First off, I drive a early 2004 RX-8, which has 18k miles on it (had 600 at the dealer). I am the original owner, and purchased the car in Feb 04. This story chronicles a recent issue I had with my clutch that was recently repaired under warranty.

Symptoms
A few weeks ago I noticed that my clutch began to lose feeling while I was visiting family for the holidays. But this wasn't your typical clutch plate failure. It would grab at roughly the same spot, but didn't finish engaging until much farther up the release, and there was absolutely no feedback in the pedal.

I waited for about a week to ensure it wasn't just a clutch changing characteristics after an unusually busy week of driving (1200mi/1wk vs < 800mi/mo normal use), but the problems only got worse. On my way to the dealer I was just waiting for the moment I couldn't engage the clutch at all, but I made it OK.

At the dealer
At first the techs told me nothing was wrong. I called back and actually spoke to the tech and after hearing my description and driving it again he agreed. My service manager then gave me the standard "if you burnt up your clutch you're paying" speech and refused a rental until they tore it down to find out what was wrong.

I knew it wasn't simply a work out disc, so I pressed them. After explaining that I don't abuse my car or relish smoking starts and agreeing to pay for a new disc if they found it burnt to ashes, they agreed to tear it down to inspect it.

The problem
After a day of teardown, and a call to Mazda Techline, they were able to verify my claims that the disc was not fried and inspected the rest of the system. The issue ended up being a failing pressure plate (which shouldn't fail at 18k even if you fry your clutch one Sunday afternoon).

The official diagnosis reads something like this:
Parts list
N318-16-460C - Clutch disc
N318-16-410B - Clutch cover
FE62-16-510C - Clutch rel (? assume part of the release bearing assembly)
N326-11-D03 - Clutch release bearing, NE

General thoughts
I get the distinct impression there is a part of the story the mechanics and the work order isn't telling me. I asked about the loose bolts other 04 owners have reported on this forum, but they didn't have a direct answer. However, they did replace the whole assembly (including the disc) for free.

I bought the car as "new" with 600+ miles on the odometer (largely due the the fact it was driven from another dealership when I ordered it). There is a remote possibility that MNAO looked at the records and realized it was likely caused by the test driving/transit prior to purchase, but there's no way to know for sure.

Either way, if you start to experience these symptoms after your 12k clutch warranty expires, take your car in. Something significantly more sinister may be at work.

 

your vin was probably in the range of know loose pp bolts.

you got very good service.

beers

 

Ditto that - my dealership told me the clutch was a wear item, and only warranted for 12K miles. I got stuck for a $1000 bill for a clutch replacement, and I am very good to clutches (my RX-7 clutch lasted 144K miles).