Originally Posted by alz0rz

thanks for the writeup keven

Originally Posted by alz0rz

I still want your wheels.

Originally Posted by teknics

when you get a "misfire capable of damaging catalyst" the light will blink, generally a specific amount of time, the blink starts when the misfire is detected but doesnt have to still be occurring for the light to blink, possibly a piece of carbon flaked off and got spat out.

as for the stalling i'm still left wondering, everything checked IIRC and with the cleaner going thru clean i'm figuring your engine doesnt have anything stuck inside. wish it would store some useful code.

kevin.

Originally Posted by nycgps

I know it has 100 K warranty, but this thing is pissing me off

Originally Posted by teknics

robrecht: thx for the welcome back, been working on lots of 8's lately so figured id come see if any knowledge i have to offer is useful. that and ive been driving/working on my FD so rotors were on the mind .

kevin.



imagine how the people who have to figure it out feel, unfortunately we're limited in what we're fully allowed to do.

In all honesty i'd probably teardown your motor to just check the seals and springs on the rotors (if it was like an FD or FC, where that kinda stuff is common lol), but in mazda land thats a no-no. I still think it might be an intake problem tho somewhere in the manifold, but without codes thats like throwing darts at the board.

kevin.

Originally Posted by nycgps

maybe I should start driving like a 80 yr old granny, 10mph on local roads and 40 on highways and buy the crappiest Costco or Power UP Gas(thats the name of the station, lol). Build that carbon up every freakin' where and hope that it finally can stuck some seal springs or what-the-heck-ever until it blows up I dont care. grrrrr


B - 2 - b Warranty will run out soon . I will come again before it runs out ... its nice to have free plugs and coils ----------------- but, hmm, so far I think I got 2 sets of coils and plugs from you Kevin, and maybe another 2 sets each from Great Neck Mazda I think. That's like couple hundred bux of parts and couple hundred bux of labor cost already. Why can't Mazda just replace the freaking motor and be done with it. grrr I didn't do anything special to damage the motor, I change oil even more than I should (every 1.5-2.5K!) and I got this "unpredictable stallin' motor" ... too much clearance on the side seals maybe ? grr ....

Makes me wanna go use my Geico's Mechanical breakdown policy. Damn Mazda.

Anyway, Thanks Kevin

Originally Posted by teknics

lol, i know how frustrating it can be, mazda has loosened the reins on rotary motors since opening the shop in virginia lots of red tape went away. the hard part is actually narrowing down and diag a very intermittent problem which can occur in any conditions, ya know? Plus i'm still not pegging the motor directly i've seen weirder things happen, daily.

kevin.

Originally Posted by teknics

Carbon Attacks SSV - 38k on motor - Pics
Here's a rundown:
IMG_0451 - This pic was taken with the camera upside down, this is the SSV port in your lower manifold, you can see the capped off nipples in this pic so (once you flip the pic in your head) you can understand why the typical zoom engine cleaning doesn't touch the SSV port.
Just for a good reference that WHOLE interior surface, when new, is super shiny almost mirror finished metal, thats because the clearances are so tight for the ports to be successfully closed off completely when needed.

IMG_0452 & 0453 - Here's a closeup of the SSV port pre-cleaning. If you look all the way to the rear you'll see what is really the most damaging carbon. That recessed hole in the rear is where the SSV end bushing sits and moves, notice how the thickest carbon is built up there? That's what seizes/sticks up the SSV. As is the nature of carbon/gunk the part wont ALWAYS stick but with the right conditions it will, remember that ssv is being moved with simply a vac line and the actuator. Now even though the walls of the cylinder simply look dirty the clearances between the SSV and the walls of the manifold are practically nothing so every thousandth of an inch of carbon is bad.

IMG_0454 - Here we see the actual SSV. The top small part is the "bushing. This part has been redesigned specifically to try to prevent sticking, it is no longer solid it has either 1 or 2 lines cut into it and IIRC the material has also been changed. Now this SSV when new is ALSO shiny anything other then a silver shiny metal has been added on while inside the motor. The buildup on there is sticky to the touch and to get off you need to soak in zoom cleaner for 20 minutes and then scrub hard, which is why it used to be better to replace the whole manifold, but now the updated SSV is supposively better, so we'll see.

IMG_0455 & 0456 - Just additional pics of the old SSV to show how nasty the buildup is. Again the key thing to remember is all of the clearances are SUPER tight all these built up spots are whats stopping it from moving smoothly when needed. Specifically in 0456 you can see a blurry closeup of the bushing, what you should try to notice here is where the bushing meets the SSV where it meets is a dead 90 degree angle, so you can notice that the carbon has begun creeping up the bushing normally once its at that point it'll throw the code no matter how many times you clear it because the bushing will no longer move freely, ever.

Now of course me being me I forgot to take pics of the new part and the "after cleaning"

As for parts numbers, realistically all you REALLY need is the SSV, SSV gasket, and the new longer SSV bolt (you reuse one, the other one is too short and gets replaced.

SSV: N3H5-20-160F
SSV Gasket: N3H4-20-155A
SSV Bolt: 9979-60-640
Zoom Cleaner: 0000-77-A86

Specific improvements of the new SSV: Improved, Larger Vac Actuator also mounted more securely to SSV (to help make sure nothing sticks if it does get gummy again), SSV Bushing is redesigned, nothing else noticeable.

You WILL need that new bolt, new SSV mounts the actuator differently requiring a bolt about 10-15mm longer then the one that comes out.

To do this job all you really need to do is unbolt and remove ACV, remove water pump pulley, alternator bracket, thermostat (secure to front of vehicle, no need to remove hoses), unbolt thermostat housing and secure to passenger side (again no reason to remove hoses), unbolt SSV. Sliding out the old SSV will be difficult if you have a P2070 code but just keep wiggling and it will slide out.

Also if you go to a dealer and you're out of warranty they'll most likely try to sell you a manifold because the tech will be able to charge double-digit hours and the manifold isnt cheap. Show them this tsb and say youd prefer this service performed. Most likely you're looking at 3-4 hours labor and whatever the parts cost (i dont remember that stuff).

Hope this helps out, and remember, just cause you can go in and move the SSV with a vac pump or your hand doesnt mean it isnt sticking, it just isnt sticking at that time. But if you'd like to test the solenoids and stuff it's really simple, solenoid is an on/off switch with 12v and ground, not that complicated. But the plugs (black, white and blue) on the solenoids have a tendency of snapping their wires right at the connector or building up resistance right at the connector.

thats it for today.

kevin.

Originally Posted by italian boy

I am a Toyota Tech who love rotary engine so that is another world but technician to technician thank you so that you not only explain but take photos. thanks again. I am going to do this work soon after changing rear suspension strut $150.00 each

Originally Posted by ASH8

Just like to point out that 09 Series II RX-8 Do Not have the TWO (One Per Rotor) Intake Vacuum Nipples, they have been blanked off! WHY?

Originally Posted by GaMEChld

Really? That's wierd. How do they do engine cleaning then?

Originally Posted by DOMINION

So whats all that smoke I see on youtube? is that from the seaform? or carb build up?