2006 car with about 5,500 miles - dealer has worked with Mazda, and found low compression in one side - so a new engine is on the way.
Engine use - ALWAYS warmed up properly, run smoothly thru revs but never abused. Broke it in according to book - varied RPMS, etc. Oil change/serviced through dealer only.
Chalk up another one -

My earlier post under General Discussions, repeated for ref.
CEL Code P0301
Wonder what this is? (Cylinder misfire?)
Background: drove 250+ miles, stopped for gas, light comes on after about 10 minutes. I check the gas cap, all secure. Light stays on.
Take the car to Daytona Mazda, the good guys check the code, offer to replace the coil and plug under warranty on the spot, but we both feel maybe it was bad gas. They cleared the light, I drive it a bunch, no more light, so I waved off on the offer to fix it.
On the home trip, same thing again - 250+ miles into the trip, I stop for gas (Shell V Power), 10 minutes later the check engine light comes on. Check the gas cap, all tight.
Dropped it at the dealer this morning, they will check.
Comments:
It's not related to cold start - car was WELL warmed both times. It didn't show up in short trips. Seems maybe related to gas stops but not sure. Maybe a WARM restart issue?
Open for any thoughts - [end repeat]

 

0301 is a misfire code......

could be a coil/plug/wire/poor fuel etc.....

See what they say....it's under warranty...so you won't mind if they throw new parts at it

 

I think they said "We will replace engine"

 

Any mods? Synth or dino? What viscosity?

 

in his case, he should mind. He already had a new engine. The replacement will likely be a remain, and their quality has been questionable.

 

Ya that sucks.......Hopefully the remans are better now than they were

 

Maybe Mazda will give him one of them new Engines lol NOT!
Man that sucks. I hope eveything works out for him.

 

For the record - they did the replace coil and plug first, since that seems to be the textbook remedy for 0301 - when that failed to correct the problem they contacted Mazda, went thru diagnostic checks and found the low compression. I've searched around this board and found other similar low compression failures.
One other poster mentioned the 3/4 cam sound - mine had a very mild rumble at idle but then revved smoothly and pulled well all the way through the range. Since this was first rotary and brand new, I thought the idle was normal -

Yep, a little concerned about how this will all turn out...love the car.

 

oh, car is bone stock 6 sp., no mods. Oil was whatever the dealer uses, topped off with Castrol non-synthetic 5W-20 as recommended.

 

My first engine showed the same symptoms. With 13K miles, the engine had a warm start issue after many CELs. First engine replacement was a new one from Japan. I had to wait 5 weeks to get it. That one went bad. The reman that is there now seems to be better.

 

Non-synthetic ...

Damn that sucks, probably just a bad build from factory.

Hope they will fix it !

 

Bump, bump, bump, another one bites the dust.........

 

*Quote* Another *Non-Synthetic* users bite the dust ..... *unquote*

 

just heard from Mazda - need to revise the title of this thread from "New Engine Coming" to "An Engine Coming". Reman. Will keep you all posted as we go...

 

Damn, this sucks. Sorry to hear. I've been combing the boards for about a year now and I believe this is the first 2006 manual I've seen need a new engine. This new of a car, fight for a new engine. That or demand compensation for diminished value.

 

Like the thousands of Miatas that had to have their engines replaced. Stupid Miata. Another unreliable car from Mazda.

 

Still waiting (3 weeks now) for my engine replacement on 2006 6MT GT. I had catastophic engine failure - something came apart in engine while driving at low load (~3000 rpm) - lots of noise, engine dies and oil full of metal. I have not been able to find anyone else with this type of failure.

 

^Sorry to hear that. Unfortunately, because of the spin doctoring by a few people on this forum, that's exactly what thousands of people think happened to all RX-8 engines that have been replaced. Karl Rove couldn't have done it better himself.

There's a BIG difference between a) an engine that fails a compression test and gets replaced and b) engine failure. Mazda chose to replace - rather than repair - engines that failed their compression test. But a small group of people here just love calling that "engine failure," which, to the casual visitor researching the RX-8, conjures up images of just what you described: a dramatic scene with plenty of smoke, lots of ugly noises and your engine suddenly seizing up, leaving you stranded out in the middle of nowhere.

The swiftboating of the 8, from your good friends at rx8club.com.

 

mid-life,
Sorry to hear about your engine. Keep us posted as you go; I'll do the same. Local dealer says I should have my car back next week. In the meantime they have provided me with a loaner car. The dealer has been very civil in handling the issue.

I'm curious about the remanufactured engines - on the one hand it's a used motor and mine was almost new, but on the other hand, Mazda may have better QC by pulling all the engines back to a single point for rework as opposed to having field techs all over the globe working on them. Time will tell.

My worst fear would be that the problem drags on or expands to other items (alternator fails because it wasn't re-installed right but now the belts aren't covered under warranty, etc. etc.) and Mazda abandons me because it's cheaper for them to lose a customer instead of fixing my car.

The best case is the reman engine runs fine and I enjoy the car for years to come.

On statistics and Murphy, today's guess is that the future will lie somewhere in the middle between the two endpoints. But I won't know till I get there, so stay tuned.

 

Sounds very familiar - except mine is an 04. FWIW, I've had it back for 3 weeks now with no issues, but I'm still breaking it in. Once I get through the break-in, I need to take it on a full tank trip, as this seems to be where the issue lies - long runs at speed. Problem is, where the hell can I go in this miserable part oif the world at this time of the year? Oh well - I'll wait for a nice day.

 

Hope you get it resolved and the next engine is a better build. I've had no issues with my '05 MT (added in case people are worried about car self destructing

 

Not really.

They didn't really have a choice as the techs at dealerships aren't trained at the disassembly and repair of a rotary engine. Meaning they couldn't choose to repair them even if they wanted to.

 

Training techs/equipping dealership service dept's with tools to fix an engine that is in only one of the cars in your line-up (that doesn't sell well) is not cost effective.

 

Keep jousting those windmills Don Quixote.......... sooner or later you'll wake up and join the rest of us. By the way I didn't know the Miatas also had an engine failure rate that is far higher then industry averages, thanks for the info.

 

So an engine that loses compression to the point that it no longer functions and needs replacement is not considered an failed engine in your book......fascinating.