46 down, 44 to go! It's downhill from here!

 

You guys need to understand that I don't think of my 8 as my "car". I have an old Explorer that serves as my "transportation".

The 8 is my favorite toy. Hell, if it's sunny and dry I may drive it tomorrow.

 

48 down, 42 to go.

That is all.

 

50 down, 40 to go.

That is all.

 

Your dominating this page JT!

Supposed to be some pretty snowy/rainy/slushy weather for the next few days.
Until Sunday actually, which is the day I usually go snowboarding on
I can't wait for all the fresh pow, so I can go and shred the gnar!

 

Anybody know of a good shop in the Salt Lake / Riverton Utah area that is knowledgeable about the RX-8?

 

There aren't a whole lot of options really, best bet is the dealer probably. There really isn't a rotary shop around town. I know a pretty good amount, most of the guys on this forum and the local forum slcrx8.com

What's going on with your 8?

 

Manual tranny whine and exhaust smell (comes into cab when sunroof or side windows are open). I think the smell may be from a bad catalytic converter. The dealers suck, they tell me the whine is normal but the shifting from 1st to second and especially 2nd to 1st is clunky and is easy to grind. I have noticed that I am now getting a whirring sound from the tranny that goes with the car speed and not the engine and is there when the clutch pedal is pressed and not pressed when the car is cold. There is also excessive noise from the tranny when sitting idle with the clutch engaged. when cold, the car will actually try to move forward when in neutral and clutch engaged. Any Ideas?
D Dahle Mazda said it was the throwout bearing, I know for a fact it is not. I have very good automotive knowledge but I am still learning the quirks of the RX-8 and the rotary.

 

Check your motor mounts and clutch bracket. Both are known to fail.

 

My tranny is notchy when cold but smooths out once warmed up. Search threads for gear oil in the transmission, some people have replaced the stock gear oil with another brand that they say works better and smooths things out.

The whine may be the differential if it's related to car speed and not engine speed.

You may have a hole in your exhaust. How old is your car? Have you been pre-mixing? Excessive oil can lead to early CAT failure.

 

It's a 2004, I bought it with 53K on it last year. It now has 62K. I have not been premixing. I know it's the tranny that is whining because shifting changes it. it seems to be an input shaft bearing since the whine will get higher when I shift down causing the input shaft to spin faster. The motor mounts were changed under warranty last summer.

 

Sounds like you've narrowed it down, and if that's the cause, you don't need a rotary expert. Just make sure if you don't take it to a dealer that they are careful with your driveline. It's not metal.

 

I also have a whirring sound when driving and a grind in second. The grind is definitely a syncro, I've known that. It's from having the wrong type of GL-5 oil in the trans, the friction modifiers in certain GL-5's eat the soft brass syncro's. So for a GL-5 make sure the modifiers are removed i.e. Redline 75w90 ns. Or a GL-4 or any brand will work great. The whirring I think is just gear mesh but not sure I can't narrow it down cause nothing looks fucked up. I've heard that noise since day one and can't see anything that worn or bad.

With the exhaust smell in the cabin it could be a bad cat. Also could be and exhaust leak somewhere in that area. Cats are easy to check on your own, at the same time you could check the bolt and such for tightness.

 

I get that syncro sound when shifting from 1st to second also. I put in Mobile 1 synthetic gear oil but it sounds like I need to change to the Redline you mentioned. Igues the thing that irritates me the most about this is the Mazda dealers (D Dahle and Bountiful) and their diagnosis of the problem, the drive train was still under warranty when I brought this to their attention. I'd bet it would be a whole new diagnosis if it were on my dime. I guess the real kicker is that they diagnosed it as a throw out bearing when all tests I do are totally proving otherwise.

The exhaust smell is getting worse the longer that I have had the car. I don't hear any exhaust leaks but I will definitely check. Thanks for the help.

One more thing, I have noticed that about half the time the car gets sluggish at various upper RPMs and other times it's smooth and quick, any ideas on that?

 

That sounds like coils, plugs and wires to me. Do you know if they were done before you got it, or have you done them. With that many miles it's a must. Just don't buy from the dealer, you can get the parts a lot cheaper online. I'll find a few links just give me a bit.

I have heard the throwout bearing does cause a noise due to it's design but they say it's normal. That is a noise we just have to deal with, it can be annoying I know but the only way to fix it is to do it yourself, cause Mazda isn't going to do anything about it sadly.

The dealers around here don't give the best support but they have more knowledge than most shop so it's the best we have. UGGH my stomach turns just saying it.

 

Mazdatrix has a selection of wires and also have the coils for a good price. http://www.mazdatrix.com/8ignition.htm

BHR has the plugs for the best price, $80 for the set here: http://blackhaloracing.com/products-...gine/ignition/ They also have a total ignition solution which is pretty pricey, but I love mine. If you have any questions I'll answer them as best as I can if not the owner of BHR would gladly talk to you, he's a really good guy.

Those are just a couple of places. If you search more you may be able to find better deals.

 

Thanks for the links. I did replace my plugs, I bought them on a group buy from Mazmart on this forum, that did seem to help it run better but it still has the problem I mentioned. I will check out those links, I forgot about the coils and wires.

 

I had what seemed to me excessive deposits on some of the spark plugs when I changed them, does that seem normal? Not oily so I know they were firing but just hard brown deposits.

 

If rain in Vegas relates to snow in Utah, you best get the snow plows out.

 

Depends on your altitude.

I'm at the bottom of the valley and just had rain for the past few days. My yard used to be covered in snow and it's all melted this week. Daytime temps have been in the 40's.

The mountains have been plastered, however. Some winters are like that, and if there's anything to global warming, they will trend that way. Rain in the valleys, snow in the mountains. Fine by me.

 

If it's covered under warranty, why worry? If they replace a good part, and the problem is still there, they try again and replace something else- again under warranty.

The only down side is the time it takes while you don't have the car. If it's your only car, I can see where it would be a hassle.

But if it's covered under warranty, I would have no problem letting them replace part after part until they get it right.

I'm only 3 years into a 6-year extended warranty that I paid a lot of money for. I'm going to wave that thing in their face as much as it takes whenever there's a problem.

 

Definitely must do the coils and wires I would be willing to bet that's cause your upper RPM stutter. The brown hard stuff from what I've seen is pretty normal, you don't want black or white that would be an indication of a rich or lean condition respectively. And you don't want plugs that look or feel 'wet'

 

The warranty is great if they use it. They would not even try, they were avoiding warrantying the tranny by blaming the throwout bearing. I would show them ways that I could prove without a doubt that it wasn't the throwout and they would still say they couldn't do anything and and couldn't explain why they still think I was wrong.
This all started at D Dahle Mazda where they charged me $125 just to give me a wrongful diagnosis. I told them that if I get a second opinion and find out that their diagnosis was wrong that they would be refunding my money. I called Mazda and told them my problem and they said I should take it to Bountiful Mazda. So I called Bountiful Mazda and then drove 30+ miles just to have the underwriter that obviously knew very little about auto mechanics look at my car for about 5 seconds and say it was normal. He did not even run any tests or even have a experienced mechanic look at it. I could tell something had gone awry so I asked and found out that D Dahle called ahead and tainted my chances of even getting a unbiased diagnosis. The guy even told me that I voided my warranty by putting synthetic oil in the tranny! The guy at Bountiful Mazda was being a real jerk. Why did they call them ahead of me if they were positive about their own diagnosis?
I called Mazda again with my concerns after D Dahle's diagnosis and then told Mazda about the communication Dahle gave to Bountiful and the biased diagnosis so they called and set up to have the master technician at Bountiful Mazda look at it. They found and warrantied the bad motor mounts and found a bulletin from Mazda that mentions the sound of the transmission is normal and is not the throwout bearing. Dahle's diagnosis was wrong and what I said was right. The fact that I knew they were wrong made me pursue this further.
I still have my reservations on whether that noise is normal due to the clunky shifting but I am going to try a different gear oil as mentioned earlier in this thread.

 

Dealerships are one of the most frustrating experience a person can go through. I have had to deal with them in a warranty fight, it basically came down to them saying 'sue us.' Sure makes you sour on the whole subject in general. I feel for you man.

 

Well I hope I never have to go through a warranty argument with a dealership. They always do what I ask them to. But then, I have a way of just ruining a person's whole day if they don't accomodate me in situations like that.

I've made school principals cry, no lie.