One more observation... I went to do some racing on a small track that allowed only for first and second gear up to the redline... after 4 maybe 5 laps at the end of the day I got into the car to demontrate the noise to other guys... and... it was gone! I was damn happy... but unfortunatelly it came back after a while that would confitm that the noise in my case is not a permanent malfunction. Air bubbles in the coolant - thats my theory

 

So something interesting; after work I started up my car only to realize I needed to go back into the office. Since I didn't want to leave my car running outside, I revved it up to 3000 rpm for the cold shutdown procedure. What's interesting is that when I did that, I heard the noise even at a very low rpm. Now it wasn't very prevalent, but it was definitely there. Therefore, I do believe my noise to be probably a water pump thing, unless my stone cold Renesis is detonating at 2000 rpm!

 

I just can't believe this is any kind of nock or something, it really sounds like something is whirling around. I can hear it faintly from about 5k and gets progressively lounder up to 8k.

When I change my oil this coming weekend I'm going to have my brother look and listen while I rev the engine to try and pinpoint the issue.

 

I know what you mean, but after having lived with this for two months now, I really believe it's the water pump (for me at least). If you listen closely; it sounds like turbulent flow. Not to mention, there are reports that the water pump seems to get turbulent much quicker than previous RXs.

 

...I guess zoom44 was right about us all having different causes?

 

From the sound of it, Mike and I have the same issue. I also think zenmoused is in our camp, but since yours only happens in a range of about 600 rpm, I think your issue is different from ours.

 

bah!

 

I'll also try to record it from various locations, inside passenger wheel well, under the car and so forth.

Hell with it I'll just use my sony camera video it.

I'm not going to be living with this since it is not common to all RX8's and just doesn’t sound normal. Sooner or later a fix will be found. At least mine does it while in neutral and just revving the engine so it will be easy to show the technician.

 

I have a 2004 MT. I had the marbles sound for many thousand miles around the 25-30 thousand mark, but it went away and I haven't had for over 20k miles now. I think it was just a break in period. I don't remember when it went away but it was a long while ago.

 

I think I have the same problem. But only in 3rd gear.

Is there a known fix for this?

thx

 

Mine seems to be getting better. I hear it a bunch the first couple of times I run up to 9k but then less after that. Before it was all the time regardless of how warm the engine was. Almost to the point that its almost gone above 7k by the time I get to work (45min drive).

 

I got this, but my car still pulls like usual with no signs of errors.

It only happens when I go WOT, starts around 6K rpm and up.

It doesnt really concern me tho. I just like to rev it.

 

I can't tell yet but Swoope says this goes away with the new recall flash

 

Huh..I also just noticed that I get this sound after 6K and up..didn't test on whether it goes away after 8K, but it is DEFINITELY distinguishable...was using 3rd gear and got it up to 75mph when I noticed the sound..normally, I have my speakers loud, so never knew I had this?? Hmm..

Stock GT, with Castrol 5w20, Royal Purple 75w90 for trans & diff....

 

Where did Swoope say that? I still have mine, same as always. I don't see why the flash would affect the intake manifold.

 

hate to jump in without reading all of the posts but they replaced my motor and flashed my pcm because of it...i dunno. They were real shifty and i never got a full answer from them as to what exactly the problem was. My local Mazda dealership has probably the worst service department known to man, but thats a different thread...

 

For some reason, the sound is gone.

Dont know :O

 

Yeah, I would agree that no noticable amount of power is robbed by this sound, but it just doesn't sound good. It taints the sweet sound of a rotary revving up to 9k!

 

I'd been enjoying my new '06 VR GT MT (2200 kms) until I recently noticed the 'marbles' sound above around 7K RPM (been breaking it in, haven't been above 7K RPM's very often until lately). It's nice to know I'm not the only one experiencing this. Even if it is normal, it steals from the excitement of listening to the scream of the engine at these RPM's... and I'm getting sick of explaining to people that it's normal. Ah well... I get the impression I'm just going to have to live with it. Just wanted to add my name to the growing number of people hearing this sound.

 

Premix is your friend.

 

To me if it was normal then 90% or more of RX8s would have the sound but they don't.

Mine is currently in for the recall and I demostrated the sound to the mechanic. He's never heard of it before of course so I don't have any hopes of it getting fixed. Mine does go away a good bit once the engine is nice and warm (not just the needle in the middle but been run for 20 or more minutes). I'll see what happens

 

I had a friend who's definitely a car guy, even some experience with rotaries, listen to the 'marbles', and he's certain it's detonation. I know the potential causes of this noise have been discussed ad nauseam, but my friend is certain that it's detonation. I've been running nothing but ESSO 91 Octane. I might try some 93 or 94, but having read through these threads, I don't think anyone has solved this problem by switching gas? Anyone?

 

go on...?

 

hMM, I have a question.

Does anybody here actually got a dead engine when they have this sound ?

Im just very curious.

 

OK, just got an email from my dealer on my car, part of this Recall and the other is “Marbles in a Blender” so I’m posting it in both places.

Mike just finished up. He was able to just reprogram the PCM and replace
the spark plugs. He inspected the converter as part of the recall, and
ratio was 19:1. As far as the noise, Mike test drove another RX-8 and also
called technical services (reference #477257) and found that this noise is
normal, as this is the noise from the coolant pipes to heater core. You may
pick up your vehicle and return the loaner up until 8:30 this evening.


I still don’t get if it’s normal why all 8’s don’t do it but whatever.


mine is not detonation.