Please give me some suggestions on buying this 8?
 

Hey guys can you give me some suggestion? The fantastic appearance of 8 does attract me so much. After reading the sticky threads I know about the care and basic knowledge of it.

Now, there is a 2004 model RX-8, 4DR CPE AT, 87323Miles, ask for 6000.
Here are the pics.

http://gainesville.craigslist.org/cto/2749724447.html

I got this RX8 checked today, here is the info do you think is a good deal?
Really appreciate your advice.
It says upcoming cost：
Check engine light (to start) $460
Spark plugs $320
Exhaust repair at muffler shop$? (So it is not a big problem?)
Recommendations:
Found Small Coolant Leak recommend replace hose clamp $65
Transmission Fluid brown Recommend Flush
Coolant Flushed,
Complete fuel system cleaning $229.95

I asked the mechanic and he said that the starter and battery is good. If these problems are minor or after repair the problems are unlikely to repeat (exclude the replacement of spark plugs), I will get it compression check.

Here are the photos of the report today. (Sorry for letting you guys to download these I don't know how to post them as photos.

I will upload Carfax later. THX.

Thanks for any advice, I do appreciate your help. Sorry for bothering other.

Walk away from that unless you have the tools, knowledge, and time to fix everything yourself. Not only are those prices highway robbery, but if you don't take the time to learn why it has all these issues it will spend all of it's time in the shop eating your money.


Check engine light (to start) $460
you can buy an AccessPORT that will give you many other benefits permanently for just a few bucks more than this. Diagnose the CEL for $60 with buying a hand held reader that you keep, or free at most autoparts store. Cost of fixing will go up from there anyway, why pay half a grand to start? Most dealers don't charge more than $89 for a CEL diagnostics. Not sure why this dealer thinks $460 is a reasonable price.

Spark plugs $320
Plugs are $80 in parts, so they are charging you $240 for 5 minutes of work that doesn't even require putting the car on a lift.

Exhaust repair at muffler shop$? (So it is not a big problem?)
Exhaust rattle is likely from the aftermarket exhaust, possible a poor quality midpipe, or it could be a simple heat shield that needs to get bent out of the way.

Recommendations:
Found Small Coolant Leak recommend replace hose clamp $65
...or buy a hose clamp from an autoparts store for $5 or less?

Transmission Fluid brown Recommend Flush
Coolant Flushed,
Complete fuel system cleaning $229.95
This MIGHT be worth it if everything listed above is included. The coolant flush and fuel system cleaning are just a coolant empty and replace with $15 of fluid and running a bottle of fuel injector cleaner through the injectors.


And I'd bet that the engine is failing too, but that's just a hunch.

Thanks, so I even do not need to perform the compression test? (the issues are severe enough, right?) Since this one is under extended warranty may that help,especially the engine problem? Thanks a lot.

So, the mechanic even did no diagnose what is the problem about that engine. He just walked around and required me $115 mechanic check fee? I am so stupid I thought that to solve the problem which showed by CEL need $460. So is that a regular mechanic check in Mazda dealer excluding CEL? If yes, this time I get nothing from him. That is so... My bad

The seller said he had checked the engine light and was told the issue called secondary air injection circuit low

Means the air pump is failing. Yet another issue. The air pump is just something to help extend cat life and only runs during the first 10-45 seconds of start up (depending on how cold it is outside). Many people remove it, but removing it does make you fail emissions checks and can lead to a dealer voiding the warranty if there is one.


What "extended warranty" ? One that the owner purchased? If the owner is talking about the Extended Factory Engine Core warranty that is for 8yrs 100,000 miles, that only covers compression loss on the engine itself, and covers nothing else. And with no records, you probably couldn't get a new engine under warranty anyway.


Just walk away and keep looking.

Wouldn't buy a car with problems.....especially documented ones :)

Avoid problematic cars like that. Find another one with lesser or no issues at all, and you'll be glad you did.

Thanks for your patience and your professional answers. I benefit a lot from them. I should and I would like to read more specific threads however, since the seller is going to get back to his home country. I've no time to do that at this time.
It is 8yrs 100,000 miles one I was talking about. Fine, I do not know whether the record is sufficient enough. This 8's exhausts have been replaced by the seller maybe that staff solely would kill the warranty.
Here is the case about the code: The seller knows nothing about this car, once the car is failed to start and he towed it to a repair depot. The mechanic there changed spark plugs for him but somehow the plugs are not for RX8 (according to the sticky thread). After that the miss fire happened and CEL flashed. And I get to know that the misuse of different plugs may impact coil and wire from the forum.
According to your explain about the air pump, the delay of start that car may related to air pump but not the miss fire, right? I am a noob who wanna to learn it by reading threads however, the seller is kind of hurry to sell the car he showed the flight ticket to me... Sorry for asking so stupid questions and thanks for your help.
I live in a small city, Gainesville, and failed to find local specialists like you guys here. So please help me a guy that desire to join RX8 Club^_^

Thanks, but it is quite hard to find a used RX8 for sale in my city. I just want to know whether this one is worthy to repair.
I appreciate your reply.

Me neither, but in Gainesville RX8 is rare to see and hard to buy one( with fair price)
And after reading the sticky threads I leave some money for ownership... So, it gets harder to find one. In this case, I ask you guys for help. Thanks :)

Is there a Carmax near you? Or, you could just go to their website and search for an rx8 nationwide. For an extra fee (not too much, and it could be added on the purchase price), they could ship any vehicle to the nearest Carmax dealer near you. Try it and good luck searching for that perfect rx8.

Oh, thanks, I do not know that:)
I checked it but the cheapest one ask for $15K...

yushen, you seem desperate to get an RX-8, any RX-8, with your only restriction being that you can afford the purchase price.

I'm going to be blunt.

You are going to be putting yourself into a very messy bucket of problems by continuing in this measure. You can go ahead and buy that car, no one here will stop you. But we are telling you that you will continue to run into issues with it long after purchase. Issues with the RX-8 snowball fast. They always start out with a single minor issue that if ignored accelerates quickly and starts breaking component after component. This car is already clearly well into that. From your posts so far, I'd guess your mechanical know-how is low, and would have to keep taking it to a dealer or a shop for repairs, and you will QUICKLY end up with either it costing you the purchase price OR MORE in further repairs. If you can't afford $12,000 now, what makes you think you can afford $12,000 within the next year, with only half of it financed?

Reasons to avoid it:
A) It has a large list of issues
B) You don't already know how to fix them
C) You can't afford to fix them
D) The seller "knows nothing about the car"
E) Someone put in incorrect plugs which may have caused significant further issues and suggests that it was mishandled in other ways as well


I DON'T CARE that it's the only RX-8 in your area that you can afford. IT IS NOT WORTH PURCHASING UNLESS YOU CAN DO ALL THE WORK YOURSELF AND HAVE ALTERNATE TRANSPORTATION.


Break the emotional connection you have with that car. Please.

^^That sums it up perfectly.

I checked the listing, you're talking about Gainsville Florida.
You can easily find an 8 in Florida, especially under $10,000 for an '04 that is actually in running condition and not a 4port automatic. If you go with this car you're going to have hundreds of problems and it's not like the car is in perfect condition, the seller talks about front damage to the bumper. Just check out cars.com or autotrader and look for Rx-8s within a 100 mile radius. You should be able to find them, they're honestly not that rare in Florida, there are 2 that I know of on my block alone.

Like this list from Cars.com

Or this list in Autotrader.com

Thank you so much, dud. I have made up my mind to give it up. And I will continue learn more about RX-8. Hopefully, I can afford a proper one after graduation or benefiting from saving money for a period of time. Anyway, thanks a lot. Your pertinent advice helps a lot.

Thank you. I will do more homework on 8 and then look for the 8 belong to me. ^_^

OK, thanks:) I will get rid of this one. People here are nice and helpful. Thanks.

This one was finally sold for $4800. Of course not bought by me.

Wow. Funny, I was looking at that listing and gave it up. Seemed like the owner didn't know what he was doing with the car.

I'm in Gainesville too, and searching for the perfect 8 also. No hurry really, I think is the best way to approach this.