Had my RX-8 for 1 year - already getting a new engine!?!?!
 

I've had my 8 since May 2004 and it's been nothing short of great. That is, until last Wednesday, July 13th. I'm driving along Santa Fe in front of Arapahoe Community College northbound. Check engine light flashes three times, and the car dies completely in mid drive - at 50 mph! I coast to a stop in the middle turn lane, car will not re-start. I thought, vapor lock, hot day, no big deal. Call a tow truck, tow it to McDonald on Broadway. I call them on Saturday July 16th to pick it up. Service tech tells me they have ordered me a new engine, fully covered under warranty. My engine lost total compression in one of the rotary chambers, irreparable. So, after one year I'm getting a new engine and I'm RX-8less for the next few weeks.

Anyone else hear of this happening? The guy at McDonald said this is the second 8 this has happened to through their shop.

Update to my RX-8 status - not good!
 

I just got off the phone with McDonald - they now have a full recall issued on all RX-8s due to a fuel tank issue and the car catching fire! They can't sell any more RX-8s from their lot. Worst thing is that there are no parts for a fix yet so my car is going to just sit there until they figure out how to fix this problem!

Not only am I getting a new engine, but now I cannot get my car back until they fix the fuel tank! Sheesh, I'm gonna be RX-8less for months it seems! :mad:

New Engine - no compression
 

I've got 21,000 miles on my RX8. Last year at this time, I couldn't start the car. Towed her in and it was flooded. Yesterday, it wouldn't start. I thought the same thing - flooded. I talked to the dealership today and the engine had no compression and they have to replace the engine. It sure seems like people are having a lot a problems with this car.

Wow, that sucks. Other than the flooding / hard starts, did you notice anything else wrong with the car? Power loss?

It think I read somewhere that flooding could clog up the cat and that compression tests wouldn't be accurate somewhere, but I don't really know too much about this.

Is it a common thing to take a car in just for a compression test? I wonder if I should get mine checked just to know...

if you're not feeling power loss when driving, there's no need to compression test....

If your cat starts to clog up you'll feel the power loss. When I was driving to the dealership I couldn't get past 6,000rpm at all and eventually couldn't get past 50mph (or 40mph on slight hills). The dealership was great about replacing the cat, but dragged their feet about compression testing and ended up not doing it.

I guess it is sufficiently time-intensive that they won't do it unless it is called for by a performance problem or CEL code because they'll want to charge that time back to Mazda as warrenty work. I wasn't willing to say, "look, I'll pay 1 or 2 hours labor charge in cash," just to satisfy my own curiosity.

Thanks for clearing that up for me

Out of curiosity, what engine oil were you using?

I think I know where you're going with this... :nono:

As long as it's 5w20, it should have been alright. (YES, this includes synthetic)

...getting the thread back on track (ignoring oil questions).

Ryan13b has just outlined a scenario for Mazda dealerships to misdiagnose a flooded engine as failed. Has anyone ever taken this all the way through:

1) Diagnose flooded engine,
2) Discover lost compression,
3) Correct flood and dry out engine,
4) Crank, possibly start,
5) Re-test compression.

It would be a shame (sham?) if some of the engine replacements were not necessary.

my rx8 is the best. It's been nothing but great. I kicked a 350z ass last week!