Wow, this is pretty ridiculous. Last May, I brought the car in because I was experiencing major power lost, a pinging sound in the engine, and stalling, as well as a very rough idle. (When I was at a stop and let off of the brake, the whole car would jerk forward and backward rapidly.) Mazda replaced the engine. This was at 33,000miles.

As of a month ago, my car has been acting the EXACT same way as before. Same stalling issues, loss of power, rocking back and forth after letting off the brake, and pinging sounds from the engine. I am now at 49,000miles. I took it into the dealership Saturday and finally heard back yesterday, that they are working with Mazda Tech line to determine what to do. They said the engine is weak, and there are some emission problems. However, they said that a new engine was already put in it...

Has anybody had a replacement-engine, replaced?


Car Info:
2004 A/T
49,000miles

 

sadly...yes.

 

I'm not familiar with the Atx you have as a location. Where do you live? Just out of curiosity.

And yes there are a handful of people that have gone through a Mazda re-man and are on 3rd engines.

Tell them to put a new motor in and quit dicking around so you can have your car back.

I'm sure it will be asked so I might as well ask it from the beginning, what are your driving habits?

 

Atx = Austin, TX (So yeah, it gets hot as hell here and as the temperature has risen, the car has acted up more and more.)

Wow, well I only thought my re-sale value was shot after replacing the engine the first time. Hah try selling a car that is on it's 3rd engine!

I drive pretty conservatively, and it is my daily driver so I am in stop-and-go traffic on a daily basis. I try and redline it a couple of times a week (I've read you are supposed to every DAY, but I don't get on the highway every day).

 

Be less conservative. Be WAY less conservative.

You might also think about pre-mixing and adding a 2nd oil cooler.

 

rotary + A/T = disaster

 

^^ Yepper skipper

 

Ok, I just heard back from Mazda again and they are indeed replacing the engine.

Is there any sort of class-action lawsuit regarding these engine failures in the 2004/2005 RX-8 models? Maybe there should be...

What about the lemon laws? Can I invoke this in Texas under these circumstances?

 

you'll have little to no success suing them as you've technically not lost anything and are therefore not entitled to compensation.

Your engine went bad, they replaced it. (for free)
That engine went bad, you again got another engine (for free)
you were withouth your car, they gave you a free rental.

 

I'm just responding to this for some clarification. I have an '04 MT and I had the engine replaced at about 44,000 miles. I had the power loss issue. Now they told me the engine was caked with carbon buildup when they took it apart. It also failed the compression test.


They told me the seals were bad. Now I'll admit I was very conservative with my driving so the carbon buildup I understand. But wasn't it the programming and the lack of lubrication at the low rpms that fried the apex seals and casued power loss? Or was it the carbon? If it was the lack of lubrication, shouldn't the reprogramming and the new engine be perfectly fine and have no problems? And I redline at least once a day now, so the carbon shouldn't be a problem anymore for me.

So what I am saying is I don't understand why some are going to 3rd engines? I would think the reprogram should have taken care of the problem on the install of the second engine.

 

A rough patch of carbon (or just enough of it) can and will pull the apex seals out of the groove. Over time, the apex seal will wear at the groove, as the carbon is catching it, and trying to yank it out. Eventually, the groove will be so worn, that the apex seal will literally "roll" out of the groove. And when this happens at 5-9000 RPM...well, you can imagine the damage. A single apex seal can not only take out all your other seals, but also destroy the housings, irons, and rotors.

The reprogramming was to fix a general lack of lubrication when cruising for long periods of time at highway speeds. The reason Mazda doesn't just dump a random amount of oil into the engine is for multiple reasons. They would like to get as close as possible to a complete burn..less left over = longer cat life. It would also improve emissions, and cut down on oil consumption.

 

^^^Thanks. So it probably was the carbon that ruined my seals. So 3rd engines are probably due to the carbon buildup again.

 

Or a bad rebuild, or perhaps they never rebuilt it in the first place.

 

Bagman you should read this,,,,

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/new-engine-lasts-3-days-122148/

 

Make sure you vote in the "engine replaced" poll: http://www.caranddriver.com/comparis...di-tt-20t.html

 

Well I got the car back on Friday. And you know what? It does drive better, but when I am stopped at a light, stop-sign, etc. it still feels pretty damn rought at idle. Especially if I have been driving it for a bit (20minutes+). Maybe it's because it's getting hot as hell here? My ambient temp said 99 earlier today.

 

Just out of curiosity, what brand and octane rating fuel are you using?

 

95% of the time Exxon Premium, 93 Octane. When I find myself low on gas and don't think I can make it to an Exxon I'll stop at a Chevron and use Chevron w/ Techron 93 Octane.

 

Use ...w-30 or 40 viscosity grade oil! These are working well above normal temps, where the ..w-20 not.

 

fuel injector cleaner cleans up my idle nicely
are you using AC? i imagine you are.

 

Actually, my last fill-up I dumped some STP fuel injector cleaner in there, hoping it would help and it didn't.

I do use the A/C. It's friggin 95degrees here! The idle is still pretty rough, when I turn off the A/C. I've tested this as well. If I switch to neutral while waiting at a light it is a lot less noticable; in fact barely there.

 

if neutral eliminates your problem, get your motor mounts checked. seems to be a common problem.