I am new to this so bear with me. 3 weeks ago I purchase a 2005 Mazda RX8 coup from my son in law. I love the car. It has 82,000 miles on the car. The engine was replaced by Mazda at 62,000 (under warranty)so about 20,000 miles ago. It runs great. But !!!!
I just took it in for an oil change at Firestone. They noticed oil on the air filter. They said it is most likely the Apex Seals and probably means it is rebuild engine time. I am thinking this can't be at 20,000 miles. Does this sound right? If so should this be covered under some kind of warranty?

 

lol. Thankfully they have no idea what they're talking about.

Oil on the filter usually happens because the oil was overfilled at the last oil change. Depending on how handy you are, you can take the intake tract apart, clean it all out (including the MAF, which would be a good idea, by the way (using only MAF cleaner, nothing else)), and put it all back together. And check that Firestone didn't overfill your oil.

I'm going to assume that you know the quirks of this car, but have a read through the NEW AND POTENTIAL OWNERS thread stickied in the new members forum.

 

THank you for the info. I will check the oil first thing tomorrow. Yes I haven't stopped reading about the RX8 since I bought it. Alot of info to sift through. Lots of pros and lots of cons, but most people love the car.
I think next time I have the oil changed, I will do it myself or take it to Mazda.
It does have a few other problems that I will probably fix myself. The biggest one is a noisy throwout bearing. I have have replaced many but never on a RX8. When firestone had it on a lift it looked easy enough that I can do myself.
Again thank you for replying.

 

Just be aware that there is a normal transmission noise that many mistake for throwout bearing problems. Not saying that's all it is, but beware. Sounds like a slowly rotating rattle can with clutch out in neutral.

 

You hear it when it is in neutral and the clutch is out. It goes away when you press the clutch pedal in. You can also hear it when driving but not as loud. At times it seems to be a little hard to shift into reverse but that could be just me not knowing the car well.
THe clutch is working fine with no chatter and does not slip.
I hope I am making sense. LOL

 

Your silver RX8 looks just like mine. Beautiful car.

 

All that sounds normal, including the reverse thing. It's notchy, sometimes you need to roll forward or backward an inch or two to line up the cogs.

 

You have made my day. Thank You

 

Don't count on Mazda not overfilling it. My dealer always overfills, with oil up to the top of the flat part of the dipstick rather than just to the full mark. Fortunately, I've got an '06, which seems to be the one year that doesn't have a problem with an overfill.

Ken

 

I know they are two different cars but the noise has never really changed I have the same bearing noise in both of my manual rx7's. You would think Mazda would of fixed this over the years with all that changed when they designed the 8.

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Don't count on the dealer knowing much more than Firestone in fact they might know less.

 

I love it too, I have a 2005 Silver RX8, I love it. Looks super awesome

 

I had oil in my filter too. Its just overflow if the oil gets overfilled. I took mine to a Mazda dealership which actually has a Rotary Professional on hand and its not the APEX seals. Don't let JiffyLuby or Firestone tell you anything. They have no idea what they are talking about. A dude from jiffylube told me my car only had 1 rotor...???? WTF? idiot. So now I just go to the Rotary experts. I have a silver 2005 Touring Edition RX8 1.3L Two Rotor Engine.

 

Yes dealership almost always overfill during oil changes. I have a Mazdaspeed CAI so I don't have problems with excess oil in my air filter. But my oil level is over the top full line on the dipstick whenever I have my Mazda dealer do the oil change.

 

Welcome.

Sounds like someone answered the throw out bearing question. good. when the clutch out, the throw out bearing is just sitting there not moving, no movement, no noise.

For the rest, check out the Congrats thread in my sig. Lots of good stuff to do, all of it helps with an 04 and 05.

 

Welcome to the forum, and glad you checked in before firestone rebuilt your motor lol

Though Your questions have been answered, I'd say inspect your gear shifter boot. It may have tiny holes cover them up or replace the boot and you'll be surprised some of the noise will disappear :-)

All the best