarify my vision about this car.