Copyshoppeman

I'm sure that this has been mentioned by someone already but for those of you that own the A/T version and are experiencing issues with rough idling, hesitation and stalling out, there will be a fix for this in the next two months. After multiple trips back to the dealership and getting the runaround, they finally told me that there is a system wide problem with A/T and the ambient temperature outside the car. Mazda is working on a fix now but it will take awhile. At first they said it was my coils. Then they said my plugs were fouled. After checking and changing these, they finally called Mazda and found out that there was a more major problem. All I know is that its something to do with the computer. I got my car in November of 03' and it ran wonderful the whole winter until it got warm outside. I've pretty much had problems with it all summer and haven't really been able to enjoy my 8! I'm in talks with my dealer because apparently if you have to take a car in more then 4 times for the same problem, the lemon law applies. I've been in 3 times so far and when this new fix becomes available, it'll be the fourth. I'm really hoping they fix it cuz I love my 8 but I would like to drive it like its supposed to be driven!

Copyshoppeman

Just wanna mention one last thing before anyone replies. It's def. not the "M" flash that everyone has been talking about for the past couple of months. I had that done awhile ago with no change whatsoever. In fact I thought thats what made my car run so bad but now I know thats not the case.

VelocityRedRX8

Hi Copyshoppeman,
I have an A/T with now over 17,000 miles. I have had the M flash due to a dead restart, and noticed an improvement in performance from that. My mileage has been at best medicore, (around 17 on average now). I have noticed power loss on hot days, probably due to running the car at high RPM (> 6500 RPM). I have also noticed the red radiator idiot light come on on occassion. More recently we had a warm spell and I noticed rough idle (not horrible, but definitely rougher than usual). So, it would appear that you will need to wait for cooler weather, or a fix from Mazda. It's cool here now and once the car is warmed up it pulls very well.

JeRKy 8 Owner

My automatic has rough idle and hesitation issues aswell. Im used to these annoyances by now andcomplained about them last year -- my local dealership thought it was a bad catalytic converter and replaced it but the problemreturned again months later. WhenI go in toget the brakes replaced in a few weeksIll remind them again about the other problemsbut I doubt theyll have any solutions available.

Copyshoppeman

When you remind your dealership about the problem again hopefully they'll already know about the fix that Mazda is currently working on. The only thing is, it'll be a couple of months before they're done and I'm not that confident that it'll fix the problem. I guess where it's been an ongoing concern now for so long, I don't have much faith in my tech or Mazda for that matter. I hate to say it, but sometimes I wish i had just gotten the 350Z and the performace like I originally wanted instead of opting for the looks of the rx8!

aggietiff28

Hey...as far as the lemon law is concerned...unless it has changed. I had a '98 S-10 pickup that was in the shop ~30 times in the first three years I had it. I tried to turn it in under the lemon law, but was not able to because it said that the vehicle has to be in the service department for 30 days total within a three year period (might be two years, I cant remember) for the same problem. So even though I had taken my car in ~30 times and it was out of commission for well over 30 days total, since I did not have the same underlying problem I could not turn it in. Where did you get the 4 service visit thing, because I would have loved to have known that 5 years ago? Also, you can choose whether or not you want to turn your car in under the lemon law. If you dont want to, you dont have to.

Copyshoppeman

When I bought my car I signed this paper informing me of the lemon law and my dealer explained to me that if you bring a car in for the same problem 4x's or more then it considered a lemon and since my brother in-law is the one that sold me the car I'm trusting what he told me. The only problem is that I'm sure the dealership will try their hardest to convince me that they can fix it and to take a rental car. I'm currently playing phone tag with the area Mazda rep because in my opinion, if I have to drive a rental car for any significant amount of time, I don't think its fair to me to pay for a 30K+ car and drive a ford focus! Either fix my car or assume the payments until it is!

Pkskull77

Use the threat of the Lemon Law to get the dealership to throw in some free Goodies. Things like an extended warranty, or free Mazda Speed parts. I have read several posts where people got all sorts of stuff for just threatening Lemon Law. If you want to keep the car this is the way to go!

slllygrl10

Never happened to you and my 8 running great.. Sorry to hear about your 8

Copyshoppeman

Thanks for the advice. They've already offered me a free 15K mile check-up but I want more then that. Im not trying to be greedy, but I feel I should be getting what I pay for. What's a 15K mile check-up cost anyways?

czr

iTrader: (3)

That 15k free check up they are offering is a joke. I don't have an A/T, but if I was in your position, I'd be so pissed but I'd definately try to get out of that lease/purchase agreement. Research more into the lemon law for your state which was enacted for this purpose to protect consumers.

Copyshoppeman

Oh believe me, that will be the next step. I really love all the attention and how good the car looks, but the performance isn't there. Now, I know this would only happen in my wildest dreams but what I would really like to happen is to just get a new 8 and have it run the way it supposed to!

NavyDood

My wife's A/T 8 never really had a hesitation problem. The idle was a tad more irregular during the summer heat of TX. The power during the heat was not that bad, but now that it has cooled down in the high 70's low 80's I have noticed quite a bit of extra grunt from the cooler temps.

Thanks for the heads up if this is true. Now, somebody figure something out for the tranny to have snappier shifting.

Katchoo

I just had the 15K done...but my dealer is a crook so this isn't typical. They added a bunch of other things on that 'Mazda recommends' and that jacked the price up to...get this: $345.00!!!! The real 15K is just a glorified oil change.