Hi all, my name is Amit and i've been studying these forums (along with other sites) quite regularly since i became the proud owner of a mazda rx8 about four months ago.

Just wanted to firstly introduce myself, i live in Brisbane Australia and am keen on gaining more knowledge about the mazda rx8's. :)

now since buying my 2004 rx8 (auto trans) ive had a bodykit fitted, wheels and some interior retrimming done.. the last mod being the reason for my first question :)

while at the trimmers the battery was unplugged (as a trimmer removes seats and door trims etc) then once it was all done the battery was plugged back in and the car would crank over but would not start. after attempting the de-flooding procedure the car still would not start, so we had the car towed to a rotary specialist in brisbane called MAZFIX whom inspected the car and i was told the starter motor had died, all fair enough i thought so its waiting on a starter motor to arrive from melbourne and to be fitted.... *anyone else had this issue?*

NOW... i thought it was a little strange that a newish car would have this issue, but anyways, it has done 70,000klms (all regular service's on time), so i googled the following.... MAZDA RX8 PROBLEMS FAULTS...... this is where it gets interesting... because i my retina's were seered with a plethora of rx8 owners complaining about issues with their cars, and faults and bad mazda service and changing engines 2 or 3 times having low compression etc etc.. now i was curious because these issues seem to be moreso isolated to america etc.. have their been many issues with rx8's in australia? and if not then how can the americans be getting such dud rx8's?

Thanks for reading all my post btw i seem to have typed a tad too much lol

Talking to my dealer, I was told most of the engine problems in OZ were with the Auto's.
This is due to the fact they are seldom red lined and given the wide open throttle.

Rotaries are bad about carbon build up. The old saying a red line a day keeps the carbon away holds very true for these engines. But not just a red line they also need a wide open throttle to help clear it out. There have not been as many problems here as there has been in the US, reasons for that are varied I am sure.
Lots of theories on that.

Welcome to the forums.

Just to let you know, l'm onto my second motor, now with only 18 thou on the ticker.

I'm a 04 rx-8 45K boosted for 2-3k (6months) and have had no issues. I reckon most of the issues are driver created. the motor and g-box aren't that strong that they can survive rough treatment.

it's strange your starter would crank the car but was deemed bad. was it slow to crank with a strong battery?

There's been some cases of dealers recommending engine replacements that were later diagnosed by others as not necessary.

The early RX8s are known to have ignition problems. There was a de facto 'recall' in which many people had starter motors, plugs and battery replaced on request, no questions asked. A number of us have also had to replace shot coils and plug leads.

Sorting that side of things out seems to cure these early problems. AFAIK, it's not a problem for later cars and I agree with Jarl that driver error and/or lack of a carbon blowout by wide open throttle has led to many of their issues.

To be honest, the auto tranny in this car isn't the greatest fit for what it is designed to do. It's down on power compared to the manual and the difficulty in redlining the auto either places stress on the tranny or fails to clear the carbon deposits. I know some are happy with them but I would touch an auto RX8 with a bargepole.

Sorry, don't want to dampen your enthusiasm for your car but it's best to have your eyes wide open...

And welcome. :)

hey guys, thanks for the replies and welcomes :) i am very happy with the car and the auto transmission, and i always do use the paddle shift and give it a good squirt to redline etc, its never given me any other issues and im thinking maybe the trimmer moved the car around in his workshop and turned ignition on and off without warming up etc but still, dont know why that would stuff the starter motor so quickly?

and yeah he did put it on a trickle battery charge to make sure the battery had the right voltage etc.

There's been some cases of dealers recommending engine replacements that were later diagnosed by others as not necessary.


Agreed.