List of Different Marbles
 

It seems that everyone has a sound reported to be "marbles in a can" or "marbles in a blender" or "sand in a can." Anyway, since it's pretty obvious that not everyone has the same noise, I'm going to try to categorize the different sounds and its possible causes:

1. Pinging
Identifying Trait: A possible loss of power and possible CEL, stops when you take your foot off the gas
When It Happens: Anytime is possible, but a lot of people have reported that the noise only happens when they use 87 octane or after they've owned the RX-8 for awhile
Possible Causes: Carbon buildup on rotors

2. Heater Core
Identifying Trait: No power loss or any other drivability difference, but when you take your foot off the gas the noise continues; Seems to be coming from the glovebox area
When It Happens: Intermittent, though it only seems to happen above 6000 rpm
Possible Causes: Air bubbles through the heater core, air bubbles through the water pump

3. SDAIS Opening
Identifying Trait: Only happens at around 6250 and 7250 rpm
When It Happens: Everytime the Renesis passes the aforementioned rpm points
Possible Causes: SDAIS Opening

4. Rattling transmission/shielding
Identifying Trait: Unsure
When It Happens: Everytime it's revved up to the range
Possible Causes: Something rattling that is hitting something else

5. Plugs/Wires/Coils dying
Identifying Trait: Car might run a bit rough, possible misfire CEL
When It Happens: When the coils are dying
Possible Causes: Plugs/Wires/Coils dying

Please list more if you know of any!

I was curious to see what all the fuss is about, and had never heard any of these sounds in my car, nor could I imagine what they might actually sound like. I even considered for a moment whether I should put some marbles in my blender and at what blender speed, but I decided against doing that. I'm sure it would be VERY loud. If anyone experiencing these sounds can record them, maybe in mp3 format, it might help us to categorize them. I don't know if this site has any provision for sharing files other than images; I could possibly offer some space on my personal website for this purpose.

Mike54 posted clips of his sound in the Tech Garage. We feel that he has the heater core sound. For what it's worth, I personally have never actually heard real marbles being placed in a blender or can before.

From the day I bought my car (2006 with 0 miles on it) to present my car still makes the marbles sound from 7ish to redline. I am almost convinced that it is sdias EXCEPT not all rx-8s do it.

^mine too. More specifically, 7250-8000 RPMs

Really? Everyone??? That's funny, 'cause I haven't heard any sounds like that at all! All I hear is a smooth, turbine-like "hmmmmmmmmmm". Maybe it's my 8 that has a problem.

Don't take it literally, but every other noise associated with the RX-8 seems to be "marbles."

hehe tell me about it..when i take a corner fast i hear screeching marbles..those are the worset :)

Sorry for being so literal, but it's threads like this that so easily lead to an erroneous belief amongst potential RX-8 owners "out there" that the car is plagued with all sorts of problems.

Yes, there are many threads that talk about the "marbles" sound—but that in no way implies that there are many 8 owners who have experienced this problem. Perhaps 97% of threads describing a weird engine noise liken it to "marbles in a can," but maybe 5% of RX-8 owners have ever heard this—or any other—weird sound.

Hi everyone. I am from Shanghai and this is my first post ever. My engine runs fine 99% of the time, however I have encountered the 'marbles in the can sound' about 3-4 times since buying the car about a year ago. I have realised when it will come out and it occurs during steady long use of mid rpms especially when I go on long distant trips. I would go at about 140km/h which is roughly 85-90mph for and extended period and after a toll booth i would floor it to 9k rpm and that is when the rattling and loss of power occur probably around 7k rpm. I would just let the engine run smoothly for awhile and it will return back to normal with smooth revving all the way to 9k rpm.

Other problems which I am having is a funny rattle when the car is in idle especially is hot and the a/c on. I think the best way to describe the sound would be the rattling sound of a diesel engine. Any ideas on what it is cos the dealers here are useless and clueless as there aren't many rx-8's in China.

Thanks.

Car idling sound could be engine mounts , common problem amongst RX8 .

Michael

Greetings. Shanghai is my hometown so it's nice to see someone else from there. I'm not sure what ECU tuning Chinese RX-8s have, but it sounds like you have the same symptoms as what the recall in America is addressing. You might want to run premix every fillup though I understand premix would be hard to obtain in China. Anyway, I might be going back this Christmas or New Year's, so if I do I can take a look at your car then.

[/QUOTE]I would go at about 140km/h which is roughly 85-90mph for and extended period and after a toll booth i would floor it to 9k rpm and that is when the rattling and loss of power occur probably around 7k rpm.[QUOTE]

To be more precise on my previous description. It seems like the revs gets stuck at about 7k rpm and doesn't go any higher, as though you've hit a rev limiter, which creates the 'loss of power' and that's when the 'marbles in the can' grinding noise occurs. It's sounds really scary and its loud and definitely a sound that damaging something inside the engine.

Hi LionZoo, let me know if you ever come here and we can definitely meet up if I'm around as I might not be here during Christmas or New Year's.

don't worry you are not the only one - I have seen a guy that had someting like you :)

I'm the mad owner of "category 2" sound (not to use 'marbles' again)
And I think about it EVERY time I accelerate and rev it above 6-7k rpm :cussing:

My marbles are verry audible when the door is open and the clutch is out (in neutral). It comes back really loud when the car hits about 6,000 RPM. Not sure where that one falls in, but the dealer said it was "normal" and that all 8's with some mileage on them have it.

Mine occasionally makes that parked in neutral marbles sound (much more obvious inside a parking garage). It's normal. :)

What are the fixes for #2?

I just reached 2k miles so I have only been pushing her for a few days now. The noise reminds me me of sand hitting thee passenger footwell, but it stops when I lift off the gas. It only happens at around 8k RPM.

What would be the procedure for purging these air bubbles?

pinging at 6500-
 

I experiencing only small pinging sound from motor during 6500 and more, its only audible when radio turn off. No CEL, no power loss, nothing. Try to use different sorts of petrol, use only highest available - 98, - doesnt matter but I try to going on in research. Tried to diminish spark plug gap, - doesn't matter. So, its just annoying sound, but anyway, are there any cure for it? Would it lead to any breakages and destroy seals somehow sooner or later?

i have an 04 with AT. i seem to get a bunch of rattling when i'm at idle in reverse and drive only. i had my dad check under the hood while it was doing that and the whole engine was shaking more than usual and the exhaust was rattling against stuff. i had the PCM reflash which is all the dealer would do when i took it in for that problem and now it is worse. i keep telling them i think its the engine mounts but thay keep saying its not. there's also a CEL on now.

now i've got an intake and exhaust. i put the intake on already. when i took the stock system out there were pools of oil in the tube and oil spots on the filter. i really don't want to put the stock one back on. i don't know if the dealer will still honor my warranty with them on. IDK what to do. anyone have any suggestions?

::bump::

No, it's not normal.

If you are talking about a "marbles" sound, when sitting with the clutch out, in neutral, this is the pilot bearing. If it makes the sound with the clutch in, in neutral, it is the throw-out bearing.

Mazda claims it is normal because they obviously designed the pilot bearing wrong. I've been told by tons of people that this is "normal" -- so, it's normal for the RX8, but not for any other car? What's so different about the RX8's transmission versus every other car, besides having glass syncros?

That's not #2.

I would go at about 140km/h which is roughly 85-90mph for and extended period and after a toll booth i would floor it to 9k rpm and that is when the rattling and loss of power occur probably around 7k rpm.This is the same thing I experienced over the past weekend. I had the marbles sound at around 6-6500 rpm and it seemed like it was not making any power past that point. MY car is a low-miles (1800 mi) 2006 and I had not had the issue previously. Mine occured during a spirited drive at high altitude. The marbles sound immediately took the fun out of the drive thats for sure. After heading back down to lower elevations I haven't heard the sound since... . I don't want to muddy the waters with the altitude thing, but thats simply the driving environment that I experienced the problem in, and its just data thats all.

Other than that, Redboots description of the sound and power loss are very similar to my experience.

Did you get the recall done?

Man Lion Zoo just won't leave it alone.

It's normal.

His car would have blown up by now if it was marbles or pinging or what frick you want to call it.

Give it a rest.

Need to put him on my Cry baby list . :crying: :crying: :crying:

Ohh... by the way I got 14mpg the other day. I think I'm gonna start a MPG thread.

My car came new from the dealership two weeks ago with 36 miles on the odo. I was assured that all recall related work had been attended to, but I don't have any formal detail regarding that from the dealership. My car and I are in NM now and my dealership in St.Louis. I am going to double check with them before heading home for the holidays, but this particular dealership has a decent history from a technical perspective with a service manager and team that have been in place many years. Hopefully they will be able to confirm the recall work again after I discuss my issues over the past weekend.

Stupid post.

If it were normal, why is the RX-8 the only car that has these sounds (while most of the sounds aren't rotary-related)?

Marbles haven't blown up anything. Even when there's power loss.

We won't give it a rest because it ruins the rotary experience and we've payed a good amount of green to buy our cars, and we didn't expect these random sounds.

Gas mileage is the wrong analogy - anyone who did a little reading before buying the car should of had the expectation of having poor gas mileage, especially from a sports car. Also, gas mileage varies in most cases, you can have 10 mpg on one tank and 20 on the next.

This is rx8club.com, and people will continue to discuss problems with their car whether you like it or not.

And yes, feel free to put me on your infamous list :rolleyes:

No marbles except

Back when the rodent got into the air conditioner, turning on the fan did indeed cause a marble sound - removing the acorn from the fan chamber took care of the problem!

Well at least I made some list or other. Any list is better than no list right?

In case you didn't bother to read the point of this thread, it's to document the different marble sounds so that people have a convenient reference in case they get the sound. Since you're so tuned into complaining, I'm sure you know that just about every week someone starts a new marbles thread; this is a direct response of trying to stop that trend, but hey what do I know, I'm just complaining. You might also have noticed that I pop up a lot on the marble threads telling people that the heater core sound (which is what I have) won't do their engine any damage, that it's just a sound. Then again, I'm just complaining and worrying that my engine is going to explode right? Lastly, though some (not all) of the marbles are not real problems, they do detract from the experience, and anything can be improved. Just because it's not a real problem doesn't mean Mazda can't make it better. After all, there's nothing fundamentally wrong with a tire from the 1980s, but the tire manufacturers seemed fit to believe that they still needed to improve.

This seems like a problem with the apex seals drying out and I'm guessing your marbles are more like pinging. Perhaps try some premix and see if that solves your problems. I know swoope has experience with premixing to mask the power loss issue after sustained cruising.

I had marbles with my '72 RX-2 and marbles with my '04 Rx-8...sometimes... usually under light load at mid-RPMs. Not all the time, but only sometimes. Big deal. It's a rotary thing. I've simply tuned it out if it is there anymore. The 8 has no major problems whatsoever as a result of this noise.

But here's a sure cure. I can tell you, for what it's worth, that in 6 hrs on the track one long weekend, I never did hear one marble rolling around in there, but admitedly I was spending most of my time between 5-9.5K, mostly in 3rd or 4th, and there is no such thing as 'under light load' on the track. :angel:

Thats the concern for me. I drive my cars hard, and I was "trying" to wring the car out and simply couldn't. Instead I got the "noise" and it felt like the engine was incapable of getting past the 6500rpm point. Its a new car (a little less than 2000 miles at this writing) and I am going to have a discussion with the service manager via phone today, but I don't expect any miracle answers. I do not believe its pinging/detonation though. I was running 91 octane and was also experiencing this problem at high altitude where the probability of running lean is unlikely.

Since that incident on Sunday, once I got out of the mountains the car ran fine and continues to run fine. Again this is just information on what occured, but it does have similarities to other examples of this problem I have read on this forum. I can't imagine that the situation I encountered is normal for the RX8. Maybe its just my car specifically and I am just the lucky guy, but I doubt it.

If I am enlightened by my service manager, I will certainly share my info.

Jeff

Errr...no.

First of all, apex seals don't "dry out". And pinging is not caused by lack of lubrication - a sudden and violent DEATH of your motor is caused by lack of lubrication. If the apex seals were to "dry out"(I still don't understand how metals can dry), the motor would be blown in an instant, and the rotor housing/rotor would indeed be chewed to oblivion. I know from experience.

How about a more accurate sound? Marbles sound like everything. Metal on metal? Grinding, etc? This is getting stupid. I have the "marble" sound in my steering wheel buttons when cold. Think I should premix?

Based on piston cars, even if you are running hi test, altitude can make an engine miss and run rough - its a matter of tuning - if you have to spend a couple of weeks in the mountains it pays to get it reset and then reset again when you drop down to sea level.

Update from one dealership
 

Well, I was able to confirm that my car has had all of the proper recall work done to it via the help of a very nice service gal named Jamie at Penkhous Mazda in Colorado Springs, CO. I called them primarily because they are located in a high altitude environment and I was interested if they were familiar with the condition I experienced. She quickly took my VIN and confirmed that my car had gotten the recall work done at the dealership prior to me buying it. She did say that where they are located, they see a lot of RX8 owners commenting on power loss issues at higher altitudes. So much for fun driving on the mountain roads in NM, and just one more reason to get back home to Missouri.

Jeff

I've been reading thru the various "marble" threads and have seen one other person mention the same noise I hear with mine. I ONLY hear this when the engine is cold. I can hear what sounds like "marbles in a blender" ONLY at low RPMs as the RPMs rise. The sound disappears at about 6k or so. As the engine warms, the rattling gradually decreases and eventually ceases when the engine is completely warmed up.

It's sounds as if it's coming from in front of the firewall, and if have the radio on and turned up beyond about 8 or so, I can't hear it, so it's relatively faint. I need to do some more listening with the hood up to really get a better feel for it, but has anyone else noticed this sound?

These "marble" threads just confuse me. There are a lot of mecanical sounds that I hear. But my car runs great and has for 43,000 miles. If you are having a sound that just sounds bad, take it in for service and let an experianced mechanic look at it and listen to it. Nobody can diagnose the problem on here without it being obvious or just dumb luck.

What about the marbles in your head?

If the noise was pinging your 8 would be dead now.

Drop the issue.

....

Are you talking about the transmission whine . . . . ?

Mine according to Mazda is the heater core. It's so loud when the engine has just warmed up I just rarely go above 7k or just turn up the radio so I don't have to hear it. I guess its possible that its moisture cooking off I just don't get why every RX8 doesn't have it if its "normal".

i noticed something like this this morning. I turned on the car then stepped outside to de-ice, after a minute i heard what sounded like a loud marble rattle coming from what sounded like the center of the car underneath, (firewall, cat, ???). But the sound of the idle was not changed. The rattle got quiter to a whisper, i got in and the car revved fine and i didnt hear it from inside. When i got to my destination the sound was gone. ???????

Noticed my first marbles last night. On the previous tank afte 17000 miles of shell v power i tried chevron supreme and the car ran just as good if not a little bit better. When that was run out I went to try 76 supreme and it seemed to run the same, but for some reason sounded a little different, maybe not as high pitched, a little deeper. Was going down my road and wanted to hear the sound change so I pushed in the clutch and revved it to 9k. On its way down I heard some rattling that sounded like it was on the front undercarriage part of the car, it continued until the revs had dropped but it didn't do it again after that. Will try it out again today.

I have some marbles as well....

Seems to happen only in 3rd gear, when accelerating under high load out of a big corner. Seems to happen around 8000 rpm and upwards. Tried 2nd gear, and didn't hear it.....

Sound seems to come from under the hood (not the glove compartiment) and sounds a little bit like a mixture of marbles in a can and 'sucking through a straw in an almost empty glass (yeah i know, sounds stupid but it's the best way to describe it)' ...

I am running 95 octane, no premix (not really needed i think....)

Any ideas?

This is what worked for me..

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discussion-3/no-more-detonation-%2Amiac%2A-121249/

let us know how it goes.....

This is an excellent list so that someone like myself doesn't have to go digging through the old thread. I have number 2 MIAC. The heater core in the glovebox MIAC sound. I read in the old thread that PhantomMenace had this and took it to Mazda and they fixed it by changing a bad heater core valve or switch? I don't know which one it was but he said it fixed it.

Hm.... it's not warm over here, and engine's not overheating or anything, and i'm running 95 octane....

I'm not really sure it's detonation.... doesn't sound like a crushed beer can...

I had the same inssue, turned out to be air in the coolent system. Dealer bleed it out and has been fine since.

I think it is great you are documenting these issues for other owners, don't let the Fan-boys bother you. They would say their cars are great even if it exploded in flames every time they started it.

Knowledge is power even when it is not good news.

Little update..... did a sort of test drive....

The sound happens just after 7000 rpm, and goes on for a second or so, and ONLY on full load. It happens in straights as well, not only in corners (that's what i thought before)

I didn't test in 1st gear, but it's there in 2nd, 3rd, and 4rd gear, probably in 5th and 6th as well. In 2nd gear it seems to be a bit less loud.

It sounds like marbles or like a crushed can but higher pitched, so i don't think it's detonation (running octane 95, temps are not high)....

Got no CEL's, and no overheating....

Could it be air in the coolant? Coolant level is fine btw...

edit: found a 'marbles' sound clip, and it DOES NOT sound like this (so it can be excluded)

http://private.tessel.pl/mazda/mazdarx8_noise.wav

edit2: Last check up, dealer replaced coolant, and i'm not 100% sure (damn memory) but i think it wasn't a problem before that (i surely would have mentioned it to my dealer).... can i bleed the system by elevating the front and just let the car idle and remove the filler cap?