Rotary Car Club - View Single Post - TitaniumTT's I hope I make it to DGRR '09 Build

NoDOHC · 09-12-2009, 10:01 AM

All this talk of random engine failure scares me. I want to go turbo, but I don't know that I want these reliability issues. My NA has 8,000 miles on a rebuild and pulls harder every day. My experience with NA rotaries is that they are borderline bulletproof.

I have:

Run one out of oil (added oil a few miles later at the nearest gas station, all was good)

Drained all the coolant out of one in a effort to re-seat the coolant seals and beat it around for 15 minutes (coolant seals did not reseat)

Overheated one with bad coolant seals (the temperature gauge quit climbing when it hit the peg, I kept driving)

Advanced the ignition until it sounded like a gnome beating on something under the hood (60+ degrees on 9.4:1 CR), then drove 15 miles (never hurt anything)

All I hear of turbo rotaries is engine failure with no visible cause.

Maybe I should stay NA.

09-12-2009, 10:01 AM	#449
NoDOHC The quest for more torque Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Sheboygan, Wisconsin Posts: 855 Rep Power: 17	All this talk of random engine failure scares me. I want to go turbo, but I don't know that I want these reliability issues. My NA has 8,000 miles on a rebuild and pulls harder every day. My experience with NA rotaries is that they are borderline bulletproof. I have: Run one out of oil (added oil a few miles later at the nearest gas station, all was good) Drained all the coolant out of one in a effort to re-seat the coolant seals and beat it around for 15 minutes (coolant seals did not reseat) Overheated one with bad coolant seals (the temperature gauge quit climbing when it hit the peg, I kept driving) Advanced the ignition until it sounded like a gnome beating on something under the hood (60+ degrees on 9.4:1 CR), then drove 15 miles (never hurt anything) All I hear of turbo rotaries is engine failure with no visible cause. Maybe I should stay NA. __________________ 1986 GXL ('87 4-port NA - Haltech E8, LS2 Coils. Defined Autoworks Headers, Dual 2.5" Exhaust (Dual Superflow, dBX mufflers) 1991 Coupe (KYB AGX Shocks, Eibach lowering springs, RB exhaust, Stock and Automatic)