M Flash and My Auto
 

Had the M flash done on Friday. This is a huge thumbs up for mazda. This thing is just awesome. Big changes in the acceleration in the take off speeds getting to the higher gears. Just smooth, and no rubber band effect waiting to accelerate.

Didn't even tell my wife about it and when she drove it to her parents, she calls and asked what i did to the car. The car is bad ass!

I even squealed the tires. No the pavement was not wet.

Sweet! Sweet! Sweet!

I hope rest of you guys and gals are getting the same effects.

Thanks Mazda!:D :D

is the power difference that great?

Hmm, interesting. I've developed a rough idle, and had a couple of hard starts lately. Maybe i'll see if the dealer will give me the reflash. Going to take it in anyway to have it checked out.

I had mine in for the flooding and am wondering if they M Flashed it? I'll ask when I take it in for an oil change.

i dont think my dealer gave me an M flash. he flashed my ecu last week but i dont feel a thing when i drive.

tap ur brakes 20times in 8secs to check u should see your oil indicator sweep from 0 to 1/2 bk to 0.

and dont forget, print out the latest service bulletin from Mazda, telling the dealers they should M flash your car when it comes in, even if for other problems. I printed it out and am taking it in, when i get my first oil change. Hope I get the same results.

ironmedic, how long were you waiting? I think it took the dealership about an hour for the flash.

There are lots of threads about the M flash now and I posted in some of them already, but since this is a thread about ATs I will reiterate my comments.

I got the M flash (it took the dealer about 3 hrs to do it) about 2 weeks ago. It definitely smoothed out the acceleration in full auto mode. The car doesn't accelerate from a stop any faster that I can tell, but there is plenty of power there.

I was averaging a little under 16 mpg in mixed driving (mostly city) before the flash. After 1 and 1/2 tanks I am getting over 18 mpg. Instead of getting 200 to 210 miles before the fuel light goes on, I am now going 240 to 250 miles before the light goes on.

It looks good!

mm

my flash took 15 mins and i was done. when i make it up to washington, ill have them flash it up there when i do the oil change.

Getting M Flash today.
 

I took my car in today to get my tags and spoke with the salesman about wanting the "M" flash. He walked me over to the service center and told the service guy that it was hesitating in second and third. ...??? I said "uh, yeah." and they scheduled it for 3:30 today and said it would take bout an hour.
I'll let ya know after I get it done how it is. I had the TSB ready incase they gave me crap about doing it.

Ok, it took exactly an hour and here is what they said they flashed it with: sw-nbh6 em000. I suppose this is the flash they are talking about. Haven't driven much except home and it does seem to be smoother climbing the rpm's.

I cannot confirm any of that..

I've made the tires squeak before, on a dry curvy mountain road and afterwards. No difference at all.

I've never had a stall, a hard start or a flooded engine before nor afterwards. No difference at all.

What some of you write about the better accelleration.. I notice no difference since the M flash.

Improved gas mileage? I used to get 19 - 20 mpg before the M flash. Now I've driven 3 tanks with the M flash and it is still 19.5 .. again no difference.

I bought my car 9/16/2003 and it certainly did not come with an M flash back then.. but I had no problems to begin with nor do I have them now.. at least it didn't hurt, hm?

Oh, I forgot the shop damage done in the process - was it the dent or was it the cut leather steering wheel? No wait.. when it was the 2 nails in my tire. A few hours after picking up my 8 from the M flash I had a flat tire. I had only driven half a mile from the shop to my house and there are no such huge nails in my garage. Whatever...

ptiemann didyou do the oilsweep trick by stomping on the brakes 20 times to seeif you actually have the flash

Yes I did the oilsweep before and after. I definitely got the flash, at least L as the needle does move now. It did not move before.

There is one noticable difference - can anyone else confirm that?

It's about the behaviour of the fuel gauge. It moves more linear now (a good thing) but it scared me at first.

After 10 miles the gauge had moved significantly already. I just made a graphic.. I'll post a new thread:

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...threadid=26787

PTIEMANN-
It could be that your not feel the change like we are is because your in a MT not an auto. The car in auto is so different from the original. But the MT with the flash may have a different affect. The accelaration was always there for the MT but for the auto it was different, it was like a rubber band winding up then springing forward. Now its a smooth transition up to 4000 rpm.

Wellguys I got the M flash today. The difference inmy automatic is probably onlynoticeable if you pay close enough attentionto it. The pickup is much better when you are switching between gears -- whichin the auto means pushing thepedal all the way down b/c now theresmore of a response in the low RPMs justlike everyone said there was. Thatmeans whenyou needto passsomeone on the highwayit shouldnt take as longto get a littlebit of power as it used to. The wayit drivesnow kind of feels more like an ordinary sports car but it still does havea little bitof kick left after 5000 RPM justnot as noticeable as it used to be. It stillseems to take justas long as it used to in getting to 60 mph in my automatic but themanner it uses to do so is much smoother thanbefore. I havent had itlong enough to see how much my gas mileage hasbeen affected but Ill determine thatby the end of this week.

i got the m flash today and had them do the airbag recall..... it took them about 3 hours and they did give me a loaner.... i showed them the TSB and said the car didn't always start right off to egt the flash.... on their work order it says "M reprogrammed PCM"... have not the done the brake test yet, will do it after i get off work to make sure, i got the flash... but the car doesn seem to run smoother... i will be able to tell about the gas milage soon......

I took my auto in specifically for the M Flash. They did not give me a hard time at all about doing it. I have noticed improvements as some of you have stated in performance but too early to tell in mpg. I did the break test and did NOT get any movement. Previously the car did not have the L flash done and just went straight to the M. Is there any other way to tell that it was done. The dealer, who I'm not totally happy with, assured me that it was done.

I had my six speed flashed last week. I showed the rep the
tsb and he took it from there. He said he downloaded the latest
patch and that the m patch was now old. He gave me the current
one that was available. I asked if it was N or what and he said
he didn't know and couldn't say how they really tag their software.
I was getting about 16-18 mpg with about 4 k on the odometer.
After the flash I got 23 mpg on the first tank. I didn't change my
driving habits much. I tried to stay off the throttle but I still hit the
ton a few times on that tank.
Someone else ask their dealer if there is a more current patch
than M.
These guys were very cool about the retrofits and flash.
Thanked me for the tsbs too! said it made their job easier.