Well, I will be puting my heavily modded 2001 VW GTI 1.8T for sale soon in hopes of picking up a 93-95 RX-7. 300 whp and front wheel drive just don't jive!



What I am concerned with most seems to be the best and worst part of the car; the engine. I can't help but notice that every car seems to be on it's second or third engine. Why?



I have heard that some of the problem stems from the cat being so close to the secondary turbo and that the factory ECU doesn't retard timing appropriately when detecting knock.....What I'm hoping to hear is that these reliabilty problems can be worked around with aftermarket parts.



Any help would be much appreciated

 

I think be best to try the 3rd gen forum... just fyi,

 

Hi welcome to our forum.



Rotary engines are prone to blowing. Mostly due to poor tunning after modifying the car from it's stock setup.

The other concern is heat. If you overheat a rotary engine it's most likely gonna lose the coolant seals.

Alot of 3rd gens lose their coolant seals around 60k. Some will go longer but it's not the norm. I have seen some on 130k original miles.



It's a great motor but it can be very frustrating at times.

It's a good thing they are so easy to rebuild

Good luck if you go with a rx7.