elite

Well after 4 or 5 trips and to Mazda services for the RX8 with 1600 miles on it I think I am going to take some action. The check engine light come on all the time, and now the last time it stayed on. The car heavily hesitates from 6000 to 8000rpm, and it has been flashed to the most recent. Gas Mileage is aweful, never ever ever got more then 15MPG and that was like all express way. Typically around 10-12MPG.

I am hoping my dealer is good about this, if I dont have to get my lawyer involved and they work with me great, thank god my friend is actually doing lemon law in the state of Michigan. Any advice? Anyone else have silimar issues?

My dealer basically cant fix the car, they have pretty much admited so, and they even called out this regional tech. Seems like its all computer, they flash and ifs anything else they are at a loss. The overall performance on the car sux, im getting walked all over my just about everything, ES 300s, jettas, whatever...its just not running right and hasnt since the day I got it.....with an untold 79 miles on the car which could all be BEATEN on. So.....thats my drama.....interesting to say the lease.....and I already tinted my windows, added my system...etc. Anyone else got any thoughs/helpful input.......let me know! THANKS....

zoom44

do you have the documents from the four or five times it has been in? if so on those docs does it say what code(s) were found that caused the CELs? what's your "system" and who installed it?
any onther mods? hi power or low power?

snap-on

Looks like he posted and ran.

What Dealer are you using?

elite

dont have any mods at all, and i do have the codes I think. Its all the same though, misfire......thats what they tell me but I will check the documentation when I get in from of it again.

Haze

Have they compression tested the engine? It could be apex seals that were damaged by hard driving before you ever bought the car. Have them compression test it, and check the spark plugs for fouling and damage, and if that doesn't show anything then I am at a total loss too. Sorry for your trouble.

elite

very good points

1 they replaced the plugs after visit 2, they were thinking that same thing, no luck still misfired and still hesitated.

2 this most recent time they did some sort of compression test where they left hte car overnight to find it all good to go in the AM no signs of any seal leaks.

friday, 5/7 is my deadline....I told them if they cant fix it thats fine but I need my car back and I will move forward as my lawyer has instructed me to do so. We will see how smoothy this next week goes.....should be intereting. Worst part is I love my car and want an 8 that runs how is should.....

thanks for the tips...keep em comin if you think if anything of have any legal input.....

sferrett

You should lemon that one and get another one that isn't a lemon. Your experience sounds exceptional and sounds like you in fact got a lemon - so yes you should use the lemon law to get it returned.

All rx8's are not like the experience you had though, so you could feasibly get another one and have a great experience.

jro

Ive been into the Mazda Dealership 4 times in the last month. Each time i went in there they kept telling me either, the gas cap was loose or they had to reflash the car's computer. I'm pretty sure I am getting the run around. I got a call today saying that they were replacing the fuel pump on my car. Anyone have any ideas? These are the codes that came up on each service:

PO442, P0455
P0456
F0008XDX
F0010FXF

elite

ok, but what is the car doing that your taking it in?? thats the part you left out...

jro

Sorry, the CEL came on 4 times...

jro

Sorry, the CEL has came on 4 times in the last month.

elite

hmmmm interesting. is the car running worse then when you got it, how many miles......

jro

I havent noticed too much of a difference. I have almost 11,000 miles.

snap-on

The list of codes he posted will not effect the performance of the car since the new "evap" system of the car only checks after the car is off. The test for each component in the system is cut and dry.

Take it elsewhere.

jro

I should take the car for service elsewhere? I purchased it at a large Mazda Dealership in FL and I the work they are doing is under warranty. Any ideas on what else it could be?

snap-on

I can guess which Mz Dealer you are refering to and frankly I'm suprised they are having this problem. Did you happen to check if they updated the PCM on your most recent visit? There are two files inthe 30.0/31.0 updates that address the evap system of the car.

Also you might want to make sure one of the Master Tech's in the shop is being assigned to the car.

Good luck

jro

I know they have updated the PCM 3 times in the last month the last time was about 10 days ago (CLE came on again this past Monday so I had to bring it in again), not too sure about the files though. I was told they have been corresponding with Mazda Corp. and were told by them to put in the new fuel pump.

rotarygod

Make sure that you have the right cars ecu flash in the system. There was one forum member who had all kinds of running problems. He had just had the "L" flash done at the time. His car was a standard. They flashed it with the automatic cars flash. The car ran but had all kinds of problems. The difference in part number for each version is only one measely little letter. This would be very easy to miss. He described his car as doing something very similar to yours and the service department being equally as stumped.

There are only a few things it can be. Fuel system, ignition system, bad ecu tuning, and a bad engine. That's it. It isn't hard to go down the line and figure out where the culprit is. The single biggest issue is usually poorly trained mechanics.

That's my recommendation as to what to try. I hope it helps.

JimW

Out of curiosity, what service dept! Gunther?

snap-on

This is not a fuel delivery problem..

A new fuel pump will not fix the problem.

Maybe I can help you understand the system you are getting the CEL from.

The post is a little long..Anyone that has met me in person knows I'm not usally as long winded.

http://forum.mazda6tech.com/viewtopic.php?t=16

snap-on

You can not put the wrong file in the car.

When the WDS is hooked to the car it will tell you which file you need to unzip from the Mz site. (you need to do this only once per model/drivetrain)

If you don't get the correct file it will tell you over and over to get the correct one.

I don't mean to bash...I'm thinking the Service guys just fibbed to the guy.

rotarygod

Yes you CAN put the wrong file in the car! Unfortunately the Mazda techs may not believe this either. The ecu's from each model have the same plugs and work the same way. Each car just runs off of a different program. This may not be true with the "M" flash but it was with all the earlier ones. Tell HAC that it can't happen. Here is a copy of a couple of PM's that went back and forth between myself and HAC.

hac wrote on 03-12-2004 06:17 PM:
No need to respond. The first "L" flash didnt correctly take. Something wasn't current in there program. They tried it again and all went well. I just dont have the nerve to be the test subject for there "custom program". I also learned that they have the option to clear or leave the memory of the driving style intact. There is a little Icon on the screen that gives you the choice. Click it and it will remove the driving style the system has stored. Dont click it and it will download the driving style back you orignaly had with the new flash. I wish I could afford that neat programmer he had.

My initial response:

I just thought of a possible reason why your car ran so bad with the "L" update. The connectors are the same for both the manual and auto cars. The dealer may have accidentally loaded the auto program into your car rather than the correct one. They are just going by part number. The differences are only 1 number between each program. The manual is N3H6 18 881L. The auto is N3H4 18 881L. Since each car has drastically different power outputs it seems to make sense that your car could run this bad with the wrong program. Not saying they did this but it is something to consider as it would be a very easy error on their part. I'd be inclined to look into this to see exactly what they did and possibly even try it again. After all they can always put it back.

His later response after doing some research:

That figures....SIR... if your not married I have a wife for you. I'll make the payments too. Ya'll can discuss who is ALWAYS correct. I looked on the service slip from my mazda dealer and you were correct. (as usuall) Dam does it ever get boring being so dam smart. LOL I probly should have checked that part number because I saw the post with the correct one for the 6 speed. HEY..I'm learning and getting smarter too.....but my patients is wearing very thin with some of these "know it all's" on this forum too. I dont think all of them combined have as much knowledge about the car as you have in your little finger.
Thank You
Hal


His car was reflashed with the one for the standard car and he hasn't had a problem since.

snap-on

You do not get that option.

When the WDS is plugged to the OBD-II connector it retrieves the vehicle info and parameters. It even tells you the VIN #.

The only option it ask you for (as of 3pm today) is the model yr.

The Tech selects the tab for "module programing"

It then tells the "mode 9" info and tells him/her get the file from the ESI site. The files all have names like this.

SW-N3H2EM000

The page lists hundreds of files. Most are not even Mz files

If you don't get the correct file for the car it repeats the process until it is done correctly.

rotarygod

It must be a different programmer then because this was the case on his car and they did get the wrong program installed. You can't tell me something is impossible when it did happen.

snap-on

How can you verify it did?

I'm not trying to creat a conflict..I respect you to much for that.

The machine is basically idiot proof.

Did someone read the mode 9 after the initial flash?