Preacher

Just a heads-up:
My car,a 2004 Ti Gray RX-8,VIN# *******11724 (w/510 miles)came w a bad throw-out bearing,which the dealer is replacing under warranty.
How did I know?
My 1980 RX-7 GS' used to make the same nasty WHIR when I cold-started and was nearing the end of my clutch.....so I mentioned it to the dealer and son of a beeech if it wasn't no-good.....so,another SUNNY day,and no 8.....

Oh well,they cooda' denied the problem,I guess.

Xyntax

They denied my problem and indicated in my receipt "tested other RX-8 and the noise seem normal"

It's fucked up I know. I'm calling them again.

BIU

so what exactly are the symptoms?

Preacher

There's absolutely NO DOUBT that my t/o bearing was BAD.
Prolly' sat in a ******* humid shipping crate and some (mistakenly)un-lubed part musta' shat.....they have no idea wtf the problem was,they just overnighted a new one and are waiting on it to install.
If I hadn't had the '80 RX w the same issue,I wouldn't have known to diagnose it myself.....but w a 4/48K warranty and if need be,a good lawyer,I don't ever doubt my ability to achieve what I set out to do,in regards to 'fair fixes'.
My dealer kicks ***,they did the flashes and went over her,top-to-bottom,so for now it's looks like everything's going to be okay.
I SHOULD have her back today,I'll let you know what the resolution is when I get the bill for the other things I had them do....if they didn't discount it for my trouble then I won't be as happy,but I'm willing to bet that they will-I haven't filled out my "dealer report card" yet,and in Maine,where mabye ten RX's are sold a year,they REALLY want a good report card

Back later w more info as I recieve it.

Preacher

Symptoms?
When you start the car COLD,
open the driver's door and listen.
You might hear a loud "WHIRRR"
Depress the clutch.
If the whirring stops,it's your t/o bearing.
Mine stopped the whirr after the car warmed up,in about five minutes,but that's still not acceptable.

epitrochoid

aside from the fact yours goes away when the engine is warm, theres a TSB that states this is absolutely normal. and if the TSB is wrong, and the TO bearing does fail on every MT rx-8, they'll issue a recall. mine does it when cold and when warm, and after 6,000 miles i've had no problems.

what are people going to whine about next? the shaking shift ****?

Nubo

If I recall, this was a standard "feature" of the Miata as well. Don't they share trannys?

Preacher

Yeah,well,it's NOT normal,or my dealer wouldn't be REPLACING it under warranty,would they?

As to 'whining'....
When I initially pay $30K for a car I plan to drop ANOTHER $10-$20K into you bet your **** if there's a defect (and it IS a defect,screw their TSB,if you've ever replced a clutch you KNOW what a shittty t/o bearing sounds like-) I want it replaced,and just because it's a 'first-year model' isn't any reason to put up with any ****.
I've owned the car for 14 days,and I didn't have this much b.s. with my 7 in four years.
Working out THEIR kinks?
Not on MY dime,or my time,thanks.

Happily,my dealer's excellent,and I suspect that they'll be doing right by me by the time I see my invoice (or lack of) for all the stuff I had them do.

I'm not a consumer to be treated lightly,I know how to navigate the corporate structure and I always get results.

The dealer didn't get the parts today,so hopefully this will conclude tomorrow with a favorable ending.

Preacher

One last thing,

Preacher

Humor.........................

The antidote.

Rock-8

I was listening to that "whhiiirrrr" noise and wondering what exactly the problem was, and when i depressed my clutch it would go away... Now I actually have something to take to the dealer as far as information goes... Its a bad "throw-out" bearing? Anyway its nice to have other people trouble shooting their cars along with you! Since it is a new car and there isn't that much on it yet.

Thanks!

Preacher

If it wasn't DEFECTIVE,the dealer wouldn't be replacing it under WARRANTY.
That's the bottom line,and unrefutable.

peterlemonjello

I bought my 8 last september. It never made the noise until I took it in to get the recalls fixed. I immediately noticed it when i got it home. Anyone think it's coincidence?

Preacher

A bad t/o bearing is a bad bearing.
The coincidence is WHEN you heard it.

Thas' my opinion.

G8rboy

Yep... somewhat. The special edition Miata's that have the 6pd share the tranny with the RX8. My Miata had the 5 speed tranny, which is a completely different animal than the RX-8's 6 speed, but I also had this metallic vibration sound on my Miata. Put the clutch in and it would go away. On the Miatas at least, it wasn't the throw out bearing, but instead the metal contact where the clutch fork met the slave cylinder. It needed to be greased up quite often (which only took a minute to do), or this slightly annoying sound would get worse and worse. It was absolutely not a mechanical problem- just an annoyance.

I haven't looked for anything similar on the RX-8 (nor have I noticed any sound like that), but I'll take a look this week and see if it's a similar setup- I wouldn't be surprised...

epitrochoid

what i was getting about with the whining was, Mazda says the noise is normal, not the sign of a bad TO bearing. Whether or not it is defective remains to be seen. If Mazda's wrong, they pay for it. What people are bitching about is the noise. You're not the only one, lots of people complain about it.

you dont know that it's a bad TO bearing, you just think it is based on whatever expierence you have. and just because Mazda replaces or repairs it doesn't necessarily mean its bad either. They just want to shut you up.

although i assume if they replace it and the noise goes away, you've only been out of a car for a few days and youre that better off. me, i'd rather just live with the noise.

Gord96BRG

I can refute it very easily, and even cite Mazda history to prove it.

You obviously are a very demanding customer, and your dealer knows this and knows what it takes to keep you happy. They know that if you show up steaming mad, insisting that your brand new car has a bad throw-out bearing, that they are going to be far better off just agreeing with you, replacing the TO bearing, and making you happy, than to argue with you, **** you off even more, and have you unhappy, calling your lawyer, and bad-mouthing them all over town.

In other words, the dealer could easily be replacing it under warranty to keep you happy, NOT necessarily because the TO bearing is defective.

Relevent history? Mazda had a problem with the thrust bearings on some 99 and 00 Miatas. There was an assembly machining problem that affected some cars at random. Not many, not enough for a recall, but enough for a TSB. Months later, an investigation found that over half the engines replaced under warranty for the thrust bearing problem (which had definite symptoms and crankshaft play measurements to indicate it existed) in fact did NOT actually have the problem. Mazda dealers were replacing them at Mazda expense to keep their customers happy. If somebody really raised a fuss because they thought their engine had the thrust bearing problem, they got a new engine, even though in half the cases they didn't need one.

I'm not saying your TO Bearing isn't actually defective - I'm saying that the fact that the dealer is replacing it under warranty is by no means proof that it is defective!

Regards,
Gordon

beachdog

According to the majority of postings on the subject of noise in neutral w/clutch released, the majority of the 8's are experiencing either TO or input shaft noise.

The fact that your dealer is replacing yours is probably more a testament to the limited experience their service department has with the 8. The dealers here have sold hundreds of 8's and they are adamant that the sound is not "non-conforming" (the exact word on my service ticket).

My dealer had about 30 MT's on the lot and offered to bring me the keys to all of them so I could listen to their trans. We picked one at random and it sounded exactly like mine.

If it really is bad, it will get noisier and noisier and will certainly fail before the warranty is up. Personally I'd rather drive my car the way the factory bolted it together before letting the service tech unbolt it and risk a less than perfect repair.

Good luck with your new TO bearing and definitely let us know if it silenced the noise.

Preacher

Thanks for the clarification.
They don't know I'm demanding as of yet,they haven't been ornery or difficult,but they DO know I'm well-informed on TSBs and such....I asked them to listen to the t/o,I didn't TELL them to replace it-they did it on their own,so I'm under the assumption that it's actually bad,and not necessarily just because of the noise that I heard.
I missed a beautiful day of driving today,so if it didn't need to be replaced then perhaps the joke's on me.
We'll see how it all susses out when it's all said and done.

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

Well, we know what the dealer shop does and what needs to be done have no coincident factors, so there is no "proof" in this action.

Your car will come back with the same noise if all they do is replace the disengagement bearing.

This noise is present on all RX-8s. It is the sound of the gearset. The noise is present whenever the tranny is spinning.
It can be reduced by using a thinner trans oil (like MT-90 or MTL), but it won't go completely away.

The similar noise that many Miatas make is actually the pilot bearing, though that can include a "squeek" as the clutch is re-engaged.

Stras

Dude I just had to post to you after reading the thread.I have been in the same state as you when it comes to the company bullshit.
when I have had to I too can be very able when it comes to getting my toys fixed right.
I have already had the president of Mazda USA on the phone.
and 5 minutes later My dealer called and said they would be right over to pick up my car and leave a Mazdaspeed 6 for me to play with while they resolved my issue....... sometimes you gotta shake some bones to get what is right I'm also not a consumer to be treated lightly,I know how to navigate the corporate structure and I always get results.
my car was delivered with a rip,tear in the drivers seat. I had looked the car over very well before I bought it .
They said "we need to put the plates and inspection sticker on it,and have to take it in the shop." Being very happy I just hopped in and Drove home to show the Wife,came in the door said"come look honey" on the way out she said "you have grease on your new pants" I flipped out when I found a small dab of grease over the top of a hole in the seat. drove 100 mph back to dealer and they assured me they would switch the seat with another car. Well I put a piece of masking tape under the seat and a dash of salt in the seams and damn if the next day the reciept said switched the seat per general manager. low and behold the tape and the salt was still there.called the general manager out and he just blew me off said they had it fixed by a trim shop I said you ******* fraud ******* I 'll **** you so bad for this!!!!!!!! twenty mins. later I had the pres. on the line faxed him my reciept ....................... IF you dare be prepared...........
take good care of your toy,
Robert
and really I am a nice person I just will not be lied to or abused by anyone.

MazdaManiac

iTrader: (3)

Oh, additionally -

The disengagement bearing is under load with the clutch in (ie - push the pedal in) which is when the noise stops.
If it were the bearing, the noise would increase then not decrease.
When the clutch is out (ie - pedal out), there is no load on the bearing. It wouldn't make noise then, but that is when you are hearing it.

Also, for those of us that have been under the car while it is running, the noise comes from the transmission gear case and not the bell housing where the disengagement bearing is located with the clutch and pressure plate.

Sorry to rain on your parade.

NAVILESRX8

iTrader: (1)

HAHA....I'm with you on this one man.....there is too much whining about stuff....gas mileage, flooding, t/o bearing whirring, and other nosense.

And to top it all off there's that "I paid $30K, I am entitled this"....truth is yeah I hear ya, you pay whatever for a car and it should be ok, but to just demand it and yell that out all the time just makes you out to be an arrogant selfish whiner....I don't respect people like that.

I think 75% percent of these threads are redundant whining nonsense....

Do a search, there's got to be 1000 flooding, mileage, hp discrepancy, T/o bearing noise, etc. posts......

There's bitching about normal stuff, then bitching about the dealers that say it's normal stuff, it's stupid.....

shebam

Well, this has been a useful thread no matter what. Just this morning I noticed the car sounding chirpy at idle but it ran great on the way to work. (Seemed to enjoy its highway outing from last few days.) Now I know about the chirp.

amartin

I think I have the same symptom:

1) Car MUST be cold, warm and it doesn't do this.
2) Place car in Neutral
3) door open/window down (whichever)
4) Let clutch out, and a metal rubbing/whirring sound is observed
5) Press clutch IN, noise goes away.
6) Repeat steps 4-5 as often as you want to make the noise/whirring/rubbing sound come/go.
7) Car gets warm, no noise repeating steps 4-5

No clue if this is going to cause a problem in the future, but I don't like the sound of anything causing a metal friction sound.