RenoIV

found this on consumer affairs

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...da_recall.html

Mazda Plans Recall of Troubled RX-8
August 21, 2006

Mazda plans a voluntary recall of all 2004 and 2005 RX-8 sports cars along with some 2006s because of damage to the catalyst resulting from oil leaks in the RX-8's rotary engine.

Mazda is preparing to replace the engines in many of its top of the line sports cars as a result of the recall. Any engine that does not pass a specific vacuum test will be replaced according to Mazda.

Engines prone to failing the vacuum test are mostly in hot climates and use synthetic oils, according to the automaker.

Earlier this month Mazda, in an attempt to soothe intense dealer dissatisfaction with the RX-8 maintenance record, promised dealers that it would no count RX-8 owners' opinions in its internal customer-satisfaction scores.

Mazda dealers complained that problems with the RX-8 were unfairly lowering the Mazda customer-satisfaction results.

A video of the dealer complaints was leaked to a Mazda owners' web site and caused an immediate uproar.

In the video, a member of the Mazda National Dealer Advisory Council states, "Mazda is well aware of the negative impact on the scores caused by the RX-8 surveys. They agreed with us that the situation had to be changed. And so, effective July 1st, RX-8 will be continued to be included in the survey, but the scores will no longer be included in the results."

The engine recall is the latest in a series of problems for the RX-8. Mazda will also check each RX-8's battery and starter, which tend to fail in cold climates.

Mazda has already issued service bulletins on such trouble spots as squeaky brakes and engine flooding. Squeaky brakes on the RX-8 are the subject of three Technical Service Bulletins, according to owners. RX-8 owners have also repeatedly complained of engine flooding to failure.

Mazda executives promise to give the RX-8 "white glove treatment" to finally deal with the problems associated with the sports car.

The automaker has a remanufacturing plant in North Carolina that will rebuild faulty rotary engines and return them to service.

Cam

iTrader: (1)

Props to Mazda stepping up (IMO).

I have an 04 (4/03 build date) with 23K miles and have NEVER had one problem with the drivetrain. Im certain I wont need or want a new engine. I have a MT and rev it/redline it on every drive.

Heres the thing, I currently live in the Seattle Wa. area. COOL climate, HIGH humidity, however I may be moving back to Phoenix in a few months, HOT climate, LOW humidity. So will the flash be suffiecient to protect my engine from the Phoenix heat or will my engine crap out next summer?

shinpeter

Just ask the dealership about the cars on the lot before you buy it. Tell them that you know about the recall and want to see the test result before you want to buy it.

Because, as long as car is not sold, they have to replace everything with new parts, not the remans.

It's federal law.

devious12

I can see that this will be the longest thread on this forum by the end of next week!

ibfubar2000

End of the week??? hell by the end of the day it will be longer then the 'word association' thread.

missinmahseven

Because it is a large corporation, owned by an even larger corporation. Both have had a history of either hushing it all up (pinto, Crown Vic), or sweeping it under the carpet and quietly adressing it without a recall (1999 Miata #4 thrust bearing, FDs tendencies to blow engines, rx-2/3/4, etc.)

Just the fact that it is a large corporation, in my book, is enough to be skeptical. Yes, kudos to Mazda for a voluntary recall.. but still, check your six, bud, and don't fall asleep. You *KNOW* they will NOT tell us the Why and How, just the What.

The What may be good enough for Joe Muggle, but not for me. I wanna know why it failed, and how it failed. To just know that it failed is utterly useless.

Sorry, but for ONCE I'll agree with Ike. They brought the distrust on themselves.

Then again, anyone who trusts a large corporation needs to have their head examined.. imo, of course

Profit over All Else. Any CEO who doesn't espouse that belief is lying, or will be broke in very short order. Profit is all that matters. I see it everyday, and I'm considering a career change because of the Corporate ***** Mentality.

KYLiquid

...but thats the thing.........how many people buy a car a need a new motor....let alone inside the warranty period......NOT TO MENTION MAYBE NEEDING 2 MOTORS IN THE FIRST 23K MILES! THATS CRAZY.....and I know some people are on their 3rd or 4th motor in their car and they are still under 50k miles. Mazda made a mistake somewhere and its cost me almost 1 month of my time as well as all the things I COULDNT do with my new car, cause I was unsure it would make it....road trips, vacations to visit friends and show off my new ride. I spent 30k to worry if I will get to work on time today, or if I will get into an accident cause my car turns off when driving........and you, my dealer and mazda NAO tell me to "keep brining it back, we know whats wrong....this will fix it"

My boss has a 93 supra with 150K+ miles on it, stock turbos, stock motor, with just about every bolt-on there is....it goes out to the drag strip and runs 11.20 in the 1/4........his car doesnt need a motor..... and he is running it at almost double the power it came from the factory at..........

I want to know what the exact problem is, and why that problem is there and what is really going to be done to fix the problem....and I dont just mean the problem the car has, I mean the serries of events (taking time off work to give mechanics ride so they know what Im talking about, being late to work, having to change plans at the last min. when the car acts up, the time the car has been out of service, ect) that have caused this "problem" for me.

I really love the car, thats why I bought it. I got out of my way to deal with the problems this car has had, at first I figured it was just the "built on a monday" problem....but as time goes on it seems more like this is something they have found out was a mistake on their part.

after a year of problems, the "this will fix it" gets old.

zoom44

he works at a dealer

pdxhak

iTrader: (2)

This has me more nervous than the possibility of my engine being bad!

Last thing I want is someone taking my car out for a joy ride because they are green lighted by the corporate office to do so.

zoom44

for instance i have been researching it since about june of 05

zoom44

no that is not the case- i have been telling everyone that a recall was coming for the engine issue long before the video was even made- and remember im the one that "leaked" it so i should know

zoom44

i didnt see it inthe body of your post- did they replace your CAT?

zoom44

yes

zoom44

tell them you're going with- thats what i will be telling Herzog Meier

otherside

ifubar2000, too much information is a dangerous thing...

KYLiquid

In a previous post (in this thread) and post back to when the problem started I has explained what happens :

You go WOT and the rpms climb as the car accelerates (feels normal) but sometimes the car will just stop at _____ rpm (varys from 3k rpm to 8k rpm) the revs just sit there, as if it was the rev limiter. Other times the rpm will climb and it will hit _____rpm (again anywhere from 3k to 8k) and the motor just shuts off, you have your foot WOT and the rpms just fall (as if you let off and were coasting in gear).

Both motors have always had perfect compression (in spec and on the high side) and they have serviced :

Coil Packs, Throtle Bodie, TPS sensor, fuel pump, injectors, injector wiring harness, replaced the motor, o2 sensors, speed sensor, ecu, reflashes....ect....

basicaly all the parts of the car that control/monitor some function of the drive train.

To me the problem feels like fuel starvation....

At any rate, they check out the car top to bottom and eveyrthing they test is in spec and there are no problems they can find, but it still has the problem. When the problem first started I got a CEL for a misfire on rotor 2 a total of twice, but not everytime it does it, and recently it hasnt been giving me a CEL but still has the problem.

also, when the car isnt having this problem...it drives perfect. Has great power, good response, idles fine, gets 22mpg in the city and 25mpg on the highway, never overheats, starts up first crank everytime....

RevTo9K

All the same, a lot of us really appreciate you guys giving us whatever you can, thanks. I am optimistic after hearing this, but I can understand somebody who's looking at their third engine replacement in two years being seriously skeptical. I would be too.

ibfubar2000

yeah, thats why I wasnt too thrilled about posting info without the recall on hand, but thought it was better then nothing.

on a side note, what happened to this thread?? seems to me missing like 10 pages or so. did I miss a thread or something?

Flop

I had the power loss problem a few times when my car had been sitting for over a week. I turned off the car and it went away... but the underlying symptom was there.

The dealers up here (mine anyway) in Canada don't seem to be clued in to the issues that Rotary owners are experiencing and I have a good tech (#2 in Canada a few years ago).

I suppose they'll get the recall in due time, but I really wonder if they'll be able to diagnose accurately. After all, it only does the 'power loss' thing sporadically. A complete rundown of the various issues causing power loss needs to be addressed. I am trying to stay positive here... I HOPE the recall will address the fouled plugs, ruined coils, plugged cats, etc in their diagnosis of 'power'.

I truly don't want a new engine either... (especially since it isn't new)

zoom44

but never the CAT ky - i dont see it in your lists

pdxhak

iTrader: (2)

That is a great idea and was going to request it as well. I'm sure they will tell me the car will need to be left with them all day to try deter me from hanging around. Good thing they have wireless access in the waiting room so I will just "work from home" while I'm waiting for the tech...

otherside

Great! Now everyone is going to want to ride along. That will be fine if you want the diagnostic equipment sitting on your lap! We will not be doing anything to your vehicle that it wasnt designed to do. Let the technicians do their job!

KYLiquid

while they havent replaced the cat, I remeber they did say a visual inspection of it looked ok when they repalced the motor.

All the cars I have been around (not an rx8 but many other performance car, including turbo cars) when they have a bad cat, its bad all the time once the car is up to temp, it can cause a CEL in OBDII cars, and it causes backfires, power problems, sometimes overheating...ect.

My car has none of that, while the car does have problems sometimes, I might go 200+ miles bettween problems, and durring that time the car drives fine.

Correct me if I am wrong, but a bad, or on-the-way to bad cat would produce a problem all or most of the time correct? My problem, while still major (IMO) happens frequently, but happens less often than it doesnt, if that makes sense.

KYLiquid

there is a useable back seat to these cars.....

besides, more weight = more load = more stress for the car. So it might let some problems surface that wouldnt normaly come out with 1 tech in the car driving.

When my problem happens, 75% of the time it happens when I get on the throtle after 1hr of sitting in stop/go traffic (avg spd of 5mph) in near 100% weather with the A/C on. By this point the hood and fenders are so hot you cant touch them....most every system of the car is fully "heat soaked" and when I get on it, the problem happens, although it can also do it after a 1 hr drive on the freeway in 78* air doing 75mph in 6th gear, when most systems in the car are cool/warm to the touch.

rotarygod

KY: Here's a real stupid question. Have you ever had your fuel filter replaced?