my car was built in feb of 2004, purchased in march 2004, and assuming at that time, I had the "L" flash. The car drove perfect, had lots of zip and impressive acceleration, and was averaging 260-300 miles per fill up (mixed city/hwy) so no problems.

in may-jun of 2004, i brought the car in for an oil change and they offered to do an "M" flash PCM upgrade. i asked if i needed it, and they mentioned its mazdas current TSB but wasnt quite a recall, so it was my option. I asked if it would change the cars characteristics and they mentioned it was the typical flash to correct against the flooding and hard starts. so i agreed to have it done. Anyway immediately after i noticed that the car had lost a significant amount of zing, like it no longer had the steep torque curve and that the power delivery was now more linear and slightly slower. i came back immediately to complain, but they mentioned that the current flash had nothing to do with those characteristics. I was stuck with the new and slightly blunted performance.

anyway, months had gone by, I went out of town, then went on a two month vacation and rarely drove the car. As the next oil change interval approached, i brought the car in and had the oil changed today. I complained about the last flash and that i had lost power. Low and behold, they advised that mazda had come out with a bonafide recall (either a more recent updated "M" or perhaps newer "N") after my last flash, and that explains the loss of power.

sure enough, after my 20 buck oil change, and warranty work to change my center lid, and most recent flash, Im surprised to say that my car has been restored to its original feel, very fast and zippy, more torquey and a pinned down feeling when accelerating.

Im not too sure what kind of voodoo is happening, but whatever mazda did this time, it worked!

love this car!!

happy rotoring!

 

can you check your invoice to see which version of firmware they flashed your 8 with?

I'm hesitant to have mine flashed, because I know I have the 'M' flash off the factory line (6/04 build), and if it ain't broke, i dont really want to waste time to fix it :p

 

Since getting the N flash my mileage has dropped and the car starts harder. I ususally have to put the pedal to the floor. The only good thing is the flat spot at about 6500rpm is gone.

I'm going to take it back in and get them to look it over again. I was averaging 19 mpg in the city and it has dropped to 16-17 mpg.

 

All i know is that i just got the N flash this week and my car feels noticeably smoother, with more power in 1st and 2nd gear.

I don't think it's in my head...

 

I got the N flash done yesterday. I previously noticed a power dip at 3500 and 6500 RPM which is now gone. Smoother is how I would describe it, I don't know about faster. I never had any hard start or flooding issued (knock wood) so the re-flash wasn't to fix anything.

Does anyone else notice a slight hesitation when shifting from gear to gear under hard acceleration? I've found that if I don't keep my foot in the throttle or blip it pretty high when shifting, that there is a slight hiccup before the power comes in. This happens at any RPM. Oh, this was happening before the N Flash and I was hoping it would go away but it's still the same old thing. Thoughts?

 

according to the invoice its: "MSP04 LACK OF POWER RECALL" they simply reflashed the PCM, but im unsure if this is a newer update of the "M" or if it is simply new altogether... "N"?

 

I noticed that if you shift hard you'll get that hesitition if your traction control is on. Any wheel slip or sudden power surge and it bogs for as split second. Try to do it with the traction control off and I bet it does not happen.

 

nt