At 34,000 miles my car suddely came alive
 

I don't know what has changed, but somewhere around the 34,000 mile mark my 8 has just come unglued. It feels like it has more grunt. A couple of days ago I took off hard from a stoplight in a little street race against a Civic and when I shifted into 2nd the car almost got sideways but DSC kicked in 3rd spun them again DSC light and from 3rd to 4th the light came on again and there was a little chirp.

My car has never done this before. I have heard people metion that the rotary wakes up around 40k but this is my 1st rotary car and I have nothing to compare it to. Anyone else felt the same thing.

BTW I have not had the PCM updated since late last year.

Asking for a lock? :p

?

Zoom must have missed his cue...

Lets try this again:


:p

[QUOTE=SHOWOFF] A couple of days ago I took off hard from a stoplight in a little street race against a Civic and when I shifted into 2nd the car almost got sideways but DSC kicked in 3rd spun them again DSC light and from 3rd to 4th the light came on again and there was a little chirp.
QUOTE]

watch the street race talk please. not allowed.

maybe you just finally let it all hang out?

yea... your only allowed to mention "street race" on this board during rants complaining about how sl0w your car is :rolleyes:

actually not then either. for this thread i thought we could get past the racing remark and discuss why at 34k he is suddenly chirping his tires.

woohoo! only 12,000 more miles for me and I'll have the advertised HP!

Maybe, the flash fairy snuck in your garage and did her thing. I am actually content with the improvements flash-over-flash but maybe it's just mental. But I wouldn't mind the rotary coming to life even more in the next couple of years.

Maybe just maybe you are wearing your tires and thus have less grip.

According to C&D their test Rx-8 got faster as it aged to 40,000 miles.

http://www.caranddriver.com/article....&page_number=4

Are Rx-8s like fine wine? Maybe...

Ya,

Didn't C&D say after like 40k they took 0.5 off of their ET? That sounds like some major extra grunt... And this guys observation backs up that point even further... 32k miles left till I can actually go as fast as I had planned to when I bought the car.

Yay

it does take longer for a rotary motor to 'break in' than a piston motor, but i somehow doubt a huge change, and not instantly...it would be progressive over the miliage.

was it maby colder that night, or damp road...ect, ect. something to make it seem/feel faster?

That's when the fuel maps trims down from the rich air/fuel mixture to a leaner/original design by Mazda for the Renesis, by then the Catalyst life can theoretically make the EPA3 requirement of 120,000 miles . The rich mixture used before 40K miles was a work-around in order for the Cat to last for 120K miles yet still meet the emission requirements of EPA3.

That's really interesting, but do you have documentation to back this up?

Damn, It will take me 2-3 more years to get 34k on my 8.

haha...I know what you mean...i've had mine for a year now and only put 8k on it

I think slick8 was bullshitting, but that would be interesting if there was a time/mileage delay built into the computer.

I've had my car since October of 2003 and I've driven around 8500 miles so far...at this rate, I'll never reach 34,000 miles.

But his car did it at 34K thats 6K ahead of your theory :rolleyes:

Brand new shoes Falken FK451 GRB's. They even hook better than the new Nitto's they replaced. Wider too.

I am at almost 36k, in less than 2 years. While my car feels very good now, I attribute it to the re-flashes, and the modifications that have been made. Does my car chirp tires, no, only once, and that was with DSC off. I can't imagine that it would just change overnight. But if you are happier now, I guess you can't complain about that.

Nope it was midday around 90 deg. crazy humid too. It wasn't an overnight thing. I just started to notice it a few weeks ago. I drive the car in spurts. We have 2 beaters that I drive to work now so the 8 only comes out on the weekends and maybe one day a week for a ride to work.

I have about 600 miles before I reach the 34K mark -- I'll report back when I reach the magic number.

its pretty much a fact that rotary's get stronger over time. I can tell a difference at 18K vs 5K. That said, its not going to feel like a switch went off. I would like to see a dyno of a car with 40K, just for shits and grins.

Got mine in February. Only 4800 miles, but it's really only a weekend car for the most part. At this rate it will be June 2010 before I see any improvements. :eek:

wasting your time with a civic??

Umm.. because the tires are worn out? It's easier to chirp when you're running on the belts :rolleyes:

Seriously - I hear lots of talk of the engine getting stronger as it ages. I've got just over 10K and it does seem to rev a bit more freely but then again I'm on my 3rd flash. Oh, well, maybe this was the oft-mentioned "20,000 mile cutover" rumored to be in the ECU... It's all good :)

Sweet!! More HP at 20k? Only 2k more to go and at this rate, I'll be there in 6 weeks!!! :D

Ibtl

I was just stitting there and the guy gave me the "hey I'm ghey crazymad VTAK YO let's race revv" SO I let him have it. I don't like to drive my car that way.

New tires.

Didnt the RX7 have a similar change in performance at some point, 30k miles or something?

I thought that there was a service at XXX miles, and among other things they changed some setting in the ECU that gave better performance.

so a gradual increase in performance around 30-40k eh? doesn't our warranty end around then also?
tricky...

EPA2 original requirement was for the catalytic converter life to last 80K miles. EPA3, the current guideline, mandates that the cat last for 120K miles. It just make sense that at 40K (120K-80K=40K) miles the fuel mixture leans out to what the RX-8 was originally designed, thus the added horsepower. See this documented case in C&D here.

Why Mazda overlooked the new EPA mandate, I don't know. Perhaps there was a point of no return in the design work of the RX-8, where the work around was the only cost effective solution.

Ford was giving Mazda a hard-time with the return of the rotary engine since the nightmare of the RX-7 twin turbo in the early 90s, and the obstacles with emissions that continuously plagued the rotary. Also, nearly all the majors race events have banned the rotary from competition because it would dominate from its greatest advantages, higher horsepower to weight ratios and better reliability. Le Man immediately banned the rotary the first year it won. Simply "no props" for further rotary development.

That's why there was a huge problem with lower HP ratings with the RX-8 first debut, richer fuel mixtures reduces horsepower, but conserve cat life since it was not being depleted of ions (platinum, rhodium and/or palladium) for carbon monoxide, VOCs and NOx molecules conversion from "normal" engine waste gas. The exhaust was too rich with unburned gas for that to happen.

;) Believe what you must ;)

32 k miles here and definitely more grunt, the back end DOES kick out on the 1-2 shift and a significant (heard by my friend on the phone) chirp on the 2-3 shift.

The exhaust tips stay CLEAN now. I used to have to clean them every night during my nightly california duster procedure, but, I have to say, not anymore.

One more proof this thing is running better at 32k miles - I just got 20.09 miles per gallon driving the very same route that I have been for the past two years (back and forth to work) and I originally (two years ago ) start at 17 mpg and got improvements over time attributable to each flash and rotary break-in, but I had always come up just shy of 20 mpg, well that all changed Yesterday!

So, at 32k miles, more power, clean exhaust tips and better mileage!

Lol, this certainly makes me jealous of my low miles. About a year and a half or two for me to go!

Tell me about it. It seams that the higher mileage ones will be the more desirable ones in the long run. LOL Hell the used Rx8's might start going up in value.

Does chirping tires always equal more power? I'm at 12k miles right now I can still chirp from 3rd to 4th just a matter of technique. Maybe you gotten better at driving?

I like your positive thinking, but there is no way that Mazda has multiple maps loaded on the ECU that is tripped by a certain mileage, they do not care enough that you get 10hp back after you have 40,000 miles on the car, even though they are doing a great job of continually making the car better with flashes.

Also, you have to rethink your theory a little, just because 120k - 80k = 40k, the cat already has those 40k miles of use under them, so if the car was programmed to start running leaner at 40k, the cat would not be new and probably still wouldn't last to 120k, sorry doesn't add up.

I believe that the rotary starts to finally loosen up around 30k, and that with a cooler less humid temps coming around the corner this time of year the car is just feeling stronger because it has cooler air to work with.

You are not depleting the catalyst if the exhaust gas is rich with unburned gas, too cool a reaction temperature and a different product (mostly CO2, H2O and C instead of CO, VOC and NOx) for that to happen.

Also, it would be a major upset in equilibrium if the ECU remaps the fuel air mixture instantaneously, it is a gradual change, probably set near the proximity of 34,000 miles or earlier. A little more complex than my simplified example.

It makes perfect chemical engineering sense to me ;)

I think I understand what you are saying Slick, and like the idea, but do you really think that Mazda went to the trouble of establishing a mileage determined mapping change within the ECU? I know that the ECU in our cars are pretty complex but just not sure if they would go to such trouble.

On a side note, if what you are saying somehow turns out to be true, I can't wait because my car feels great now at 22k, I can only imagine 15k from now!!

Yes

Looks like someone else on the forum can confirm this hypothesis:

You probably aren't shifting fast enough. I can chirp into 3rd at as low as 5000 rpms with a good shift with DSC on. As said above, the people at Car and Driver had their car's performance improve dramatically (6.6 to 60 when new to 5.9 at 40,000 miles). Also if a rotary is in good shape it should get a little stronger every mile it is driven, as seen in rx-7's. That means the fastest drive u will have in ur 8 will be that last.

Well, if anything can be learned from this it's that people should start driving their rx8s instead of admiring them and their low odometer reading. Start taking them to work, and on long trips, and use the beater car for 100% winter use, nothing else. :)

Did you completely turn off DSC by holding down the DSC button for seven seconds :confused:

Yes I have read this and most know this is why the buy back occurred and whatnot, but the spin on the ECU maps changing is new, and would be great if it occurs. Hope you are right!

Anyone close to Mazda, know anything about this.

I have heard talks about previous rotarys having a mileage switch of some sort that affected the engines operation.