BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

If you don't know, here is where you can check to see if recalls have been completed.
https://www.mazdausa.com/owners/recalls

gwilliams6

Unknownjinx, depending on what date the car was originally sold, a 2009 would have its Mazda engine warranty expire sometime this year (8 yrs/100,000 miles, whichever comes first) if it was sold in 2009. The warranty could be still in force longer if the car was first sold in 2010.

UnknownJinX

Thank you. I think I will consider some kind of extended warranty.

And yes, it's official. I purchased the car!

The compression test returned the following results:

Rotor 1: 740 kPa 750kPa 740kPa @261 RPM
Rotor 2: 780 kPa 750kPa 790kPa @265 RPM

Altitude is about 23 m(75 ft) according to Google

According to foxed.ca's normalizing calculator, the above numbers turn into the following:

Rotor 1: 7.55 7.70 7.55
Rotor 2: 7.91 7.63 8.05

So rotor 1 is not too shabby while rotor 2 is pretty good. I will take good care of it. Will post some pics in the coming days.

gwilliams6

our chart:

gwilliams6

UnknownJinX

RX8 Club’s recommended maintenance schedule, more comprehensive and proactive than Mazda’s schedule.
30,000 miles:
- Replace Ignition coils
- Replace Plug wires
- Replace Spark plugs
- Clean MAF (mass air flow sensor)
- Clean ESS (e-shaft sensor)
- Reset ESS profile
- Clean power steering connections
- Clean battery terminals and clamps
- Replace transmission fluid
- Replace coolant (Mazda FL-22 is highly recommended)
- Replace air filter
- Replace brake fluid (fluid in the brake lines AND the clutch line)
~$300 USD in parts if you shop smartly.


every 60,000:
...all 30,000, plus...
- Clean all chassis electrical grounding points
- Replace accessory belts
- Clean OMP lines
- Replace rear differential fluid
- Replace thermostat
- Clean / Straighten AC condenser fins
- Clean / Straighten oil cooler fins
- Inspect catalytic converter
- Clean / Inspect intake valving
- Consider / inspect all points in 90,000+ as well, many items fail early
~$130 USD in parts if you shop smartly.

90,000:
...all 30,000, plus any 60,000 not yet done, plus...
- Replace coolant bottle
- Replace radiator hoses
- Replace radiator
- Replace front O2 sensor
- Replace motor mounts
- Inspect clutch pedal assembly for flex / weld breaks
~$900 USD in parts if you shop smartly.
At 100k, anything original in the cooling system is really suspect and failure prone. It represents the biggest threat to your engine.

UnknownJinX

Yep, I have seen the chart. So I guess rotor 1 is a little bit on the weaker side, so a warranty will probably help.

Exterior is well taken care of, though, so that's great.

UnknownJinX

Oh, and I am going to let the RX-8 stay in the car port for the next few days. Lots of work I need to do, like ignition wires, coil packs, spark plugs, brake pads(I heard the dreaded screeching tonight), brake fluid and coolant(which I will probably have to do at the dealership, unfortunately - none of my car-savvy friends are around to help me with the brake fluid, and we have wild animals and pets strolling around, which may lick up the sweet yet poisonous coolant I may spill), and so on(basically everything in the 30k miles list). I will then be installing LED bulbs. Really looking forward to all of the fun I will have with the car - both from driving it and maintaining it.

CelestialGryphon

iTrader: (1)

Jinx - Some spirited driving might potentially help if the car has been "babied" as that's weirdly enough a common issue that kills these cars. Get it sorted, then make sure the car is nice and warm... then find a curvy road and drive it like you ******* stole it.

UnknownJinX

I know this, and I went very hard last night. It was a blast.

I know you are supposed to baby the car in terms of maintaining, and drive the car hard.

You know what they say: work hard, play hard.

CelestialGryphon

iTrader: (1)

+1 to you then. Pictures when you can, excited to see another running 8.

Lancr735

Had 8 for about 5 months now, only have driven it about 2,000 miles since getting it, mostly highway and around town cruzing and the rear wheel have worn themselves from 3/4 new to bald to the point the steel belts on the inner edges are showing!! Drives fine, doesn't pull on nothing, front tires fine. The rear tires when looking at the rims do seem to have a visible vertical cant to them verses the front, like a upside down V and are worn worst on the inside. Have 4 new tires on order and plan to take it to Mazda dealer for a 4 wheel alignment (or is alignment at any reputable tire dealer ok?) but my question is is the wear alignment related or is there something worn that I should replace before taking it to the stealership for alignment only to find out it needs X part at 200 bucks but labor is 800 and then you need another alignment a some ungodly price. Need experienced advice, MUCH appreciated by this still 8 newbie 102,000 miles and looks cherry inside, outside, and underneath, shocks bad or ?????? HELP!!!

PS, since owning replaced EVERYTHING in the recommended 90,000 mile and below list including all 9 hoses, compression is around 105-110 psi and equal, gets about 16-18 MPG and runs 14.7 1/4's. Purchased for my boys 18th B-day and High School graduation present, now graduation 4 weeks away and bald tires LOL (ie more money )

CelestialGryphon

iTrader: (1)

Do you have a reputable tire person who's got high end equipment or at least knows hows to do things correctly? My car has slight camber in, but it was set that way for handling. Also, that's not a reputable compression test, you need a rotary specific compression test. A reputable tire shop should be able to help.

Lancr735

Mazda Dealer said $80 for 4 wheel alignment on RX-8, Jack Williams Tire dealer. reputable new shop brand new latest equipment, same price, guess taking it to the Mazda dealer the better choice??? Was mainly wondering how it got this way, worn parts, big pot holes, or was it adjusted to this setting??? The front tires look correct stance wise and no uneven wear noticed, the back wheels are noticeably canted in at the top

Compression test was done with a electronic transducer I built, 0-150 psi = 0-10 volts DC where I could see the spike of each lobe each chamber and calculate the rpm when voltage is displayed on a oscilloscope, transducer has .1% accuracy at full scale, you can calibrate gauges with it, I trust it, probably more accurate then the dealers set up. I since did the decarb process with 1 gallon of blue windshield washer fluid mixed with 6 oz Idemitsu oil, haven't had time to do another comp test since though, thats on the never ending want to do list.

40w8

My 07 RX8 GT had that "canted in on top deal" which is too much camber from the weak rear shocks.

Rear shocks are air loaded to help springs hold up car.

As car sags the camber goes more neg.

Best solution is new Bilstein or whatever shocks; I put on B12 Bilstein kit which really fixed it.

When aligning, get them to dial least camber they can ( mine was -1.65 least), and of course set the rear toe to zero to slight inward while front toe is zero.

You've had lots of work, so good luck.

Lancr735

I was wondering if shocks were the culprit. Roads where we live can get a bit rough in places, not really wanting to lower the car more than it already is. What about the Blistein B6 variety? Do I need to do all 4 at the same time or OK to just change the back 2? If all 4 is a spring compressor needed to do the fronts?

Lancr735

Replaced shocks on all 4 corners, went with the Blistein B6's and BFG G-Force Comp-2 A/S tires 225/45 ZR-18. Had alignment done at Mazda dealer, turns out the $80 quoted wanted to charge $149 at the counter, settled on $100, wtf with the bait and switch? Any ways, rear Camber was -3.05 on both rears, no wonder it wore the inner edges out, they set it to -1.41 on the rears -.40 on the fronts. I see the rubber "nubbies" are wearing off the inner edges of the rear tires more then the out side edges, the fronts are wearing evenly. Factory spec for Rear camber with 350 mm vehicle height is -1.44 so it is aligned to spec but I wonder if the rears are going to wear grossly uneven again? Car is only street driven and not that aggressively, I wonder if -.75 to -1.0 on the rears would have been better for me rear tire wear wise???

But it does drive GREAT with the new shocks, rubber, and alignment compared to before the changes

40w8

Those B6's are for when you use stock springs. I bought the B12 kit since I got it for $700 from AJUSA.

My car in stock form new had about -2 deg on rears, and I got them down to -1.65 deg with close to that 350mm ride height.

Car rides like a dream. My Hankook Ventus V12's wore out even enough on back; however, I tracked car and worked the whole tire.

I think rears jumping up and down are a wear factor on rears, since camber and toe keeps changing during suspension travel. Getting rears camber as less neg as possible is the best thing.

If you got it down to -1.44 you were lucky. I couldn't get lower than -1.65. You're close enough to perfect.

Jcalogic

I have a quick question may seem stupid but can't seem to find an answer for time using this so sorry for being a noob but do you guys happen to know if there's an all aluminum radiator for the automatic rx8 and if so what's the best one?

Lancr735

I'm pretty new to RX8 too, having owned my 2006 auto since about January, purchased for my boy, thank God I'm very mechanically inclined, didn't know what I was getting myself into unfortunately. Anyways, the car had 100,102 miles on it when purchased and in a effort to make it last preformed the RX8 club recommended 100,000 mile maintenance which included amongst many other things replacing radiator, T-stat and all hoses. I purchased all the hoses and T-stat from Mazdaswag, they had the best price I found at least for genuine Mazda parts but the radiator I got from Rockauto, a Spectra Premium CU2694 along with a new Stant cap 10227. The radiator was a perfect fit, looked almost exactly like the one I took out. Replaced the over flow tank too as recommended with a Mazda unit off Amazon. Replacing the radiator was no picnic, som eof the worst of it was removing the lower cover which was rivited on, don't know what Mazda was thinking there, it is now secured with 6 bolts and speed nuts so getting it off next time is a 20 minute job not 2 hours. Did the power steering power connector check and clean while it was out along with flushing the transmission with 14 Qts of Mazda fluid and a whole bunch of other things while engine bay area had some wiggle room with all the parts removed to get at the radiator, I almost wish I just kept going and pulled the engine adn did a overhaul on it too as I know that job will be on my plate someday too. If you have not yet read the RX8 new owners thread I highly recommend reading it at least 3 times. Doing so cost me ALLOT of money to bring our 8 up to snuff but I'm confident in it now it will not leave the kid broke down somewhere or in a situation where he doesn't know what to do and ruin the engine trying to get it home

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

Welcome.
Let me take this opportunity to offer a suggestion for new members;

The above is referred to as a 'wall of text' and more often than not, veteran members will simply skip over it without reading, or reply TL/DR.

For best results, try to break up your lengthy posts into paragraphs.

dannobre

iTrader: (3)

The lower cover is riveted to the side panels and designed to be removed in one piece. The bolts for the side panels are up on the front frame rails and easy to get to under the wheel wells on each side.

New Yorker

Excellent suggestion. Thanks for pointing it out.

FamilyMan23

Okay, so I bought a 2004 RX8 with 118,000 miles.
It runs/drives, but the idle drops after it is fully warmed up. I've gutted that cat, replaced the coils, spark plugs, maf, and ess sensors, yet nothing has changed. Any input on possibly what is causing the idle to drop and the car to die?

UnknownJinX

Did you check the compression numbers?

gwilliams6

Keeping the Engine at an Idle
• Ignition Coils
• Spark Plugs
• Spark Plug Wires
• Engine Compression
• E-Shaft Sensor (ESS)
• Mass Air Flow Sensor (MAF)
• Front O2 sensor
• Catalytic Converter (Cat)
• Intake Vaccum


Engine Power Loss
• chokes as revs increase
o O2 sensor failure (too rich)
o MAF failure
o MAF disconnected
o e-shaft sensor fouled
o accessory belt fraying
• high end power loss (hard fuel cut)
o Rev limit reached
• high end power loss (jerky and stumbling)
o Ignition failure
o fuel pressure loss
o e-shaft sensor fouled
• high end power loss (smooth)
o Catalytic converter clog
o air filter clog
• low end power loss (smooth)
o Engine compression loss
• low end power loss (stumbles)
o Ignition failure
o front O2 sensor failure
• revs slowly but smoothly
o O2 sensor failure (too lean)
o catalytic converter clog
o air filter clog
• sudden power drop at a specific rpm
o Intake valving actuation problem
• trouble getting to redline
o Ignition failure
o front O2 sensor failure
o catalytic converter clog
o air filter clog
o e-shaft sensor fouled
o fuel pressure loss
o MAF failure