My 2004 - The Good News & The Bad
 

In January of last year, I brought my used RX-8 with 6,000 miles from a Mazda dealer in NJ. I now have 23,500.

The good news is, my RX-8 has run great from the day I got it. No flooding or any major problems.

My biggest nagging problem was moisture in the left tail light. They replaced the drivers side light 3 times and finally performed the trunk adjustment and all was OK. This has been good for about 6 months but now the right tail light has started with the moisture. Anyway, no big deal, as along as they replace it.

I have also been having problems with the clutch. Having trouble getting into reverse, and the clutch pedal needs to be depressed all the way into the floor - it's getting uncomfortable. Figured it might simply need a cluth pedal adjustment. So when I got 2 recall notices on the car ( gas tank and ball joint) I decided to take it in and have all of the above looked into.

Turns out I need I new clutch. They also informed me that the clutch has been replaced 2 times previously, as was the transmission, and get this....the ENGINE. :eek:

Holy ****!! I had no idea. I told them that none of these parts were placed BY ME, so therefore, they must have all been replaced in the first 6000 miles. My car is an early 2004, so it might have had a lot of the early bugs that surfaced. Who knows.

Luckily, I did opt for the extended Mazda Total Care Servce Contract when I bought the car. It was a bit of extra money but buying a used, first year rotary, I thought it might be a good investment. Turns out, it was!

Omori, you're a clever guy to spend a bit of extra money for the service contract.
I've too had moisture in my left fog light and head light but replaced them
I have about 3500 miles in my baby, and I hope I don't have to replace any more moisture problem

you should be depressing the clutch fully (to the floor) for every gear change, including reverse. if its an issue, you're sitting too far back.

but, definately a good gamble on the service contract. worked out very well in your favor :D:

You bought at the dealership... and they didn't bother telling you it's history.. or you didn't bother to ask? In your position, I wouldn't know who to kick in the nuts first, myself or the guy that sold it to me..

Well I empathize (a little), hopefully you get this somehow sorted out to your satisfaction. I guess it definately paid getting the extra service contract.. especially on a used vehicle like that.

I thought a used 8 would still have the 50K warranty. Why has the extended warranty been a good idea so far??

because the clutch is considered a wear item, and most dealers aren't replacing them underwarranty, and those that are replacing them are telling the owners that its the only time that they will do it, regardless of the reason behind why they are failing.

All is not bad though. As I originally said in my post, my car has been running like a champ for the last 9 months and 17,000 miles. Aside from this clutch problem, I have had zero mechanical problems. I enjoy every day of driving this car.

So in a way, I'm glad the engine was replaced and I didn't get a car with 6k miles of abuse on the original engine.

About that moisture in the tail light, do some investigation and find out if the car was wrecked. Go stand behind it and move your body from side to side and see if you see any waves or ripples in the paint. Look at the lines of the body , around the doors and windows and look for any displacement. Check for overspray lines on the inside bottoms of the body near the doors.

/gC

I'm not an experienced manual driver, but don't you always have to press the clutch -all- the way in to shift without grinding or putting extra wear on it?

So, if you hadn't been doing it previously, the wear may have been building up with your driving style?
Also, every manual I've driven, you can't even start the car without the clutch touching the floorboard practicaly!

Also, the dealership is at fault for not divuldging information about the tranny and engine swaps of your used car.
Here in Oregon, you have to exchange all information that effects the safety, operation, and resale value of your car before you sale it, unless the car is stated AS IS, no warranty period. Then at that point, it's up to you to do a Carfax on it.

But defenitely hold the dealer's feet to the fire on this one, they have sold you a car under false pretenses. I would be all over them like stink on sh*t!!!

Hope all turns out well.

Thanks for all the comments.

Regarding the clutch, maybe I didn't describe it correctly - it's simply that the pedal started to feel real mushy, a lot of play. It felt tighter and more progressive earlier. Not sure if that makes anything clearer but it was worth a try!! :wink2:

The car doesn't look like it has ever been hit. But, there was a TSB on tail lights and trunk alignment so I think that's all it is.

Yeah, The dealership that sold me the car said nothing of this. I asked the history and was told that the guy simply traded for another Mazda. I assumed that the RX-8 was simply not his type of car: bad gas mileage, maybe a flood experience, etc.

Since I've had the car, I've always adhered to cold start procedures, changed oil every 3000 miles, etc. No problems at all.

Keep in mind, I service this car at Stamford CT Mazda, not the NJ dealership I purchased it from. Stamford has been great in servicing the car. The guy in Stamford said he bet a kid had the car and really beat on it. It's a possibility. Dunno. But if everything has been replaced then I'm OK. Since the car has been running great up to 23,000, I think this may be the case. This clutch problem could have been a result of earlier damaged from the previous "abusive" owner as well!