105,000 miles, motor still lives
 

I passed the 100,000 mile mark almost 2 months ago. Had a little scare for a while with 2 dealers telling me I needed a new motor. I had a rough idle and flashing cel when cold. I decided to take it to JPR imports in south jersey @ 99,960 miles to have Jim do the swap. He reflashed the ecu and had the car for over a week, said it ran fine, I didn't need a new engine. In the meantime I had destroyed my cat with the bad idle so I had him put a supercat on her. Picked her up and she ran great.

Get this, while my car was at JPR imports, Mazda extended the warranty to 100,000 miles. I picked her up, she ran great. I decided that if 2 Mazda dealers told me I needed a new engine, this after I paid 1 over $1500 for new plugs, coils, wires and cleaning, I was going back to Mazda and have them check my car and put a new engine on their dime since both dealers told me before I reached 100,000 miles. The 1st dealer that I paid over $1500 was Sansone (won't ever go back there again). The 2nd was Wayne Mazda (supposedly a reputable dealer but I found them to be worse). Wayne Mazda tells me I need new coils. I told them and showed them the paperwork from Sansone stating coils were replaced 3 weeks ago. While it was there they said I was due for a reflash, engine lack of power, which Sansone just did 3 weeks earlier. They weren't going to put e new engine in her until I bought coils. They stated that they called Sansone and was told by Sansone that they didn't replace the coils and that the part # on my paperwork wasn't coils. I was at 100,200 miles and knew they were trying to screw me.

After picking up my car, 3 days later the engine starts acting up again. I took back to JPR Imports, (I wholeheartidely recommend JPR, Jim is great), he reflashes it again and it's been running great since. That was over 3 months ago. I went from hating the car because the engine wouldn't last to hating the dealers for lying to me. My car's been running great especially with the supercat. Now instead of not recommending Mazdas' for reliability reasons I tell people that the cars are fine but that the worst aspect to owning a Mazda is the service, not the cars. Oh, by the way, I obtained an empty package for the coils and it was the same part number that was on my paperwork from Mazda. go figure.

Another milestone for the Renesis. Congratulations. Hope she goes another 100,000 miles.

For whatever reason NJ is known to have the WORST dealerships ever. The state legislation has some laws set up there that are so pro dealer its pathetic. I believe Chism bought his RX-8 from NJ as well and that ended up in disaster. I don't know about the other 49 states(including TX where I live) but somehow or another NJ is just known for having horrible dealerships.

Best bet is buy your car in a state that favors the consumer more than the dealer next time.

Thats my .02 at least.

Good luck on your car and I hope you see another 100,000 miles on your car as care free as possible.

I had some stall issues with my car so I took it to the dealer. They wanted to do a de-carbon workout on it for 250.00, I said no thanks. I added an AEM CAI and it has been running great since then. I had asked for the latest reflash when I brought it in and they tried to find other issues instead. I, like you get terrified to bring it to dealers. I have found that there are better less-qualified (better informed) individuals on this site and others like it to help with issues I might have.

i'm glad its still running for you! quick question though, why did Mazda extend your warranty to 100,000 miles?

^everyone has it on their engines...8 years 100k mi or 160k km =)

rosenthal has never tried to screw me. but i've never had any major problems with my car either. :)

If the dealer had wanted to replace my engine at 99,000 miles I would have taken the new motor just to be safe. I'm glad it is all working out for you though, congrats!!

lambert,

you can do the decarbon your self. and it would be a really good idea!!

beers :beer:

^ +1

OH HELL YEA..... NEW MOTOR FOR SURE. you could pass 100k and something could go wrong and youre screwed and in need of a new motor.:icon_no2:

Unbelievable. Well, actually, it's believable. Unbelievable that it's believable.

Wonder what Kevin (techniks) at Wayne would say about this?

Hmm, strange. Wayne is treating me really well. I got new plugs & coils, fixed up my oil pan, replaced the water tank and bunch of other stuff 100% free No question asked

Anyway, it doesnt matter where you go, as long as ur motor is happy now its all good :)

yeah some NJ dealers suck so i hear but great to see another 8 goin over 100k I still have about 63k till I hit that milestone

Makes me wonder if all the engines that were replaced really needed it. My engine is running smooth now. Sansone did do the de-carbon thing twice, they say, before they claim Mazda told them just to inform me that I needed a new engine.

wow im actually surprised as well.....i had issues at sansone but wayne was and has been really cool with me

I'm pretty sure a lot of dealerships are just getting lazy and instead of actually trying to find the problem are just yanking the engine as the easy way out. Remember, a lot of Mazda techs are just as clueless about the rotary engine as the ones at the corner service station.

That is very true, thats why Mazda "introduce" the de-Carbon thing.

Cuz even engine swap labor alone cost WAY MORE THAN the de-carbon thing, so its worth a shot isnt it ?

and sometimes de-carboning really helps.

sad thing is that, I might really need an new engine :( I'll just wait till its dead.

My local dealer's GSM states that in order to deal with all the customers that haven't a clue about the motor and how to maintain it.. they simply buy it back or replace the motor and be done with it. Mazda would rather buy the car back than to continue to deal with the constant complaints. Were some bad? probably, but I get the feeling the percentage of bad engines to misinformed and ignorant customers was very very low.

Its a shame that people can really be incredibly ignorant. ( obviously not the OP though)

was browsing ebay for bits n bobs for my 8 and found this, hope its ok to post this link to ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2005-MAZDA-RX-...d=p3286.c0.m14

its a bargain!!!

I'm at 74K on mine, I'm starting to have some problems though :(

I think the de-carboning should be part of regular maintenance, say every 30,000 miles

That brings up a good point: how much is too much? For 20 minutes and the cost of a can of Seafoam, it could be done with every oil change...

You know this really shows the true problem with the RX-8 and that is "MAZDA"!!!

They let these shady dealers exist and support them screwing over the owner. They just don't seem to understand this is what is driving people away from their brand. Mazda has one of the nieces line up of cars around yet they have one of the worst owner loyalty ratings. Why is this....because of the poor way the client base is treated. Car owners are moving to other less desirable cars because they don't like the way they are being treated. I'm one of them, I really like the CX-7 and the CX-9, they are both rated very well, and are priced well but I just can't see buying one and having to deal with Mazda and their slipshot customer support and poor dealer net work.

It is amazing to see the difference when he brought the car to JPR imports where they make their money by having a good reputation and taking care of the customer. Mazda could learn so much from this thread but they just don't get it.

Mazda is their own worst enemy!

I've come to the realization that the mazda has to have some of the worst car dealerships of any major brand. They build an excellent car only to be let down by horrible customer service and very poor dealerships. I love my RX-8 but will never buy another Mazda unless they fix the dealerships. They just lie, and lie, and lie. Next time I go I'm bringing a tape recorder.

I had one tell me that I needed new plugs because he saw all of them and the electrode was completely worn off. I told them I must have a compression problem too since the apex seal had to be hitting the plug to wear off the electrode. I told the guy all the rotary plugs are like that and he continued to argue. I get home and only one plug was pulled, and it stills has the original 2004 plugs that were supposed to be replaced under the warranty work they had performed a year prior. No wonder I was getting a CEL at 20k miles. I already had a set of plugs at home to replace them because I was expecting it down the road. They wanted $400 something to do the plugs. Said each plug was $80 a piece. I told him he was full of shit and autozone had the same plug for $20. He then said this must be wrong because you can only buy the plug from mazda. Went and got them out of my car and demanded him to tell me the difference. He shut up at that point. This was also the same dealership that flooded my car three months prior.

I called mazda to complain and the guy would not even let me talk to a supervisor. Also asked on 4 seperate occasions to talk to a supervisor at the dealership and just got tolled he was on the phone or in a meeting. scum.

I haven't been to a Mazda dealership once since I drove my car off the lot, and I never will again unless I've diagnosed a problem myself and the parts/work would be covered under warranty. I feel that way about all car dealerships though... but I have heard an alarming number of horror stories about Mazda dealerships specifically :icon_no2: