Hey Everyone,

I have been a long time lurker on rx8club until this huge problem has hit me. I have had an Rx8 for about 4 years now. I purchased a 2005 rx8 in red with only 50k miles on it in 2014. I purchased the extended warranty because i knew the apex seals fail regularly and i wanted to cover my ***. When I pulled it out of storage and went to autozone to replace a burnt out break light i spotted an oil leak under the front driver side I immediately checked the oil called a tow truck and purchased a few quarts from autozone. When i got it home we found a rusted oil cooler line. Figured i had the warranty trailered it to my local mazda dealership and had them look it over and start a claim the mechanic suggested we do a compression test since its at 74k miles and it wouldnt hurt. First rotor numbers are bad second rotor is within parameters needs replaced. Warranty company told me that they wont cover the oil cooler line because of rust its in the fine print. Im pissed but i understand fine print got me. But the engines bad i will cover the lines you pay for the engine, thats why i got this warranty. They proceed to tell me the oil cooler rusted line caused the engine to fail and its my fault denied. The dumb question is what do i do. I owe around $4500 on the car it only has 75k miles but the oil cooler line is cracked and the engines bad. Its not my main means of transportation. Who buys a broken car? I cant afford to fix it. If the repair bill out costs the value of the car can i total it? Im just looking for guidance

 

Hey Everyone,

I have been a long time lurker on rx8club until this huge problem has hit me. I have had an Rx8 for about 4 years now. I purchased a 2005 rx8 in red with only 50k miles on it in 2014. I purchased the extended warranty because i knew the apex seals fail regularly and i wanted to cover my ***. When I pulled it out of storage and went to autozone to replace a burnt out break light i spotted an oil leak under the front driver side I immediately checked the oil called a tow truck and purchased a few quarts from autozone. When i got it home we found a rusted oil cooler line. Figured i had the warranty trailered it to my local mazda dealership and had them look it over and start a claim the mechanic suggested we do a compression test since its at 74k miles and it wouldnt hurt. First rotor numbers are bad second rotor is within parameters needs replaced. Warranty company told me that they wont cover the oil cooler line because of rust its in the fine print. Im pissed but i understand fine print got me. But the engines bad i will cover the lines you pay for the engine, thats why i got this warranty. They proceed to tell me the oil cooler rusted line caused the engine to fail and its my fault denied. The dumb question is what do i do. I owe around $4500 on the car it only has 75k miles but the oil cooler line is cracked and the engines bad. Its not my main means of transportation. Who buys a broken car? I cant afford to fix all the lines and swap the engine. Do i have any options?

 

That sucks, man.

Can't say without knowing more details, but they might just have been looking for an excuse to deny your claim. Pretty common. I'm assuming the warranty is through a third party and not Mazda?

 

So sorry to hear this. Forget that "warranty" - you lost, the warranty company won. You have to let that go.

Assuming the rest of the car is in really good shape, I'm afraid the only option you have is to try to sell the car to an RX-8 fan who's willing to replace the engine and end up with a nice, newly-engined RX-8 for under, what, $5K? (Cost to buy your car might be $1500 and cost of new engine might be $3K). To a sports car enthusiast without a lot of money, a nice RX-8 with a new motor for under $5K would be a huge bargain – a steal.)

So your problem now is how to find that individual. Perhaps he reads this forum.

 

Yeah I understand the warranty won. This is all happening today the final word is if i pay to have the engine disassembled by my mazda dealership to prove that low oil didnt cause the low compression. I told my dealership this and they are agreeing with me that its bullshit and are going to try what ever they can. Im waiting to hear back but my hopes are low. Its so frustrating the warranty company tells me ": I find it so hard to believe an engine is failing naturally at 80k miles" Im like man its not failed its failing the engine runs still the first rotor is on its last legs. His response "well there was a towel wrapped around the leak in the photos from our 3rd party investigator" the dealership put a towell around the oil cooler line with zip ties so the inspector could start the car cause he insisted he start it. his words i kid you not "well it looks to me like some one didnt want to fix it so they put a towell around it for a quick fix and thats the cause." at this point im just ranting i apologize but i need to get this off my chest.

 

NEVER pay for a warranty. Ever.


That said, I don't think the dealer can disassemble the engine for you. If you want to get a reman and not pay for the core, the old engine has to be together, otherwise, you have to pay an extra grand for the core. I have heard someone who just put everything back together hand tight and got away with it, but that's something to consider.

And yeah, losing a quart of oil is unlikely to wear the apex seal out that quickly.

 

Latest update Mazda has told me they just went through the same thing with the same car two months ago the lady said she would pay the dealership to tear down the engine. They charged her for 13 hours labor and when mazda came back and said look you cant prove anything the warranty company finally relented by trying to replace it with a used rotory with i kid you not 90K miles mazda refused they finally found one with 30k miles but the lady couldnt afford to pay the dealer ship for the 13 hours so its just sitting. I feel incredibly dooped. Im sure i will get the oil line replaced and you will see it posted on looking to sell. I cant lie to someone i will have to tell them the engine is on its last legs.

 

Care to share the warranty company so we know they suck?

 

As if there are third-party warranties that don't suck.

The general rule of thumb:

If it's given to you for free, sure, take it.

If you have to pay for it, don't.

Most of these warranties are designed for piston engines anyway. You are SOL with a rotary engine.

 

Of course they all suck. This one just happens to have earned a moment in the spotlight.

 

Yes they all suck, but I for one want to know the name anyway. Cheers

 

I'm pretty sure that legally, the onus is on the warranty company to prove that your actions caused the failure. It's called the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act. It's not your responsibility to prove anything to them, and moreover they're obviously not qualified to judge a rotary, so they haven't provided the service you paid for. Get a lawyer, at least consultant with one.

 

Loki, there is so much fine print in those warranty contracts, all designed to legally give all the rights to the warranty company to be the sole determiner of what is covered and what exclusions they can claim. Maybe in Canada it is different, but in the US I don't know anyone who did beat these warranties without spending money on a lawyer which is costly with no guarantee.

 

I'm wondering if all it takes is an angry lawyer letter. Those cost about $150.

 

Maybe

 

you can find angry lawyer letter templates all over the interwebs

 

The most important feature of the angry lawyer letter is the letterhead atop the page.

 

I am pretty sure that people know a free one you copy pasted when they see one.

 

Would a clogged CAT effect compression test numbers? Code P0420 to be exact, if I was to have the car compression tested, it wouldn't skew the results, would it?

 

It's bad for the car anyway. Remove or replace the cat ASAP.

 

I will be removing the CAT as soon as I can, but I'm looking to purchase this RX-8 (From a fellow RX8Club.com member as well I might add) and the car threw a P0420 code on his way to getting a compression test for me, I want to know whether or not to buy the car and I know compression numbers are a necessity with rotors. Any thoughts?

 

I can't say with 100% certainty, but since the compression test is only measuring at cranking RPM I can't see a clogged cat affecting the results too drastically.

 

It wouldn't skew the test results, but as far as buying the car, just realize that a new a cat is $1000+.
If you snag a used one in good shape , it's obviously cheaper, but not free. If you choose to gut it or go with a midpipe, then you'll always have the P0420... so... make your plans accordingly.

 

I will probably go the midpipe route, I just want to make sure that no damage will be done to the seals or engine itself, which it sounds like it shouldn't so thank you very much, I'll make sure I invest in a bluetooth code reader.

 

Any more damage, assuming that it's not driven on a bad cat for too long.