Stu

Hey all!

I have become fed up with my 8. I have only had 2 issues, one is indirectly my fault, but.. still. I love the car, and would hate to part with it, but I refuse to keep having it towed from somewhere every month or two.

The first issue, it just wouldnt start, "turn over," nothing. Like the battery was completely dead, but then, 20-30 min later, it was starting & running fine, just the DSC & TC lights stayed on, couldnt get them to go off.

Took it to my dealer & said there was no problems. Today, my brother goes to move my car, gets it about 10 ft from where he started it (he knows to let it run for 5min btwn start & stop), and it dies. I am sitting next to a window where our driveway is, so I know he didnt rev it on startup, or after startup. So, I cannot get it started. I call Mazda, & they seem to think it is flooded, which it could be, but they have not seen it yet. So I sit here with my new $35k veh, waiting on a wrecker to come to my house & pick up my piece of crap I just bought.

So, I am ready to do the buy back if I am still (or ever was) elegable. I just never received a notice, or anything about it, but I read about people doing so every once in a while.

Thanks for any information you might have.

SCiMMiA

You had to have bought or preordered the car before they announced the horsepower discrepancy in order to qualify you the buyback, and even then, you had to act by October. Your best bet is to sell it if you don't like it - you shouldn't lose too much.

Really a shame, though. First problem sounds like a loose battery cable, seeing as how your DSC and trac. control lights came on (indicating a needed reset, lock to lock on the wheel). The flooding is easy to avoid, but this car isn't for everyone. Good luck in the future.

mdw33333

I agree with SCiMMiA, first problem was most likely the battery cable. He's also right about the flooding. Hang in there, let the dealer look it over again. You'll be fine.

RX8Z

Buyback offer is no longer valid, and it only applies to specific owners who purchased their car prior to their official announcement of error with the hp and emissions

However, of course every dealer has their own policies. perhaps your dealership GM can do something about it, but chances are. .they will not buy back your car

Good luck, as a sales consultant, I apolgize on behalf of Mazda for all your problems and if theres anything I can help with, (if ure in my area) please contact me..

Z

Stu

Thanks for the replies guys!

With regard to the first problem, I did check that, was my first thought as well, but it was not the case. It did it over & over. Mazda ran a full diagnostic on it & found nothing wrong. It has done it on & off since, but they still cannot find anything wrong with the car.

With regard to the flooding issue, what gets me on this one... The guy just knows that my car is flooded. I am not a typical car owner, while I have not had a large number of cars, or worked on cars, I have worked on & raced motorcycles, so I know a little something about motors, and know that my car is not flooded.

The car was started, & moving, and I don't think you can really easily flood an injected motor that way, but I can & have been known to be wrong on occasion.

Just a real pisser that my car has been such a pile of crap on occasion, those moments stick in my mind much more than the good moments, of course.

oh well... At least I 'typed' away some frustration, I think.

RX8Z

After looking at some posts here about the "flooding" issue, Ive been looking into that with headquarters

Its a problem due to the way Rotary engine is, is not a secret that it eats gas..

Some solutions provided by users here , were to rev te engine once or twive prior to shut off..

Dont know if its safe solution, but i dont see any harm in it and it makes sense to me

though , as a owner, i dont see that as being reasonable. Mazda needs to do someting about this.. I;ll let you guys know what I get from HQ

Z

Gord96BRG

No offense, but... this is one of those occasions!

If you read many of the other flooding threads here on the forum, you'll find that your scenario is EXACTLY how the RX-8 floods - it's started, runs for a minute, then if you stall or shut it off it won't re-start. Flooded. Perhaps some more reading about flooding specific to the RX-8, and the preventative measures to avoid it happening, would be of use to you.

Regards,
Gordon

SCiMMiA

And this is an MT flooding. Haven't most so far been autos?

Sea Ray

Hi RX8Z,

Since you work at a dealership, answer this question. Ask the service dept how many flooded 8's they have fixed, AND how many of those were either still on the delivery truck or just pulled off. This answer may surprise everyone. If 'professionals' have the problem then I hope mazda figures out how to help us all out, rather than a tow to the dealer.

I have not flooded but if I do I'm sure Murphy will make sure it is the worst possible time

zoom44

did you try unflooding it with any of the methods described here on the forum? you might have started it yourself without the need for the tow.

RX8Z

SeaRay

I spoke to the Mazda technicians, and though you may not believe this.. they have no reports of flooding, at least not in our dealership

In fact, Ive brought up this issue to the mechanics during our lunch break, and they havent see anything revelant to that

Though they have stated that theyve seen the Rx8 eat about a quart of oil every gas pump which is kind of known, being rotary engines have that characteristics

also theyve seen, during startups, a puff of white smoke occurs quite often but thats becasue of oil burning? Either way, that alone could be a bad sign but again, nothing as major as flooding..

I'll let you know , for Ive contact HQ for further information

Zamen

zoom44

i hope that is exageration. if they have seen anywhere near that much oil consumption i would hope they knew that was really wrong and did something about it. especially with the mpg we're getting.

RX8Z

It was an exageration =)

I really meant to say that Rotary engines are known for oil consumption . no need to worry =)

Sea Ray

I find if hard to believe they have not had any yet, unless very few have been sold.

sferrett

If the TCS/DSC lights came on then your battery was either completely flat or disconnected. If the dealer tells you there's nothing wrong then they are incompetant.

Perhaps your battery has an internal short or something which intermittently makes it cut out, or the battery cables are not on right. I'd keep pestering the dealer about that issue moreso than flooding since the battery cutting out is a much more major issue. They should at minimum replace the battery, IMO.

Again - keep pestering your dealer, go upwards through the service manager chain until you get satisfaction - don't let them bully you. If the car just doesn't even turn over sometimes then there's definately something wrong and you need to keep pressure on them until they fix it.

realdeal

Don't sell your car, the car is cool! EVerything is under warranty so they will fix everthing.

BillK

Unfortunately, you can't fix the flooding problem without a redesign somewhere as, at present, if the engine floods, it means as far as Mazda's concerned nothing's wrong...

As I've said before, if they would just get that issue clarified, I would be a happy camper. 250 vs. 247 vs. 238 HP doesn't matter to me, having to call roadside assistance for a tow if I screw up and stall the car pulling out of my parking space at night certainly does...

Stu

ah well. The car is at the dealer, they seem to think it is not a flood now that they looked at the car & heard it trying to turn over. As I said, my brother was in my car, and I wish it had been me so I could really tell them what happened at the point of the problem.

I am in a mazda protege, the mean street racer it is, and hanging out hoping for a call from my dealer first thing in the morning on what might be the issue & what they are going to do to correct it.

RX8Z

Call them yourselves.. I have no reason to lie =) And many rx8's have been sold from here... but thats a privacy issue

Remember not everyone has flooding issue...

RX8Z

Billk

Im not sure, but one of the threads here talking about flooding. a User has a letter respones from Mazda USA indicating that they acknolwedge the problem. See if you can get him to fax you a copy and show to your dealership for confirmation..

From what he said, the Flooding problem is now a big enough issue for Mazda to look into more..

good luck

WHealy

Question - If the battery power was disconnected while running would the engine shut off. I beleive in carborated engines, this is not an issue, but in electronic fuel ingected engines, they don't run without the battery. If the rotary engine needs electric power to run, the issue that caused the first problem could be the problem that caused the stall and flood on the second problem?

Also, the first dealer I took my car into, they were completely defensive about it until I explained I was in to make sure my idle issue wasn't something that needed a reflash of the ECU. They told me point blank that every '8' they had seen had come in because it was flooded. They hadn't seen one with of 1K on it that was running corretly. They pulled my plugs anyway just to see what they looked like. They were amazed at how good they looked and told me to keep driving it the way I had been. now keep in mind the platform is still very new and not many folks would be bringing them in for routine maintenance.

RX8Z

You know what I find odd about these dealerships that are supposedly claiming that every 8 flooding issue, why are they not contacting corporate about the case?

Its like it just sounds like, owners are coming in and they are "satisfied" with the answer, oh your 8 is flooded.

Nothing againt you guys, i know its hard but you know what, you bought a car, be a bitch and make them do something about it. Tell the service manager to contact Mazda and get an official response about this flooding issue..

Of course, i work at a dealership.. Ive bypassed that, and waiting for Mazda HQ to get back to me .

I;ll let you know what I hear..

Zamen

WHealy

As I said in my post the dealership was totaly defensive about the issue. But then again, I haven't experinced it so I don't have anything to complain about. The dealership I described went on to say that Mazda corporate has setup multiple 30+ member teams who's job it is to find a solution. That was supposdly in wake of a CNN article that brought up the '8" flodding issue as a reason not to buy the car. The dealership also mentinoed that in their person opinion, most people experiencing the flooding ar e babying the car leading to buildup around the plugs. That's why they pulled mine and said keep on driving the same way. In addition their tech had just come back from training and said most dealerships were doing anything but pulling plugs to resolve the flooding issue. Flooding resolution was the main point of this training.

Japan8

Got a lemon law in TN? If they don't fix you right and your problems keep reoccurring... you just might have a lemon...

RX8Z

whealy, have you tried bringing it to anothr Mazda dealer?

Perhaps you should and maybe you can get a second look at it .. good luck