Car died on highway after 7 hours of driving from Fort Mac to Calgary.

Had it towed to dealership

2004 Standard 53,000km on it. Something like 30,000 miles?
Never had a single issue, first time in the shop for something other then TSB's, oil changes etc. U get the picture!

After the dealers replacing;
Motor Mounts
Cat Converter
O2 sensor

Then;

Wires
Coils
Spark Plugs
---- Which I ended up paying for those items as their no longer warranty

This did not fix the problem so they installed

Complete Intake System

After it not working they concluded it needs a new engine!

yeah... so I basically will have a new car now.
But it sucks because I would MUCH rather have a reliable car then a sports car I can't put 50,000km on.

Honestly;
as much as I love this car... I don't think I'd buy one again.
Maybe if they slapped a v6 in it. I know we all love our rotaries because its different, but realistically, the piston engine may have more moving parts that wear and break down, but its more realiable, cheaper to maintain, better on gas, and this car could use another 100ft/lbs of torque!

 

I can respect this thread. Except for what you wrote at the end

 

Cry me a river, ohhhh, cry me river (cry me, cry me) ohhhh, cry me a river........LOL

You got a bad one or you didnt give it enough TLC (needs more than ur ave. car). Whatever the case, ur frustrated and that is understandable. But dont even start crying about the lack of torque/V6 bullshit just because ur engine went down the *******. For every Renny that dies there are hundreds that are thriving. Had ur engine not given u any problems you would never had posted a thread about how much better piston engines are and how much the 8 needs more torque................ur just lashing out. We forgive you.

Ur getting a "new" Renny. Embrace it. Maybe this one will totally kick *** and last well past 100,000 miles....could be a blessing, think of it that way

 

Yeah tell the Nissan VQ owners that the piston engine is more reliable when 25% of them had their engines replaced... Of course compare that to the only 15% of Mazda owners, and then look and see how long that warranty is on those Nissan engines...Kinda doubt it is 100K miles or 8 years like a US spec RX-8.

Or the first year Porsche Boxster owners that over 50% had their engines replaced.

Funny both (the Nissan and Porsche) those motors only get a mile or two better gas mileage...

You don't have a clue if you think that a piston motor is more reliable...

 

Haha
Well maybe I am lashing out a bit because I am upset about the outcome of my vehicle.

But

Its July... Prime Summer Cruising time (I only get 4-5 months a year up north) and my car has been sitting since July 2nd at a dealership.

Its depressing!

But hopefully I will enjoy the new motor. To me its just a shock because there was no warning signs/symptoms etc. She ran smooth until she just died on the highway.

Thinking about sending them up a clutch kit to install while they have that motor down, probably a good idea eh? Any recommendations?

 

Just wondering where you get these numbers for motor failures. Not trying to slam you.

 

Do you redline it frequently? Do you let it warm up really well before driving it hard?

 

I read a lot of nissan forums and Im wondering about my bro's VQ35DE as well.

It seems that its "eating" oil way more than usual. a lot of people said thats because the gasket went and they have to replace their engines. dunno.

I dunno, but it is quite true that there were a lot of VQ engine problems. and Nissan had to recall the smaller 2.5 engines a while ago.

I wouldnt call it cheaper to maintain. Wait until your piston breaks down, then u will know how much it cost to rebuild it.

 

Yeah, I'd like to see a source as well. Are you seriously trying to claim that 25% of the various iterations of this engine since 1994 have been replaced? Or maybe you're talking about a much more specific iteration of the VQ? BTW, here's a marketing sounding blurb from Wikipedia with all the different versions of VQs:

"This engine family is widely considered to be the world's benchmark V6 engine for its combination of smoothness, reliability and high power output. The VQ series is the only engine to be honored by Ward's 10 Best Engines list every year since the list's inception. ...
And where did you get this figure?

 

so you paid for
my question is: are you paying for the new engine a labour too?

are you in canada?

 

he shouldnt have to pay for motor. mazda extended it to a 8 year/100k miles warranty. read sticky at top of this section

 

Since the parts listed weren't the problem with your car, I would think Mazda should reimburse you for the cost of these. It was, after all the dealer, throwing parts at the car, hoping that that would fix the problem. If they just would have done a compression check to begin with....

 

Can you provide any links?

I'm seriously interested if this is true.

 

yeah they should reimburse you for the parts that u paid for and did not work because they should have seen the signs and done a compression test first...

 

It was covered in threads on this board as well as countless others. The first year through 2000 the engines had porosity issues with the block.

Dealer mechanics used to say that it didn't have a Check Engine Light... it had a Change Engine Light.

The nice thing was though that Porsche provided assembled long blocks for the mechanics, so they just dropped the old motor out, and plugged the new one in.

For a while there Porsche North America was replacing around 200 engines a month every month since late 99, early 2000 (this figure includes boxters and 911's). For example this thread:
http://forums.roadfly.com/forums/por...5620253-1.html
Or
http://www.renntech.org/forums/index...ic=11615&st=60

and
backed by Steve@Rennsport (Steve Weiner- one of the premier Porsche tuners on the west coast).

The E46 M3 had the same issue, and BMW replaced a good number of those engines as well.

Mostly in the 2.5 used in the Altima, but I have heard of a good number of them in the 350z/G35 coupe as well. I'll try and find online links that are not TSBs and recalls.

 

I followed some of your woeful threads. I hope the new engine will serve you well. Should ask if it will come with the extra injectors (ala 2009 models). Be glad that your dealership seemed to work with you to try and fix the engine. Some others had uncooperative dealers.
I hope my engine goes before the warranty expires! Maybe 16x will show up by 2014?

 

Personally if an engine goes up I think you have a right to be pissed but that's just me.

 

I had a 03 Nissan Spec V...and now my RX-8. Dont talk to me about ENGINE RELIABILITY...the QR25 needs to be shot and killed.

Sucks intake manifold bolts like popcorn...and Nissan hasnt even extended THAT warranty. Terrible.

 

no, I only paid for the Coil, Wires, and Spark Plugs
everything else is warranty

I am in Canada. I moved from Fort Mac to Vancouver, but had to stop my travels to leave the car in Calgary. Took a company vehicle to Vancouver and just waiting for the vehicle to be fixed so I can get a flight there, and then drive it back here.

I think if they replace the engine, and everything after that is working ok, I dont mind paying for the coils, wires, and spark plugs because I would have been doing it anyways. They just wanted $700 bucks for that, and I got it from a site on here in the states for less then $300 and gave it to them to install. All orig. mazda parts so they had no problems installing it.

----------------------------------------------
In Reference to me stirring the pot about missing piston engines...
I was a bit worked up and pissed off about finding out my rx-8 is now part of the statistic, proof that they can just blow up, even when you take care of your vehicle. It was just heart-breakening.
I think instead of "missing a piston engine" I can rewrite, "I miss a reliable engine"
I owned a 1993 Stealth TT and a 95 Lebaron with the same 3.0 engine just completely done differently, and both were very realiable engines, so I guess I just compare it to that. Plus my 98 Accord V6 has 225,000km and still running, and my truck just passed 50,000km and I know its good for a while.
I think I am just worried about my RX-8 because I always had that feeling in my gut that I shouldnt drive it too far from a dealership, and I don't think that is right. I think everyone can agree with me on that one, that we all do worry inside a bit.

I am sure, if the dealership is really good, which they have been so far, and my car comes out running smoothly, then I'll be happy once again.
I know alot of people hope their engines die so they can get a new one before the warranty expires, but I never once wanted this to happen. I the fate of my RX-8 Future living with me really at this point rest in the heart of the dealership. We'll have to see how Mazda can treach its customers and like I said, so far so good.

 

You should have been reimbursed for those too. They didn't correct the problem and you probably didn't need them in the first place. Or the plug failure was due to the engine failure.

 

Be thankful they are doing it at all. I had a nightmare when mine went and the dealer trying to claim my RB wires and intake and Denso plugs were the cause. Of course as it turns out it was failed igniters that were responsible. Now that I'm past 50k I took matters into my own hands and put in the Mazsport ignition. There no more worries about the poor factory igniters.

 

I read your links and even checked personally with Steve Weiner at Rennsport and still see zero justification for your 50% engine failure rate claim on 1st year Boxsters, 25% engine failure rate on Nissan VQ engines, or your 25% engine failure rate on the Renesis. Certainly there have been problems, no one doubts that, but where in the world are you getting these outrageous numbers?

 

I hope I never have a problem but if I do I'll get it replaced (if it won't run) and then drive it over to carmax.

 

25% of statistics are made up.

 

This is the exact same situation I had. I had so much replacced.