eDayStat

Hey all, I've had my 8 for about 5 months now (2005 with <13k miles) and have enjoyed it thus far. I only drive it about twice a week as my ZX3 holds down the daily driving. Now though, I'm having problems.

About 2 weeks ago I noticed the heater no longer warming up and no defrost. I checked all the fuses that I could possibly think could have to do with this and also swapped some relays around to make sure it wasn't something simple. Then, a couple days later I went to start it and it doesn't turn over at all now. The battery is good, as all the components work, but it just sounds like it's not trying to crank at all. I've never had a problem with hard starts or anything else before and now it doesn't turn over at all.

Is this just the classic starter failure that I've seen from other people or did yours start to wear down before crapping out? If it's no the starter, what other normal failures do the '05s experience? Thanks for any help folks.

daisuke

If I'm right then it's very very bad news.

a heater not heating is a classic sign of very low or no coolant which means that your car has been overheating, rotaries are especially suceptible to overheating and it's possible your engine is seized, I'd suggest checking your coolant levels and then checking the cooling system for hoses or lose or popped fittings.

I'm not sure if rotaries can outright seize like a piston engine can, but if that is the case this may well be what you have.

if your coolant is ok you might have a stuck thermostat and that could lead to overheating too, in that case you might have some coolant left but not much. definately something the shop can look into.

For your sake I hope I'm wrong.

Spinning Sushi

iTrader: (21)

^ Or maybe the engine just flooded. I can't explain the heater issue though.

Spin9k

The best advice you'll get, and I'll be as nice about it as possible....

You're under warranty, including flatbedding to a dealer, yet you "swapped some relays around"? Are you a mechanic? A plumber? An electrician? If you had a clue, you'd realize that it would be a miracle if blindly trying something would fix anything, and as you've found, now things are worse. You've killed it.

Do yourself a favor. Call a dealer before your self inflicted repair bill skyrockets. Then go back to enjoying your new car.

ps there are no 'classic' starter failures.

nu2rx8

My '05 got the starter upgrade and a new battery last winter {under warranty} after a few hard starts suddenly deteriorated into a no start situation. 1 trip to the dealer and no trouble since.

This year I ran into the no heat issue...quick diagnosis by dealer revealed a heater control unit problem as I suspected after searching the board. Get your shop to check it out and order the part asap as mine took a while to come in.

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...r+control+unit

Haze

My guess is that the heater and the no start are unrelated.

I also think that the no start is probably your battery.

Having all the electrical equipment come on is NOT a sign that your battery is healthy. A battery which is putting out less than 13 volts will power all the lights and accessories, but it is not enough voltage to power the starter motor so the starter motor may not turn at all. You need to put a voltage tester on the battery and do a load test by turning the key and seeing if the voltage remains above 12. If the voltage falls below 12 under load, then your battery is bad. You can also take the battery to Sears who will test it for you.

The no heat is not a sign of poor coolant flow. It is most likely a bad Heater Control Unit. This has become a fairly common problem on the 8. Do a search of the forum for Heater Control Unit or No Heat. There are threads descricing the problem, and the fix is a new heater control unit.

All the best.

eDayStat

I have not checked the voltage on the battery although I had planned to do that soon. My guess is the Heater Control Unit. The turnover problem I'm guessing is the starter. I swapped two relays when I looked at this, the one for the heat control unit and the one for seat heaters. This was because my seats are unheated so the relay is populated for no reason more or less. This would not have done any further damage to the electrical system.

The first thing I did check was the coolant and that was fine. I did not look for loose fittings or hoses as I could not find any evidence of a leak on the pavement or on the underside of the engine block.

Thanks for all the help guys. Think I'll be having it carted over to the Mazda dealership this week to get them to run it through some testing.