ratm

Hi Folks,

I posted this on the .com.au website and wanted to warn other folks here.

I just wanted to let you guys know that I made the mistake of buying a Cobb Access Port for my 2004 RX8 manual.

The unit I bought was used and from a u.s seller on ebay, the unit worked fine up until I plugged it in and followed the installation instructions.

The AP was able to recognize my car and listed it as " AUDM Hi Power 6 speed or manual" (im not sure) and I was able to back up my map and get to the part to load in the new map, there were two highlighted one's with the prefix "AUDM" ( one either valet or anti theft, again not sure and one labelled stock with cat back ) so I just picked the stock one.

As the unit was preparing to load the new map the display comes up with an error that says something along the lines of "cant access the ecu, check the cable is connected then try again".

So I go through the procedure and it then says that installation failed and that I have to uninstall.

I tried to uninstall and no go, it just sends me back to the first error, basically just keeps sending me in circles.

I tried this process at least 15 times and now have an AP that it stuck in this state.

I contacted Jeff ( the sole distributor for the RX8 AP's ) who was nice enough to get back to me right away and let me know the unit is unusable because it wasnt designed for the 2004 Australian RX8 and that I would have to send the AP back to Cobb and pay $350 u.s to get a new license so that I can sell it again as it can no longer be used and the ebay seller I bought it from cant use it either ( therefore no refund through paypal for me )

So now Im stuck with an AP that I spent $630 aus ( including post from the u.s ) that is completely useless and have no way to fix it other than spending $480 aus + post to get it repaired.

( At least $1000 aus for something I'd be lucky to sell for $500 aus )

The thing that really pisses me off ( sorry about the language ) is that at no time during the install or in the manual did it say that the unit was so fragile and that the unit could become inoperable or in any time during my research before I bought it and that it would cost that much to fix.

SO my advice to any Australian owners would be DONT BUY A COBB ACCESS PORT !

Is there anything else I could do to fix the unit or did I just learn a really expensive lesson ?

The only luck I did get was it didnt affect the car and it still runs and drives.

Thanks.

ShellDude

iTrader: (12)

Cobb will likely unbrick it for free.

Does your 8 have an immobilzer?

In any event i don't understand why people continue to try and use a piece of hardware that the manufacturer dropped years ago and gets zero updates.

Mazdaedit is the way to go.

ratm

Hi Mate,
I will have to contact them and ask.

Jeff at mazdamaniac told me it will have to be re licensed and that it will cost me $350 u.s.

Yea I will definitely go with mazdaedit.

Yes my car has an immobilizer but I wanted the AP so that I could access the ecu for stuff like changing the dwell for LS2 coils and to set fan speed etc without having to run the fan mod relay kit I have now. (which works great but if I can do it all in the ecu that would be better)

Thanks.