So 3,700 miles and $3,500 later I got a new fuel pump...
 

Ok let me start off by saying in my family my dad makes the decisions and thats that. So I didnt agree with all the decisions made, but I had no choice.

I live in South Louisiana, but had to move to Salt Lake City, Utah till December for work. So Labor day weekend I started my drive from South Louisiana to Salt Lake City, about 1,600 miles. The RX8 was a pleasure to drive all thoes miles, although it was a little cramped. I had mojority of my clothes and other various items I need for the few months of day to day living. I also had a passenger with a couple bag, so like I said it was pretty tight but every fit.

As we drive through New Mexico everything is running smoothly. Crusing down the highway at about 75ish mph, climing in elevation on a rather warm day (95ish degrees). I noticed my temp gage started to climb a bit, nothing crazy, just a bit over normal. Then all of the sudden my car started spuddering and losing power. I could put my foot to the floor and RX8 would loose power and die. I pulled over on the side of the highway to try and re-start the car but I would start back up. I waited about 10 minutes and she started right back up and drove fine. About 15-20 minutes later the same thing happend lost power and car died. Once again the car started after sitting for yout 10 minutes. This repeated about 4 times before I decided to just call a tow truck to get to the nearest town. I ended up in a little town about an hour and a half away from Albuquerque, NM. It was late at night so I left my car at a little shop to have them check the fuel pump/filter. The shop called me the next day and said everyhting check out fine. Thats when I knew I needed a new engine.

I left the little shop and started to drive to the nearest Mazda delaership in Albuquerque. Now I am nervouse b/c my car has some mod including my Cobb AP, and of all the things I brought with me from home I forgot my Cobb. So I had no way of fixing my maps back to stock. My only hope was they wouldnt try and give me any BS about my warrenty. My car continued to drive like crap the little drive to Mazda, but I made it, barly. Lucky Quality Mazda in Albuquerque was really nice and didnt give me much flack about my mods. They only thing they asked was that I shiped my stock cat to them so they could take out my mid pipe so they could sent emmisions numbers to mazda. So they got my car ready to order a new engine and I left my RX8 in Albuquerque. I had to rent a car to finish my drive to Slat Lake City. My passenger had to get home for school and I need to get set up for work. No choice but to make the 630 mile drive from Utah to Albuquerque when Quality Mazda finshed my engine swap. Everything was under warranty so I didnt have a problem driving back to pick up my car with a new engine

Two Fridays later I drove the 11 hours from Salt Lake City back to Albuquerque. I was very excited to get my car back as I was getting tired of my Chevy Impala rental(not a bad daily driver, but cant hold a candle to my love for the RX8) Once again my passenger made the journey with me. We pick up my car Saturday morning and have a nice visiting Albuquerque(little did I know I would be back several time) Instead of taking boring interstate drive we were taking sceanic back roads and litle highways. My passenger and I were on a little highway about an hour and a half away from Albuquerque when the fun began. My poor RX8 began doing the same thing it had before I had the engine replace. Loosing power and dying, would only re-start after sitting for 10 or so minutes. I called the service rep at Mazda and he assured me they replaced my engine and couldnt figure out what was wrong. I broke down basically in the middle of nowhere and our only choice was to go back about 100 miles to Albuquerque. at this point I was very frustrated but didnt really have a choice.

By the time we get back to Mazda its near 5 on Saturday so of course Mazda couldnt look at my car untill the following Monday. Once agian my passenger had to get back to school and I had work on Monday. Once again I get a rental(another Impala with only 3 miles this time, brand new car so not bad for a rental) Fast forward to the following Wednesday and I get a call from Quality Mazda(and let me say that Mazda have been excelent through out this whole ordeal. The service guy had been really nice and was genuenly concerned on helping me in this crazy sisutation being that I am 11 hours away from them working on my car. As if this wasnt a nightmare already dealing with a shitty dealer would have been awful) So as I said Service guy calls me mid week, this time with bad news. They found my Cobb maps and now the big wigs at Mazda knew about it. The serivce techs couldnt access my cars ECU and were in contact with Mazda on how to get into the computer so they couldnt fide the fact that it was moddified. As a result Mazda said any more work would not be covered by warranty. What the techs decided was that the Cobb AP mads were not injecting enough oil into the engine at crusing speeds and the only choice was to replace the ECU at a cost of $1,300 out of pocket. I didnt agree with this and was sure Mazda just didnt know what the maps were all about. Now remeber my Access Port is over 1,600 miles away in Louisiana. I told my parents to ship it to me so I could un-install the map. This is where my dad steps in and says "no, no, no. Im tired of dealing with all this crap" So to my extream dis please my dad has the ECU re-placed. Remember, he pays the bills he makes the decisions.

The following Friday again my co-piolt and I drive the 11 hours(one way mind you) back to Albuquerque to pick up my car on Saturday. We take the same sceanic route and make it about 60 miles from the dealer when my car starts to do the exact same thing as before losing power and dies. So i drive all the way back to Mazda AGAIN and leave my car for the third time. Now at this point I am super pissed as you can imagine. Ive had to pay for food/gas/and hotel rooms for a third usless trip not to mention the waste of my weekend. I had been leaving on Friday so I was also losing a whole days worth of pay. At this point Mazda has replace the engone and ECu along with all the labor involed. Just repair bills have totaled around $4,000-5,000, some of witch have been covered under warrenty some havnt. Once agian I rent another car to head back to Salt Lake City for Work/School. Mid week Mazda calls me and discovered that my fuel pump is bad. Turns out they never tested the pump while the car was warm and the pump would lose pressure after it warmed up. So Quality Mazda replaces my pump and I pick up my car agian the following weekend. This time my little RX8 drives perfect all the way back to Utah. So after all that my a 300$ fuel pump cost me easily over 5,000 bucks

If there is any good that came from saga it was the amazing scenery we got to see. If you ever have a chance drive through San Juan National forest in southrn Colorado through the towns of Silverton and Ouray. The fall colors are absolutly breath taking. And the moutin pass road is sooo much fun to drive on in a car as fun car such as the RX8. :icon_tup:

BTW some extra info. My engine they re-placed was below specs. In all the mess I never got actual numbers but I was told the compression was sub 5. I just wanted to share the saga of the fuel pump with the RX8 world. Also I didnt proof read this novel and I am a bad speller haha so to all the gramer Nazi out there:bootyshak

Well you never will find out if you needed a new engine.

Glad to hear its working again.

Damn man. Your situation is worse than mine. Glad all is worked out tho.

That's a lot of crap for just a fuel pump... sucks you had to go through so much.

Not to go way off topic, but I've always wondered this: If you're having something like that repaired and they fail to diagnose an issue properly, are you still responsible for the costs? I understand that the parts and labor will still involved, but only because of their mistaken diagnosis. Can never decide what would be correct in that kind of situation.

At least its working for now...

I feel your pain. I first noticed mine going bad when I was 1,000 mi from home, in Florida during the winter. As long as I keep cool gas in the tank, it was OK. Once I got into Georgia, the temperature dropped enough that a overheating pump was no longer a problem. I repaired it later in the spring.

It should be the shop's fault but again it's so easy for them to state that the last part was just a piece of the puzzle... It comes down to how much you want to fight :)

Anyway i feel his pain, especially for the multiple 11hrs drives!

I'm sure you're counting labor, but the fuel pump only costs $135. That's what I paid for a brand new one from my local dealer. They're cheap enough to just replace every year if you wanted.

its cheap enough, but its not something that you want to do every year :banghead:

My Dad an I were discusing if this was a possible opiton, but we figured with the whole voided warrenty issue we didnt want to raise hell and have them decide they we were responsible for the new engine they replace under warrenty before they found the Cobb maps

Im counting a new engine, ecu, fuel pump, diagnostics and labor

I am having these same issues of stalling when she warms up Mazda also wants me to replace the engine I replaced coils wires plugs E shaft sensor but next step is to check fuel pressure when hot and throttle body/Iac I really hope it does the job was your car throwing any engine codes?

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Man there is a huge thread here about dying Series 1 fuel pumps and the classic scenario of the pump overheating and the engine just dying after extended highway driving in high ambient temps. A failing engine would have NOT exhibited the repeated symptoms of sudden dying , then starting up and running fine after a few minutes , that you experienced on your trips. I am amazed that this never crossed your mind, or the mind of a knowledgeable Mazda mechanic.

It is simple mechanics to understand that any combustion engine needs fuel, air and spark to run and if it suddenly dies, you check these things first before replacing an entire engine ! Simply incredible.

Same thing happened to me on long trip to and from the south. Replaced the pump with a DW200 from BHR. As stated, I would say you have a case for incompetent diagnosis by the dealership.

And yes they will try to get out of any liability by the fact of your modifications. I don't know if a consumer advocate lawyer would take your case here, but if i was in your shoes I would find out.

wow what a story.. kinda puts a few of my issues into reality. hopefully no more problems for you for a while! i dont know how you managed to stay sane & not just give up with your rx8 after that much hassle

Yea i have gone Through so much F-ing around i can't wait to get my car working properly.. When your guys pumps failed did they throw a code?? I am throwing no code and seems to shut off now minutes after getting warm and won't restart for 25 mins or so

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Nope no codes for the fuel pump. It just kinda gives way on its own. But there is a huge thread here on fuel pump failure and I believe Mazda either has a service bulletin or just a maintenance recommendation of replacing the oem pump after 70k miles I believe.

Yes no codes, a failing pump just dies when overheated. Then it can recover and run fine once given some time to cool down.I truly wish you had come here the first time it happened, there is an extensive thread on your exact scenario and pump problem. Reading that could have possibly saved you and your dad thousands of dollars and weeks of grief. I replaced mine at 54,000 miles. I am still amazed that no one thought to check ignition, fuel and air before replacing an engine !