05 rx8, takata and fuel pump recalldone
 

just picked the car up. it barely started in the parking lot, felt like it was starting-dying-start-dying, would jerk along. after a few minutes, it no longer did this, but it take unusually high rpm to move, (as might be seen if there is low compression). is this some sort of teething or break-in process for the fuel pump pipe/filter/w.e (cuz it's probably not the airbags)?

Unusually high rpm to *move*?
If rpm and speed don't correlate like they used to, the only possible explanation is the clutch is gone. The jerking and poor starting could have other explanations though. What does the dealer have to say about this, given that they returned the car to you in this shape?

Did you return to the dealer and express your concerns to the service adviser or service manager?

If you think the problem was caused by the dealer service and the dealer is not responsive to your complaint then you can open a case through Mazda corporate. Not sure how much they'll help but may be worth a try. First give the dealer a chance.

You can find some Mazda support info here: https://www.mazdausa.com/owners there is a number to call if you follow the FAQs there.

Hopefully you find out what is wrong. Took my RX in to Mazda yesterday and now i'm a bit nervous.

thanks for the responses all, just wanted to update this, it seems during the recall most of the oil drained out of the car. IMO they should check the oil level before returning to me. Basically it seemed to run fine after this was resolved.

Why would oil drain out ?

They don't fit a new fuel pump that i'm aware of

If the engine oil drained out, you would have cooked your engine. The symptoms don't fit.
Is this an automatic and are we talking about transmission oil? If so then that makes more sense.

Also oil doesn't just drain out. What were they doing that required the oil system to be opened in the first place, and what did they do to make sure this doesn't happen again as soon as you leave the dealership?
There's a lot of oil in the car, you don't just fail to notice 7L of engine oil or however many L of trans oil on the floor...

Thanks for the responses

Don't believe this (quoted above) is true. If there's not enough oil the engine won't even start, because oil aids in establishing the compression seal on this rotary. I've encountered this during engine deflooding.

However I'm not sure why I was able to start it and then run it with the unusually high rpm for the given speed for a few miles at all, unless there's some sort of transition region in which its not a binary matter of engine starting, or not starting due to failure to achieve compression.

Another thing I can think of is some sort of teething problem with the new fuel pump that went away.

there was a slight oil leak on the car which I informed the dealer. They obviously had the car running doing some sort of test, or inspection, etc. As part of a final checkout, they should have checked the oil level before returning the car to me.

This is incorrect. What did you encounter, exactly?
Oil injection helps with seal, but it's a miniscule amount and essentially 0 is supplied during start up. So it'll start, but without oil pressure your bearings will cook.

The only way rpm can be different for a given speed is if a) your clutch is slipping or b) your automatic is unable to shift properly (such as having low fluid itself). Low compression or engine oil have nothing to do with it.

The starting problems in the parking lot could be related to the fuel pump, if the dealer hadn't run it at all to test and there was air in the lines. Was the car warm when you had this problem? Because it could also be weak ignition/weak compression.

To come back to the oil level thing... I find it difficult to believe that the car lost many liters of oil while at the dealer and nobody noticed. How much oil did it have before you brought it in?

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