Extending the life of your RENESIS

Here are my top 5 tips to extending the life of your RX-8 engine. This is from over a decade of ownership and several power plants in different conditions, including low compression and re-manufactured. 

5. Upgraded coil packs, fresh spark plugs and wires. GM Yukon style are great, and some newer marine style have surfaced in the past 5 years. 

4. Let your motor warm up before starting to drive. The most wear on internals happen when the engine is cold, like at startup.

Wait until past the blue line to start driving away slowly. Once into the green area above, smooth sailing. Wait until fully warmed before going WOT.

3. Has the car been sitting for a week or more? Use the deflooding procedure to prime the oil system by turning the rotors without spark or fuel.

  A) Turn ignition to accessory

  B) Press both the clutch and gas pedal at the same time & crank the motor for 2~ seconds

  C) Then with only the clutch pedal pressed start the car normally.

2. Before turning the engine off, rev to 3500~ and turn the ignition off. This moves any unburnt fuel out of the combustion chamber. Next start up should be smoother than starting normally after sitting.

1. Pre-mixing, my preferred brand is Idemitsu. Some forum members split cases or you can get a whole case from Mazdatrix. In the addition to the other listed items, premixing lubricates the motor more than just the engine oil from the OMP. I mix 8 oz for 16 gallons of fuel, so 4x uses per bottle - times the case of 12 means 48 tanks for $80 [Idemitsu Case - Mazdatrix].

These 5 steps can extend your engine's life 10~20k miles longer! Happy revving!