Hi Everyone!
I just bought a 2006 RX8 with 24K and I am in looove with it!! The dealer has yet to give me an owners manuel to read. However, I have researched tons and even went to the Mazda service guy to hit him up on questions. I love cars and I am so excited to have a car again that I can "baby." I also am hoping to add some mods later on. I have never had a rotary before so I am really dedicated to taking care of it but am also nervous about doing something wrong as a first time rotary owner.

I am exsp. nervous about turning off the engine cold for the flooding aspect. How many times do you rev it if you drive a short distance?

Any advice for a newbie here? Hit me with your best stuff!

 

Open a new bank acc for maintenance.

 

If I shift under 3750rpms for city driving I can get 260-270 miles on a tank but I still take it to 9000rpm every few days for good measure and because it's fun as hell. Since I drive 30 miles a day I concentrate on getting good gas mileage so when I do take it to redline it feels like a rocketship.

 

Drive it easy until it is warmed up (3-5 mi), then drive it like you stole it. A redline a day keeps the carbon away.
The flooding problem is overrated.

 

Then he probably has not given you the Quick Tips manual either.

Sign up in the owner's section at mazdausa.com. You can download pdf versions of both manuals. I find the pdfs a lot handier than the printed ones.

Here's what the Quick Tips manual says about driving short distances:

Short trip driving procedure
For any trip that is too short for the
engine to reach normal operating
temperature, (needle in middle of
temperature gauge indicates normal
temperature), the following
procedure should be followed:
1. Start engine
2. Move vehicle
3. Warm engine for 5-minutes at idle
4. Raise engine speed to 3000
RPM for 10-seconds
5. Return to idle
6. Turn off engine

Note that you just rev once, and that's after the engine has warmed up by idling. Ignore any advice that says you can rev instead of warming it up. Personally, if I have to move mine a short distance I'll just drive around the block a few times.

As Al says, the flooding problem is overrated. Especially for '06's and later with the most recent flashes. But what can be wrong with taking an extra drive in an RX-8 just in case?

Enjoy the car...which I see you're doing already.

Ken

 

does this have to be done every single time or just in cold weather?

 

every single time
the warming up time might be different
as long as your water temp is above a quater, I think it should be fine.

 

My advice is to spend as much time as you can on this forum. You will learn tons of things and you will get addicted to the car faster)) This forum has answers for anything you can think.

 

If you don't get a manual from the dealer (I didn't), you can find a full set on eBay for about $60. You can also download the pdf.

 

Water temp should be in its normal warmed up position, which is generally two tics left of center. If you're not there, then the fuel injection may still be pumping extra fuel in as part of cold running - the equivalent of the choke engaged on a carburetor in the old days. Cold enrichment may end before the gauge is all the way there, but I don't know exactly where. Normal temp happens pretty quickly once the gauge begins to move, so it's not a big time difference.

Ken

 

or install real gauges :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrG28laPgdY

 

I test drove a brand new 2010 recently and when I first turned it on the exhaust made a weird farting noise and a bit of smoke was billowing out while the engine kinda sounded weird when I revved it from standstill. The salesperson said that this was because the car hasn't been moved for quite a while. Is this normal with the RX-8? Does this have anything to do with the carbon buildup when the engine isn't operated frequently?

 

That would let you shut off sooner if you knew the temperature at which cold enrichment stops. Which would cheat you out of a few minutes of driving around the neighborhood with the excuse that you're making sure it's warm enough to shut down.

Ken

 

i don't know how many times my girlfriend has had to call me asking "where did you go" when i had to move my car out of the driveway. a quick move turns into 20 to 30 mins of driving every time