Rear Drivers Side Heat Shield/Dust Cover Question:
Hey guys, the metal guard that's behind my rotor got banged up pretty good (thanks to my car introducing herself to a concrete median.) Anyways, I've replaced all the big stuff that got damaged in the process and now all I'm left with is an annoying rubbing sound that's coming from the bent shield/cover.

How easy is it to remove/replace this?

I've tried looking through some service manuals/shop manuals however none that I've found cover removal of this particular part. I presume the same steps (+/- some additional) to remove the hub would be sufficient however since I've never had to mess with the replacement of the shield before I figured I'd ask you guys first so I know what to expect. I've found the replacement part but would like to wait until I hear from someone more experienced than myself before I order it and set aside a saturday. Thanks in advance!

 

I just got an update from dealership:

he said there was a 15A ignition fuse that would blow each time they tried to start it. he said they looked at everything on the circuit to find out what was the issue. He said the found the culprit - some aftermarket stereo equipment wiring which upon disconnecting them, they stopped blowing fuse. However, the PCM module was not communicating with any adjacent modules. He said adjacent modules were ok, but PCM module is done. He said there is only one place in world to get new PCM module and they are $1400 or he could get a salvage one for $337 shipped + $220 install = $600 total, BUT even if he installs PCM module he may find more since they haven't even got the car running yet. What do you guys think? Sound reasonable to just pay the $600?

 

What is the average weight gain on a Series 1 or Series 2 for a Turbo setup with all supporting mods, and no weight reduction?

 

Depends on if it shows up and is bad, will the honor replacing it later? If you can't come back in 30 days with it and get it replaced it is a gamble, but 1400 dollars is steep! Check eBay, i found some never used for a lot cheaper than both options. Hell, if you have a series 1, maybe even look into getting a flash from a aftermarket vendor and just have them provide the ECU/PCM.

 

2005 shinka w/96k
i was driving back home from a short road trip i took today. while driving down the highway in cruise at 72mph, my traction control light came on, and stayed on the rest of the 1.5 hour drive home, also saw my power steering light flash a couple of times (not in succession, just on for half a second, then off, but happened a couple of times over drive home). THEN, while that was going on, i went through a dip in the highway, and my tach needle went from ~3500 rpms to 0, then right back to 3500 and the speed dropped to 0, then back to 72. the engine didn't stutter, surge, or otherwise change and the RPMS on my torque app stayed correct.
i was watching some of my readouts on Torque (mostly mpgs), so i checked codes. i got U1900 and U0073. any clues what this could be?

i even called mazdatrix to see if they'd ever heard of this, nothing.

this has happened multiple times now and im a little concerned about it.

 

U codes are communication codes almost always due to the ECU and the adapter not understanding each other perfectly.


Your battery connections are loose and/or corroded. Do these steps even if they seem secure because they could have built up corrosion between the clamps and the posts out of sight.

Remove negative
Remove positive
Clean clamps, inside and out
Clean posts
Reconnect positive, wiggling it as you slowly tighten to make sure it seats in an ideal spot. Make sure you aren't just bottoming out the tightening bolt/nut, it can happen.
Reconnect negative, same instructions.

 

After doing some digging around on here, I've decided to buy/install the nifty 9.25lb flywheel from SRM.

I have one question though:
Do I "need" to buy the counterweight like they say on their website, or is that some BS to make me spend more, and not make much of a difference? Money isn't an issue, I just want to keep her running smooth and healthy!

 

Emittels,

If your planning on using an aftermarket flywheel you will need the counterweight.

I'm going to suggest you read a lot more before you purchase one.

Travis

 

What Williard said. The stock flywheel has an integrated counterweight in it, but the aftermarket lightened flywheels don't. So you need the counterweight from an auto transmission car to keep the engine's rotating mass in balance. Buy new, or buy used from a reliable seller to be sure you get a proper one though. Visually they can look very similar from other generations. There are also other vendors than SRM. Just don't go too light if the car is street driven and understand that clutch disc life will be shortened a bit. I think some come with the dowel pins and some don't. If not, you'll need to remove the dowels from the stock FW.
Personally not a huge fan of SRM in general, but happen to have an SRM flywheel on the FD that I bought used. Came with a new friction surface. Have to say I've been pleased. No issues.

 

Thanks for the info guys. I've been doing quite a bit of reading for the past week on the subject, trying to figure out what to go with. And, after more reading and more research, plus making sure I have access to some tools and equipment, I changed my mind. I went with the BHR flywheel and counterweight instead. Saw more good things about that one than the SRM one.

Now I eagerly await the UPS man and hope it won't be too much of a pain 😬

Another question: I've seen posts about people saying their shift into 4th is crunchy or grinds. My 8 is always crunchy from 1-2 and only sometimes from 2-3. 2-3 almost doesn't crunch at all once she's fully warmed up. It's a 2005 GT that I bought used with 46k miles, and currently has just over 57k. Original transmission. The guy I bought it from only put on 10k miles in 7 years of ownership and took extremely good care of it.
Did the first owner get a little clutch happy and mess up something between 1-2, or is there something I can fix or replace that will help it out? I also read that it might be normal. I just want to know if I should expect a new transmission soon

 

Really not that bad of a job. IMO, the hardest part is removing the flywheel nut. It's torqued high from the factory with thread-locker. Air and a big impact is the way to go if you can. Some information that might be helpful...

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-...cement-226541/

https://www.mazdatrix.com/faq/flywheelremoval.htm

 

None of your shifts should be "crunchy" as you say. There is some wear in your tranny and/or clutch,or adjustment needed in your tranny. Unfortunately you weren't the previous owner, so you don't know how they drove and/or maintained the car.

 

My car is currently at the 3rd shop (2nd Mazda dealer, this one has a stellar service reputation) trying to diagnose why I have elevated long term fuel trims, a slow return to idle, and a low (4.3-4.5 grams/sec) MAF flow rate. Following the service manual all of these point to a vacuum leak, but no leaks were found during smoke tests conducted at the first independent shop, and the first mazda dealer I took the car to (no smoke test was done during this trip to the dealer).

After talking to the tech, their stance is this:
The ignition coils (BHR's coils) are producing a weak spark, occasionally causing a misfire (never had enough misfires to trigger a flashing CEL). Subsequently the air/flue mixture isn't burning completely and being dumped into the exhaust, where the O2 sensor is detecting excess oxygen (making the car think its running lean) and subsequently elevating the fuel trims. The intake system and MAF checked out as not having any issues, but that until the ignition coils (and plugs) were replaced, they couldn't do any further diagnosing. The tech went on to state that "we have seen a lot of issues with misfires, weak spark, and poor performance with this type of coil" - presumably referring to the D85 coils which as we know, are not all created equal.

The tech also mentioned that due to the incomplete burn of the fuel mixture, that "fuel wash" is a possibility. He described "fuel wash" as the removal of the oil film coating from the housing/seals by unburnt fuel, potentially causing damage to the engine.

So 3 quick questions for you knowledge guys:

1) Overall, the explanation sounds plausible, but I have lingering questions. Namely why the MAF would be seeing low flow when then intake system and MAF were all inspected and said to be in good condition. Thoughts?

2) My understanding was that the RX8 never has a complete burn, so "fuel wash" would, to some extent, always be occurring. Should I have a compression test done to ensure that this fuel washing hasn't negatively impacted my engine? I've always premixed at 0.5 oz/gallon, but that has little effect on the side seals.

3) Is there any easy way to identify what kind of spark plug wires I have in my particular BHR kit? Their website states "custom MSD or Moroso spark plug wires" - is there anything written on them to help identify them (when I get the car back)?

Critical Details:
Car: 2009 R3 with 57k miles, no CEL (have gotten a P0111 as pending only on a few spontaneous 3-4 occasions, most recent was in October)
Spark plugs: 9,000 miles on them (replaced 10 months ago, and was waiting to resolve this issue before replacing them again at my usual 10,000 mile mark).
BHR Ignition System: Has 25k miles on it (installed 2 and a bit years ago)


Trying desperately to sort this out and avoid any more trips to the dealer so any and all help/input is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

 

correct, no ignition design, health level, or attribute will cause the maf to read low

1) imo, something got missed. See if you can find another S2 to swap MAFs with to rule out a MAF failure (i highly doubt it). Everything is still pointing at a vacuum leak. Air is getting to the engine that isn't passing the MAF. I'd be questioning the smoke test... was something NOT tested? Like maybe disconnected for the test, then reconnected. Even a leak at the maf itself is possible. Any vacuum line. gaskets between uim, lim. etc...

2) fuel wash does happen, but the actual impact has never been determined, just theory. Compression test if you wish of course, but i highly doubt there is a problem here unless you actually do have ignition failure (which i severely doubt)

3) unknown, you would have to contact Ray for that

 

As for RIWWP's Ray. That is Charles of BHR for the rest of us.He is always responsive and helpful. Unlikely but not impossible that the BHR coils are bad. They have a great reliability rate. Their wires are also first rate. But yes as RIWWP states it sounds more like a vacuum leak than any ignition problem. Most Mazda dealers have limited experience in diagnosing RX8 issues. They follow everything by the book and if your situation doesn't fit a standard repair issue, they are often clueless where to go and what to look at.

 

I asked the tech more questions today - specifically how the coils/plugs could be related to the low MAF reading, and if the rich running condition (from the above stated incomplete burn caused by the inadequate spark) was verified by the observed lambda values. His response was that upon misfiring the rotation of the rotor is impeded, which causes the MAF flow rate to decrease. This doesn't agree with his previous statement that only "a few" misfires were logged in the ECU, but the MAF is consistently low. (I'm not sure how this could contribute to the slow return to idle, but have not fully pondered that yet.) When I asked about this discrepancy he stated that none of the readings from any of the sensors could be trusted until the ignition system is restored to 100% health. This was the same explanation he gave my question regarding if the lambda values did in fact indicate a rich condition.

He also stated that he sprayed carb cleaner while monitoring short term fuel trims to see if he could find any vacuum leaks. No leaks were detected (unsurprisingly - my expectation is that since the smoke tests were unable to spot any leaks, if there is a leak it's likely somewhere deep inside the engine bay and unlikely be reached easily).

They want $1100 to replace the coils, plugs, and wires so I'll be taking care of that myself while I check the BHR coils to be sure they are good.

Thoughts and opinions on this explanation? I'm not at all convinced that a misfire, especially when it's only occurring rarely, could explain the consistently low MAF readings.

 

A misfire will never explain low MAF readings

A slow return to idle (I assume you mean that the needle tends to hang higher?) is easily explained by a vacuum leak.

Basically, closing the throttle plate removes nearly all airflow from the intake, and thus from the engine. A vacuum leak means that the engine is still getting other air, which the front O2 is seeing, adding fuel to keep AFRs... and when you have extra air + extra fuel going to the engine, the revs are going to be higher than when they are not. It's...basic combustion principles

At least this does suggest the problem is behind the throttle plate, narrowing the search somewhat (though I wouldn't rule out elsewhere either)

Get your car back from those monkeys and start diving into the engine bay. I'd remove the entire intake system except the LIM, and closely inspect every gasket, every vacuum line. Use rubbing alcohol (lots thinner than water, still cheap) to fill the UIM and accordion looking for cracks or holes, and use the correct vacuum lines connected to their ports as 'plugs' (other ends raised) to make sure those connections are good.

I'm positive you have a vacuum leak, and I'm positive that the dealer techs don't know what they are doing.

 

Yes, the slow return to idle I was referring to is that letting off the gas with the car in neutral causes RPMs to drop to ~1100, and then sits there, before slowly decreasing to 800 rpms. The service manual only has a few issues that can cause this, a vacuum leak being the first one to check for.

My previous logs have indicated lambda values 0.9XX - 1.0, which is why I asked about what they were seeing for lambda.


Curiously, immediately after getting gas, the STFTs go far into the negatives briefly, such that the STFT + LTFL = ~0. This has happened after each of the last 3 times I've gotten gas and is independent of the amount of gas in the tank. Not sure what this could be indicative of, if anything at all.

I plan to get my car back from them today, drive it around till its fully warm, then bring it back for a compression test just to be on the safe side (but their constant comments on my ignition system being aftermarket makes me worried about warranty coverage). I don't trust them to not do the test with the engine cold...

Thank you very, very much for the help! It's greatly appreciated.

 

Sorry to be a bother, but I've managed to break the vacuum splitter from my engine and need to find a replacement. The problem is that I can't seem to find anyone selling a "Rx8 vacuum splitter", can't find much with that search term actually. Is there another name for these or does anyone have the part number for them? Thanks guys.

 

Are you asking about the block under the fuel rail bolts that has the lines going to the oil metering pump injectors?

 

Hey guys, I tried doing some searching but I couldn't find anything on this, the battery on my car is the original battery and my unit is an 05. I don't have any issues starting my car, I have BHR coils, new plugs, and a new starter, but I'm wondering if an old battery would impede the performance on my coils and cause a loss of power.

 

Probably.

 

If your car is starting normally, personally I doubt there would be any noticeable performance drop. Slightly amazed that you have a 10 yr old battery that still functions.

 

You are asking for trouble by relying on a 10-yr old battery which could fail on you at any time and any place, leaving you stranded. Do the smart thing and spend a few bucks on a new decent battery.

 

Dannobre: it sounds like we're talking about the same thing. Black flat rectangular thing about a handwidth long give or take, has one large hose going in and four smaller ones coming out inline. Hoses were organized into two sets of two that are kind of wrapped together. I can post pictures of my broken one if there is any question about what I'm talking about. I know some people called them "vacuum spiders" on their RX7s, but I remember those being circular instead of flat. I can't find the OEM part for the 8 by searching that either. I could use alternatives if I can't get a hold of the OEM, but I'm hoping to limit unknown variables.