Ive been dreading the rebuild and putting it off. Ive been reading alot on the history of problems with this peticuler engine. Im a very reputable engine builder so ive got alot of experiance from my 15 years of building. I work at Email address pettitracing,com and have been there since 04, the yellow RX-8 belongs to me. From the info ive seen it lookes like the main problem stems from sticking oil seals on the pistons. It causes excessive blow-by and from what ive seen breakes down the oil very fast causing lots of problems before you figure out whats wrong. Ive herd of crank bearings going out causing crank failure and also rod bearings. Im lucky to the fact of catching the problem early. It seems to happen from 50,000 to 80,000 miles. Im not shure if its from going to long between oil changes or carbon biuldup but im thinking that its the main cause. Even though a former owner sludged the oil and I have gotten 30,000 miles since perchase. Maintnence or lack of tends to hurt the VX. As good as it still runs im willing to bet that oil rings are the only thing thats wrong with my engine so far. Bearings and seals are getting replaced for shure though. I replaced the PCV valve and found that cleaning it or replacing it helps for about 2000 miles. As for pluging the hose, bad idea unless you dont mind blowing seals like the ones on your valve cover. That PCV valve is there to vent and if its getting clogged its from blow-by. Thats what im talking about. Id like to ask for some help and ill return the favor if anyone is local to WPB. Im disabled to the point of not being able [ 2 shattered vertabre] to pull the motor out of my VX. If you need a rebuild on your motor or tranny I can do everything except lift heavy stuff. I need help pulling it and reinstalling. If you fix this problem early im shure it wont be as bad as you think. I dont play when it comes to the details.
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