The cheap RX8 Saga Episode I!
 

I just bought an RX8 from an auto dealer off ebay. The dealer thought it had a blown engine because it had overheated and me being a smart one figured it was badly flooded and had another cause for the overheating problem.

So far I've found 3 trailing plugs and 1 leading plug (in a trailing hole).
The thermostat was gutted and reinstalled.
The water pump was sealed with gasket goop.
The radiator fans have too much play and one of them has bushing failure.
The SSV valve is sticky.
And drum roll please: The car was badly flooded. Waiting for new fans so that I can fire it up.

Still no sign that I need a new engine yet. Best thing is the car is still under engine warranty.

Good luck hopefully you got a good deal and get a good car out of it

Good Luck!

this by chance wasnt the white one or was it silver....

I was thinking the same thing (after reading threw here) if so , good deal!

._.

Best thing is the car is still under engine warranty. That is the most important part of a car. Without it, it wont run. Good luck and have fun with it.

It was the white one. If the engine is blown, do you guys know any good dealerships for warranty work in south Texas?

By the looks of things, all the OP really needs to do is replace the plugs and coils, on top of the other bits that were mentioned. I wouldn't call it a dead engine yet.

good luck, change coils, cables, plugs and fire that baby up!!!

Well, got almost everything fixed and the darn thing won't start. Time to wait for new coils and wires.

^ Let us know the outcome...

Well with new coils and wires it tries to start, but wont. It's probably a good thing though after an evening of trying to start it the coolant reservoir was pressurized with engine fumes and level was down to the bottom. New engine here I come. Time to fix everything previous mechanics have broken and haul it to a dealership. <crosses fingers>

Sounds like a fun project if you have the patience and the $$$ for fixing it up.
Good luck.

Hope you have some maintenance records and that the previous owner/dealer didn't wise up and just unload the car because Mazda wouldn't service it, in which case Mazda would already know the history and condition of the car.

should have gotten a

Yeah, carfax was clean when I bought the car, also contacted a couple Mazda dealerships to verify the engine warranty. Now hopefully I can get one to honor it or I'm buying an engine.

Pray.

Post up a thread in the GULF regional section of this forum. I'm sure you'll receive some good advice on where to take it to.

Good luck with the task. :)

UPDATE: My 8 is now running!!! And I am a dumbass. Here's what I did to get it running:

Filled it with gas. (Yes this should have been my first step, but it was slightly above E so I thought it was good to go.) :banghead:

Cleaned MAF/IAT

Reset NVRAM (I don't think the car was playing nice with my warm air intake.)

Burned out starter. (Ok this didn't help get the car running, but in a couple of
days it'll have a new starter which is good right!?)

It's idling rough, and tossing the engine lean code but I blame that on bad air intake design. Seems to be burning a little coolant, but not too bad. Gonna seafoam it once I have a stock intake on it. Driving it to the dealership seems a possibility now.

Great! Post pics and info what the dealer says

If it burns coolant you need a new engine anyway.
Stop wasting money and start thoroughly checking what's wrong.

You better hope they give you a new engine. They seem to be pretty harsh lately on giving them out. One little thing is off, they deny you.

yep, too many NO new engine post lately

put a 20B in it and be done.

Sorry about the delay, I was tied up with work and then had some family issues to take care of which were obviously more important than my pet project.

Update 1:
Still wish I knew definitively what killed the motor. The radiator fans would never come on, the idiot gauge on the dash never came more than a hair above normal and there was a constant stream of exhaust gasses into the coolant reservoir. The fans both spun up fine when jumpered and the relays and fuses were good. I'm guessing that either the coolant seals failed in a big way and the temperature sensor couldn't read an air water mixture, or there is a bad ground. I've checked for a voltage between the grounding points and the battery with the engine running, and didn't notice any. Resistance between the grounds and the battery was good. Also I replaced the temperature sensor and the new one read the same (and the old one also measured nearly in band at room temperature and boiling water). I will be watching closely when I have the new engine, and I'm probably going to do a fan mod.


Update 2:
After talking with several dealerships the best I could get was a maybe. So instead of trailering it and taking it to dealership for a maybe which could end up costing me and be a no I decided to swap engines and rebuild the old one (assuming it isn't too trashed.) I have a used engine that should be here on the 16th and the old engine is stripped down and sitting on the floor of my garage right now. The donor engine is out of an 05 with 45k miles and I managed to snag it for $1200. Through this whole ordeal I've learned so much about this car and it's engine, I think I'm ready to be a proud 8 owner. As soon as I have an engine stand adaptor and some free time I will be rebuilding the old engine. Gosh two engines, maybe I need a turbo next. Cheap RX8 Saga Episode II here I come!