Good afternoon everyone!~

First, thank you for all the information, advice and wisdom posted here, it has made for some very interesting reading over the past week or so.

So I was doing some car shopping and came across what I thought was a pretty nice deal on an M3, well when I got to the lot, the RX-8 jumped out and grabbed me. Anyhow, after a few test drives, some reading here and talking to some friends, I picked up my 2007 sport MT RX-8 yesterday, this is the first performance oriented "sports car" I have ever owned and it feels really good right now.

Unfortunately / fortunately, the dealership I bought it from was having trouble selling their RX-8's and after about ten minutes with them on the lot I knew why, they knew nothing about the cars, they were more interested in the Kia's they were selling on the other side of the lot. I talked to their service manager and luckily they have a tech dedicated to the RX-8 that seemed to know his stuff.

I have been pouring through information on the boards here and I am about 2/3rds of the way through the manual today, and I have a question that I didn't find an answer to using the search function, while it is described in the manual and briefly mentioned ina few threads that I could find here is my situation.

I picked up the car, with 9 miles on it, 5 of those were from my test drive. Again this is a 2007 manual Transmission, Sport with very few options. I drove the car home which was a little more than 40 miles, 30 of which were highway, outside temp on highway 75 was over 100degrees yesterday. I didn't raise hell, but I did run her through the gears and reved it up to about 8krpm when I got home and was showing it off to my brother and a couple friends. Then I shut her down and about 2 seconds later the Cooling Fan turn on and ran for several minutes.

I read the manual, this denotes that the engine coolant hit some certain preset temperature, and it behaved as the manual said it would. And if it says it in the manual, this means to me that I am not having some freak occurance and shouldn't panic. Here is my question -

Its this behaviour normal on a 100 degree day while the car is still being "broken in", or is it a symptom of perhaps some sort of issue that i need to monitor closely?

I did check my coolant and oil levels, both full and looking good on the dipstick and level line, Engine temp guage was dead near north an it ran like a dream. I got up and drove it 20 miles this morning, smooth start up and operation, no fans or anything.

Sorry for the newbie question, I'm just enamored with the car and want to do everything I can to take care of it :) And thanks again for all the great information and your patience!

~Edit Doh! Lemme whipe the egg off my face, I used the wrong search terms, I found a discussion on just this subject in the DIY/Tech section. Thank you both for your posts, and sorry for the clutter :(

Fan action is normal in hot weather.

The bigger concern would be if it DIDN'T run! :)

It's normal behavior.

Yup. Normal, especially if you use the AC.

Yep, it's normal. Make sure you follow Racing Beat's break-in procedure: http://www.racingbeat.com/FRmazda4.htm

I am about 2/3rds of the way through the manual today,


I picked up the car, with 9 miles on it, 5 of those were from my test drive. Again this is a 2007 manual Transmission, Sport with very few options. I drove the car home which was a little more than 40 miles, 30 of which were highway, outside temp on highway 75 was over 100degrees yesterday. I didn't raise hell, but I did run her through the gears and reved it up to about 8krpm when I got home and was showing it off to my brother and a couple friends.

while the car is still being "broken in",

I'm just enamored with the car and want to do everything I can to take care of it :)




Must not have gotten to the part that says keep the car under ~4k RPMs for the first ~500 miles break in period?

Congrats on your new car. I think you made the right chioce.

That;s not a quick question!!!

Welcome:) This is normal behavior for the car. Don't forget after break in, redline.

Anyone mention that it's normal? Cuz it is.



That;s not a quick question!!!


Well at least he used paragraphs. :lol2:

^ Interesting masturbating bear....

^ that's masturbating Hobbes it looks like - a tiger.

Congrats on the new wheels .. yup normal. The other day after a spirited drive in my car on a 90 degree day the cooling fan ran for nearly 20 mins after shutdown.

If the car is really warm, I take my hose on fan spray setting and spray cool water on the radiator for a few minutes - stops the fan action very quickly

And the final anwser....... is ................ NORMAL.

By the way welcome.

Once again, thanks for the responses, and also for the warm welcome. And I do appologize for re-posting one of your top ten summer newbie question threads, I swear I looked around first, and searched, but didn't find what I was looking for until right after I posted my question.

I appreciate the racingbeat link as well, I saw it in another thread and I think the "read this before you post thread" but hadn't read the break in tips yet before I posted yesterday, I guess I might have saved myself from looking a tad silly. Anyhow, thank you again.

Mac11 - I may have overooked it, but I scoured the manual one more time this morning after I finished reading it last night and didn't see a thorough section on breaking in the car. The quick guide does give you some tips for driving the first 600 miles, which include not racing the engine. Did I overlook it? I do see clear instructions on break in procedure on the racing beat page,and have read them thoroughly parhaps this is what you were referring to? I don't mind the ribbing though because I did clearly admit to doing something that is not recommended during the break in, even if it was only once. Thanks for reading the post and giving honest thought to what I said.

So that being said, I have a lot of reading to do here, and more importantly driving to do in my new RX-8! Thanks again guys, I'm sure Ill be around asking the occasional question, reading up on bulletins, pre-mixing, maintenance, and the daily humor.

Its normal

Theres 2 fans on this car.

Fan #1 turns on @ 97 degrees C
Fan #2 turns on @ 101 degrees C

Thats for stock computer settings, and it will shut itself down as soon as its lower than the preset temp.

Mac11 - I may have overooked it, but I scoured the manual one more time this morning after I finished reading it last night and didn't see a thorough section on breaking in the car. The quick guide does give you some tips for driving the first 600 miles, which include not racing the engine. Did I overlook it? I do see clear instructions on break in procedure on the racing beat page,and have read them thoroughly parhaps this is what you were referring to? I don't mind the ribbing though because I did clearly admit to doing something that is not recommended during the break in, even if it was only once. Thanks for reading the post and giving honest thought to what I said.

Don't take it personal, just bustin your balls a little bit. I was lucky enough to have bought the car used so I didn't have to endure the break in period. Pros and cons to that. But on my last car I flogged it during the break in period because I was just learning to drive a stick and missing shifts and all sorts of nonsense. When I traded that car in on my 8 it had nearly 90,000 miles and ran like a champ.

I guess for the most part it was the Racing Beat directions I was thinking of.:banghead:

^ Interesting masturbating bear....
I keep wondering when's gonna pop a whiz. I think he has a really bad rash or no d*ck at all by now.:yelrotflm

he's gotta have some rug/carpet burn marks on his hands...im surprised he hasn't been shocked yet with all that static electricity he's making.

Don't take it personal, just bustin your balls a little bit.


No offense taken, I'm thick skinned, not new to internet message boards (this one, but not in general), and your post didn't come off like an attack to me. I think I was coyly trying to find out if perhaps the 2004/2005/2006 manuals may have had a better section on the break-in. And seriously, I do value the fact that you took the time to read my post and noted things that I was doing that might be advised against, and you posted.

Hope you guys (and gals?) are having a great morning, I know mine have gotten a lot better this week getting up and actually looking forward to the drive in to the office.

I know mine have gotten a lot better this week getting up and actually looking forward to the drive in to the office.

I whole heartedly disagree with this statement.

After the drive....you are still at the office.:whipping: