bxb40

Some dealers are just plain bad. Mine was great, I mentioned hearing rattles in the cat/exhaust and they inspected and found it faulty. Free replacement under warranty. No CEL ever - no flooding I'm aware of (car had 7 miles when I got it...). But about half year ago the mpg got 30% worse, so maybe this is when the cat died - and the oxygen sensor tried to compensate for it by reducing power and dumping more fuel into it. Starting the car produced smeely fumes, gasoline-like. With the new catalyst, starting the car is almost odorless (or at least there is no gasoline smell).
In conclusion, go to another dealer and ask them to inspect the catalyst - it can be bad and have no CEL....

swoope

iTrader: (5)

went through same thing about 3 weeks ago. found this:

https://www.rx8club.com/lounge-4/big-rotary-engines-5252/

shut car off took to dealer. got better on the way. they changed gas i put in a can of b@g 44k. it is running fine now and gas mileage is back up.

guess i wait to see if it happens again.

beers

Chris4401

Supposed to hear from the dealer tomorrow AM. Not sure what to expect but not surprised if he says a new engine is what is going to happen. I think I will be a bit more emphatic about checking the Cat - but again, I won't be surprised if he already has.

Funny thing is, they won't admit to anything being wrong but they were sure quick to offer up a new engine.

Chris4401

Car still at the dealer. Talked with the Service Mgr. And he said the compression was "OK". I asked what that meant and said it was "within specs". Wouldn't tell me the numbers. Refuses to check the Cat because no CEL or trouble codes during diagnostics.

I expressed my frustrations with this as the problem ultimately is MECHANICAL (the car won't run). They keep looking for computer problems and apparently ignoring the other aspects of the problem.

Mazda told them that if the compression is bad, replace the engine. If the compression is marginal (??) and they can replicate the proble, replace the engine. Apparently neither is the case so I'm wondering what I'll be told next.

Getting very frustrated with be told "We'll have to see what Mazda wants to do". Two questions:

How do I contact Mazda, and what should "acceptable" compression be.

Thanks.

Aseras

You have enough to lemon law the car already.. same defect 3 times. Do a lemon law notification to mazda not the dealer and that'll light a fire under their ***. then they are on the clock to fix it or buy it back.

Hard 8

Damn. Looking in the cat while it's up on the lift would take ten minutes -- just unscrew four bolts, IIRC -- and would either identify the problem or eliminate that possiblity. What the heck is their major malfunction?

Gerael

you guys have to understand something about dealers....

they are about the money.... the techs care about the money... thats it... they don't care whether your car is handled well or this or that... they care that its done quick... and that they get the money...

consider... whos paying them? no you the complaining customer... its mazda... and if they say don't check the cat... and replace the motor... thats what the tech does cuz thats what hes getting paid to do.... hes not gonna check the cat... and find something wrong... because if he screws that up... its his *** whos gonna get chewed out... so hes not really motivated to do anything he doesn't have to... hes wouldn't be getting paid to do it anyway... techs are paid by the job.. not hourly

i believe the lemon law thing is something good to pursue now..

Chris4401

Talked to them yesterday. Couldn't the problem to replicate but they are going to replace the motor anyway. No particular reason to do so but I guess they ran out of computer diagnostics to run. He said something about possible carbon buildup on the seals that gets hot and causes the seals to fail. I'll probably never know what is wrong but I guess Mazda just replaces stuff until it replaces t5he right thing (???).

I finally got the Service Manager to check the Cat while the motor is out (has to remove the exhaust anyway) to see if its OK.

Hopefully, this fixes the problem for good. He says the motor will be the latest and greatest ('05 or '06) so it will have all the newest updates.

My plan is to wait on the Lemon Law issue until I'm done with the latest repair attempt.

flyboyindy

So what happened Chris??? Did the new engine fix the problem? I am having the same issues... Not a CAT problem, they replaced that... Not SSV problem, they replaced that. My PCM is on its way back from CA, but im sure thats not going to fix the problem either.

swoope

iTrader: (5)

i bet it will.

beers

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

I guess hes too pissed to even come on to this forum anymore ...

DOMINION

I went to 3 and now I have a new Engine

shakRpahX8

he disappeared... from the face of the earth

Aseras

he must have discovered the real problem and mazda sent him to sleep with the pistons...

cleoent

he prolly sold the car.

flyboyindy

I got my PCM installed, and so far have had no problems. Thats not saying that its fixed.. Just saying that it hasnt acted up yet.

poobah

My 8 is in the shop getting a rebuilt motor. I have had the same issues
Stalling when warm,loss of power,Reprogramed PCM and tons of downloads.
My dealer says its a friction issue??? ((oil or water) They are very garded and
will not say more. 04 ,AT, 45000 miles. Mfg in Oct 04.I don't think its the cat. This seams more serious. Whatever the cause it has done internal engine damage or it may be a engineering defect.

foo77

i think his problems has been fixed its remind me with my failed cat before

things that blocked my cat

csuttman

I've been searching this site looking for others with a similar problem to mine and it appears the only real solution is to keep bringing it back to the dealer until they cave in and fix it right... whether it's the dealer or Mazda or whoever gets sick of seeing your car being checked.

My issue is the engine is sluggish in low rpm's... but not all the time. It seems slow to the point where I think it's going to stall sometimes. It's much more noticable the lower the rpm's. Some times on usually mostly cool, non-humid days... the car runs fine. I brought it in and the dealer did recall work of changing some plugs and updating the PCM. It ran better for about 300 miles... now it's bogging down again. What the #$@%?! I guess I need to bring it in again.

I love the car... just hate the bugs. Issues like this make the other minor annoyances much more noticable... like the damned heated cupholder that spills drinks via elbow or the lid sliding forward when breaking! Why is there so much heat in the cup holder?!?! Is there a way to prevent the sliding lid from smashing my drink cups when I stop quickly?!?! Why is the huge dashboard only available as black?! The car is a freakin' oven when left in the sun for a while (I live in a hot climate). Why do the breaks squeel like a little girl?!?! Aren't there ways to design the breaks and/or materials to prevent the annoying squeeling? What's up the premium Bose stereo that sounds like crap?!?! I paid extra for it because they made the dash in a way that an aftermarket stereo would look like crap, so now I'm stuck with this POS which is the best I can do at any price. OK... I'm a bit off topic now. I'll be taking it in to the dealer again within the next few days and will continue my rambling there.

I'm interested in hearing from others with the same sluggish engine problem and how the situation is/has progressed for you. Please IM me.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Bring it in, and Its not only Mazda, all cars get problems, My brother just got his Altima SE-R back today from Dealership.

Nothing is perfect.

Thats because thats the area where the Cat sits, To only way to solve it, go midpipe, your car would be a few pony faster, but u're killing the earth.

Dont use it, Close it, be happy.

Why mom has to be a female ? Cuz thats the way it is.

I've never seen a car can still be freezing cold under the sun. Are you high ?

Performance Brake squeak all the time, from your words I guess you've never driven any performance cars, no Im not talking about ricey Civics, Im talking about Skyline GT-R kind of car.

Bose was never good in the first place, whoever believes Bose makes good Audio equipment means he/she doesnt know crap about Audio systems. but hey, still better than no-name brand setups.

Good luck.

dragon james

I have an '04 auto and am having the same problem with mine. It seems to happen when the car is really hot in cooler weather I have not noticed it as much. And I have never gotten a cel.

csuttman

NYCGPS,

I appreciate the input, but I disagree with your responses.

For starters... not all performance cars breaks squeel. I live in S. Florida in an area where every 5th car is a Porshe, Corvette, BMW, Mercedes, Lotus, Ferarri, etc and I have never had one of them pull up next to me at a light with squeeling brake pads. Most of them have calipers twice the size of the 8's. Are these not performance cars with performance brakes?

I don't expect freezing cold under the sun... I was saying the car is much hotter than other cars due in part to the black dash. I have high quality dark tint that shades everywhere but the dash. When I ride in other people's cars at lunch time on sunny days... it's no where near as incredibly hot as my car is. You can actually put your hand on light colored dashboards without being scalded... unlike my black dash... so I am of the belief that the black dash is a big source of heat. In the car's favor though... the AC does work better than many other cars.

Cup holders should be functional. How difficult is it to make functional cupholders?!?! My previous car had a tray that pulled out from below the stereo that had a metal bar drop down to support the bottom of the cup. It wasn't fancy but it was almost invisible when not in use (closed) and IT WAS FUNCTIONAL... unlike the cup heater/spiller in my 8.

I am not exactly a big Bose fan either. My point is that Mazda should have thought about the fact that their market is the "driving enthusiast"... and how many people that really "love to drive" don't give a crap about the audio?! Leave the Bose crap to the people that buy cars for the "status of the name" on it and put an audio system in the "enthusiast's" car that sounds good. Hell, I bought the car for the performance, not the name. Why wouldn't I look at the stereo with the same desire?

And back to my original topic... I don't like the hassle of bringing the car in with a problem and having to bring it in again in a few weeks later for the same problem. I know it's not just the RX-8's or even Mazda's that have problems... that's why the warranty is so important to consumers. I haven't been put through the ringer yet by the dealership to get it fixed, and hopefully I won't. I just wanted to point out that defects cause consumers to look more critically at the rest of the product (sort of hoping that this info would get to Mazda in some roundabout way).

I'm mostly just concerned (paranoid) that my car will test "within specs" through the remainder of the warranty period... then stick me with a huge repair bill when the warranty runs out. I did get a notice that Mazda has extended the drivetrain warranty period to 5 years/60k miles... which definitely makes me feel Mazda is more committed to making sure we are happy with our purchases.

Thank you for doing the right thing Mazda! Please keep it up.

Now, if I can just get the HP back to where it should be!

csuttman

Dragon James,

I've made the same observations, but it doesn't always hold true, so I'm hesitant to say it's just the heat that does it. It may be a combination of heat and something else. It always runs good on cool, non-humid days (unfortunaly I don't see a lot of those). It occasionally runs good on hot, humid days too though.

It seemed to slow down after I put oil in and brought it up from the low line to mid way through the fill line. I'm wondering if the oil level has something to do with how much oil gets blown into the cat on hot days... or if the cat material is broken up and shifting around on hot days causing it to block more or less at different time (?)

If this (obviously rookie) diagnosis makes any sense to anyone that has some real knowledge on the subject... please reply.

csuttman

Looks like I killed this thread. Sorry for the lengthy bad attitude response.

In case anyone gives a crap... I got a new motor and the car runs great again. I now know it wasn't my imagination that the car was losing power. The new motor is a lot stronger and doesn't seem to be so temperature sensitive. Thank God... I love the car again!

NoTears316

good job