I recently bought an 07 rx8, on the way home from the dealer the check engine light came on. I was planing to get the oil changed first thing any ways so I had them run the code and they said a bad cat. But informed me my car was still under factory warranty. 70k miles at the time. So I took it into my local mazda dealership and the verified the code and the warranty but says its pulling up a secondary code of low compression. They ended up swapping the cat and the motor. The motor is suppose to be a new factory motor and the claimed it was the newer generation. Now I don't normally drive like this but being excited about my new car and then a new motor I pushed and before the motor swap could go all the way up to 9k rpm no problem but after the swap it bogs down at 6k rpms until the car warms up a little bit. I always put shell 93 octain gas and 5-w20 convential oil and top it off at Every fill up. The car just rolled over to 72k miles and is still doing it. I haven't been pushing it by any means just checking in neutral when I get in the car a couple times a week. Is this some thing I should be worried about or is it really just something the newer gen motor does as the dealership told me?

 

stewie stewie stewie...if you continue like this you will say goodbye to the new motor as well. First of all it is not a new motor but a remanufactured (in simple words refurbished old motor). Mazda does not make rotary engines any more. Anyway, you are not supposed to step on the gas as soon as you turn the key on. The rx8 is not an rc car or a go kart! You should wait until it gets warmed up to redline it. The normal operation goes like this: turn the car on, wait a bit for rpms to drop down, put in gear and drive gently which means shift gears at 4000 rpms. When your temperature gauge moves to the middle continue driving gently for another 10 to 15 minutes. Your coolant reaching temperature does not mean that your oil is warm as well. Oil needs more time. Briefly, you need to drive the car for at least 20 minutes changing gears at 4000 rpms before you step the gas on it. When it is cold the computer just tries to correct your wrong decisions. It is like saying to you...please do not rape me! You need to do lots of reading and learn about the car. Start here: https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-discuss...t-here-202454/

 

Mazda knew some people are by their own nature not very bright and designed the computer to not let the engine rev up until a certain coolant temperature is reached

so from now on every time this happens be sure to remember that only drivers who aren't very bright ever experience it

 

Thank you. You guys are absolutely right. I need to get over the excitement of getting an 8. Steped up from a 92 miata so I'm pretty excited. I am trying to treat her right. Thanks for your advise and the good link

 

Just dedicate some time on this forum and read read read...The rx8 is a great car, but it will treat you right only if you treat it right