takahashi

I have been inspired with tens of thousands of RX-8 owners worldwide and have learnt so much from you and I am going attempt to summerize the highlights. Sorry in advance if this long thread bores you. I want to score a sticky :D I will be Australian specific.


1. RX-8 has a rotary engine
When people ask you about the car. The major difference from others (like the RX-7s) are: It is normally aspirated, have new side exhaust ports and 6 intake ports. It is 177kW in Australia from 184kW in Japan due to the ECU tune to reduce emission. And yes it is not a V8

2. Rotary engine drinks. Both engine oil and petrol.
Check you engine oil at least every 2000KM. Do not forget to warm the car 15 minutes so the water temp is up and steady. Then stop the engine and wait 5 minutes before taking out the dipstick. The top and bottom line is 1.7L in difference. Also the type of oil we use is in hot debate. Mazda dealer has Mazda rotary oil (which is mineral base). SL rating 5W30.

Side note from Gomez: Don't worry about the cappuccino froth on your dipstick, you don't have a coolant leak into the sump.....it's just a little condensation and it's normal in a rotary engine.

3. DSC can be switch off in different levels.
Pushing the DSC off button once is only half way. To switch off all systems, press and hold for 7 seconds until you will see the slippery sign in the centre. Then it is all off. To reset the "all-off" situation - shut the engine and restart (but beware flooding - no.7 of this thread)

4. There are two modes of dash light driving at night
Factory setting is

If you click the dash light all the way up beyond a click


5. Light bulbs
H9 for high beam and H11 for fog lights. They are very hard to find replacements. Even normal non-superwhite ones need to order in some places. So should have one spare handy or know where to get them.

6. Bare radiator and oil cooler allowing stone clip damage.
There is an oil cooler in the left air hole of the front spoiler and the radiator is at the bottom section where the front rotary crest is. You notice there is no guard to protect from flying stones. Hymee in Brisbane sell the Gorzilla Guard

7. Flooding
It is when there is unburn fuel in the chamber and cog it up and occur when switch a cool engine off (when you rolling out of the driveway). See thread about flooding in this page. Also see version of the ECU flash (ie. when people talk about F and G flash in this forum).

8. Modifications
At this stage (July 2004): A lot of people talk about Turbo/Supercharge. A lot of people have done the exhaust. Bang for bucks in most profession people's eyes is the sway bars :o . Most australians have Hymee exhaust

(April 2005): Look at my mods. I have some cool ones and some waste of money ones. I love my sway and strut bars, RP short shifter and the Hymee sCANalyser.

9. Some are not really secrets
Like it uses premium unleaded fuel (been tested with unleaded and knocking occur), except for Wildcard's car haha. There are four compartment in the center pillar (front cup holder, the CD storage behind that, rear cup holders, rear compartments) and the centre upright with storage space designed by Japanese as a rubbish bin - true story :o. Once you use the glue kit you have to change tyre, they can't be repaired then.

10. RX8club is full of knowledge
Famous RX-8 Australians: Hymee (moderator and exhaust man), Gomez (his memory and recap of before-printed knowledge), AMG (with his flooding knowledge :p ), Lock and Load (with his .... ). Others like timbo, Kev, Dez, nojooc, and all others here are extremely friendly. Internationally PoLak, D MENAC 7, rotarygod, Japan 8, cortc and all others are great guys. We have hot chicks too!! .. eh Kari.

CURRENT NEWS!
1. Engine mount:
Second hand car owners - please check if your car need engine mount replacement. Just drive to a dealer before warranty runs out! It has been a problem from Asia to Europe.

2. Petrol containing ethanol

Full discussion thread here

EDIT: Recently survey (Taka, nojooc) that we made serious mistakes when we first get our car - here hint: Drive your brand new car to your wife first, not to your mates.

BONUS: Thanks to DMRH
IDIOT GUIDE for DE- FLOODING PROCEDURE

[/QUOTE]

FYI.............Always start the engine with ZERO-throttle

De-flooding made simple.....

1st stage..... Depress throttle to 100%. This turns off fuel pump via TPS signal to the ECU. Try cranking it at 100% throttle. Do not release throttle whilst cranking unless it starts
2nd stage.... Locate "CIRCUIT" relay * in main relay/fuse box behind left head light. Its clearly marked on the underside of the lid. Remove relay. Using Zero-throttle, crank the engine again until it tries to start.

If you have a friend. Get them to have relay ready whilst you crank. If the engine fires, have them plug the relay back in before the residual line fuel pressure drops too much.

If you are alone, then let it run until it dies again naturally. Re-fit relay & try cranking again with ZERO-throttle

3rd stage....... Some cars are flooded pretty hard-core & require the plugs to be removed & cleaned. Whilst out, you need to expell the built up fuel to bring the air/fuel ratio down to a level that will combust

4th stage...... Locate & remove "EGI" relay* in the main relay/fuse box behind left head light. Now therre is no fuel & spark, you can crank the engine & spray all the fuel out. The heavy misty fuel mix will dissapate the more you crank.

5th stage...... Once the fuel mist getting expelled is under 10% of what was originally expelled, re-fit plugs, relays & start the engine. if the engine fails, take plugs back out & repeat process.

* Circuit relay is a Mazda definition for the power to the main fuel pump relay
* EGI relay powers the ECU. No power = no spark
Note: Fuel pump relay is alongside the Circuit relay. A Mazda fuel pump relay controls the fuel pump speed by engaging a resistor in series with the pump power.



I want someone tell me what have left out and will rewrite and change thing if required.

Thanks
Taka

DOMINION

Cool. The dealer gave me a paper with all this from Mazda too.

AMG

taka, what about the quest for the secret holy grail of rotary longevity.

The liquid gold ............. mazda's rotary oil.


Oh, and don't forget to tell people to not believe a word most dealers say.

Lock & Load

Taka
you have RE written the holy RX8 BIBLE for newbies :p

cheers
michael

cgrx

Sticky !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wildcard

Great job Taka. I disagree with point 9 though. I ONLY use regular unleaded and I do not get any knocking. My '8 hasn't seen a tank of premium since January this year. No change in performance either. Save yourself 10cents a litre and buy yourself an icecream next time you go to the servo with the money you save.

takahashi

ok.... New obseration (edited)

That is what Hymee said

Wildcard

Hadn't seen Hymee's thread. Still, I the only time my car has pinged was when we plugged in Hymee's E-flash tuned fuel/ignition controller into my D-flash ECU, so I know what it sounds like. Each to his own I guess, but 91RON works for me. I just make sure I buy it from a major chain. Ethanol would be suicide.

Gomez

Better make it 11 things a newbie should know..........

• Don't worry about the cappuccino froth on your dipstick, you don't have a coolant leak into the sump.....it's just a little condensation and it's normal in a rotary engine.

I admit I shat myself when I saw this froth for the first time.....!

Gomez.

Hymee

iTrader: (1)

OK,

I'll grant Taka his wish, and he can have sticky sheets.

One other thing RX-8 owners should know, in case they are wondering.

An RX-8 is quicker to 60' than an SS Commodore. ('8 is lighter)
An RX-8 is slower to the 1/4 mile than an SS Commodore. (SS has more power)
An RX-8 is quicker round QR than an SS Commodore. (8' Handles better)

These are just things I know

Cheers,
Hymee.

dbb

Hymee,

You forgot that the RX-8 is a safer place to be in an accident than an SS Commodore. The RX-8 has maximum NCAP Rating of 6, vs 4 in the Commodore.

Also, since the RX-8 handles better and stops better and has better traction control, you are far less likely to have the accident in the first place.

Also, the RX-8 sounds better, looks better, is built better, and has a better stereo.

Lock & Load

Everyone has mentioned valid points , however no one mentioned the fact that the colour LIGHTINING YELLOW will no longer be available as from july 2004 , this colour is being replaced by a strato blue as in mazda 3 and not the pearl white as we were hoping for .

cheers
michael

sco

Something I didn't spot until well after I got my car -- If the engine fails to start, make sure you turn the key all the way to off before trying to start again. Failing to do so could put the car into limp home mode.

Hymee

iTrader: (1)

Something else I noted, if you stall it and you have DSC OFF/OFF and start it again without turning the ignition off the DSC stays OFF/OFF

When would that be handy ?

Cheers,
Hymee.

Gomez

Another thing or two..........The oily smell in the cabin when you start the new RX-8 will go away after a few weeks. It's the Cosmolene corrosion inhibitor applied to the engine/exhaust prior to shipment.

The thunk you hear when first moving the car after start-up is the ABS brake self test.....it's normal, and not a problem at all.

Good thread this, Taka! Well deserved of it's sticky status.

Gomez.

Noddy

- Bose's self-adjusting mode becomes annoying rather than clever (I thought I was using it incorrectly until reading the threads).
- Yes Virginia, you do have to clean the front rims weekly/fortnightly to remove brake dust.

(How about adding the Taka list of how much each service might cost?)

Noddy

Gomez

Mine has never failed to start....was this an occasional "E" flash thing?

takahashi

I always thought the oily smell is the "new car" smell. I did not know it is the Cosmolene corrosion inhibitor. What is the smell from the catback exhaust then?

ABS cling occur at 30kmh as other cars or at a slower speed?

sco

Two more:

The pocket in the back of the removeable passthrough (between the rear seats) is a great place to store a 1L bottle of top up oil

The shape of the floor on the drivers side is unusual due to the engine sitting so far back - and will be difficult to find a set of mats for - thus the Mazda factory floor mats are highly recommended.

Gomez

Dunno about a catback exhaust smell.....you mean Au de Optimax?

The book says the ABS HU/CM (hydraulic unit/control module) pump motor self test is at approx 6.2mph....10kph. It occurs only once per drive.....(My car does it at a lower speed than that.....the book did say approx)

Gomez.

takahashi

How do you run in your engine I am sure new owner wants to know.

What I did.
<3000rpm first 300km
<4000rpm next 400km (up to 700km)
<5000rpm next 500km (up to 1300km)

then go for it. If you have money change oil. I did not as I noticed the oil look the same colour. So I changed at 5000km

sco

Another: Don't redline until she is warm. Try to keep it under 3000 while cold (it's hard I know, but achievable). The car is not warm when the coolant temperature hits the mark just below middle - oil and metal components take longer. To be safe, give it 15 minutes before you put the pedal to the metal.

RXcr8zy

Is there a consensus on which sway bars are the better ones to choose for the RX-8? Have seen the MazdaSport and Racing Beat sway bars advertised and talked about, but are there other manufacturers to consider? Guess I'm looking for some knowledgeable experience with the current RX-8 marketed sway bars. Like the skidpad G numbers Racing Beat advertise, but have not been able to find if their are equivalent G numbers specified for other sway bars. Any suggestions or info?

New to the list, but have been busy doing things since purchasing my RX-8.

Thanks

Hymee

iTrader: (1)

Slightly wrong thread???

timbo

To get it back on thread, I'd add:

Even if you have not done so in any other car, take your 8 out on a race track as part of an organised club track day. It will give you a much better sense of the wonderful capabilities of the car than you will ever get on the road, and much more safely, too.