The Mazda RX8 is one of few modern Japanese RWD sports car on the market. It is also the only one available with the rotary engine. Unfortunately for many, reliability and engine problems have tarnished the name of what is a genuinely great drivers car.

Common issues are hard to start when hot, burnt out or faulty ignition coils, fouled spark plugs, low compression engine, slow starter motor speed, check engine lights CEL, as well as others.

So lets cover off some of these, and possible solutions :

Hard to start when hot / slow starter motor speed-

This is primarily caused from low compression.  For an engine to start and run it needs 4 things.  Fuel, Air, Spark and compression.  An imbalance in any of these, and your engine will either not run well, or not at all.  The lack of compression is what causes the RX8 renesis 13B engine to be difficult to start when hot.  The only true permanent fix here is a full engine rebuild.  If however you have an early model (s1) RX8, there may be a cheaper and temporary fix.  As compression is directly related to engine speed, the faster you can spin the engine during cranking, the more compression it will have.  Early model RX8’s had a very weak 1.4kw starter motor.  If this is upgraded to a later model one (direct fit for all manual models across the year range), you will find the engine will speed a lot faster at start up, and could be all you need to get you back on the road while you save for an engine rebuild at a later date.  We generally keep good quality used 2kw starter motors in stock.

Burnt out coil packs :

If you find your engine is not running well, is misfiring or is hard to start, you may have a dead coil pack.  This is easily checked by removing the coil packs and inspecting the rear epoxy filled section.  If they look like the image below, they are gone and need replacing.  

Low engine compression :

Unfortunately, this is an all too familiar case with these cars.  Engines as low as 100,000 km’s are commonly past their use by date and will require a full rebuild.  It is also not a cheap exercise.  In almost every case, you will need to replace the rotor housings which, depending on the exchange rate, are easily $1500+ each.  Times that by 2 before you’ve even opened up the engine, and you can see how this can be a costly, yet necessary exercise.  We can give full up front estimates on engine rebuilds, however, these are only estimates, and until an engine is completely apart, we cannot give a final quote, as unexpected damage can lurk beneath the surface.

We offer many service parts for these engines, as well as a much more affordable quality NGK spark plug option to that of the factory irridium RE7CL RE9BT and BR9EIX options

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