Charles R. Hill

iTrader: (7)

Trying not to turn a clutch thread into a nitrous thread I'll just say that I have been using my nitrous since last July and I have had no trouble of any kind. In all of my messing around with it I also did a top-end comparison with a really nice 3000GT and forgot I had the nitrous on. He and I spent quite a while well into the triple digits and I realized that I had the spray on for more than 30 seconds, or so. The engine still runs good and at only 55 h.p. I am still using the factory spark plugs. Search for nitrous and read through my several pages for more details and some photos.

RX8'r- My shifting is not something to behold as I am just an idiot with a cool car. However, the light fly makes rev matching(when I am in the mood) much easier and with a light fly quicker shifts are a necessary component of smooth driving because the RPM's drop quicker. The N flash has a mild RPM hold feature as part of the upgrade so it seems to lend itself well to the light flys. As Charlie recommends, so too shall I; before we do your flywheel next weekend get the N if you don't already have it.

My guess with BAS's PPF is that he didn't torque the Hell out of the 8 nuts and 1 bolt that hold it on so it loosened up with the added vibration and torque of a turbo.

CRH

RX-Nbg

Quote:

Originally Posted by abbid

Dont the euro people have 5 speeds as well?

Yes, we have. 5 speeds with the 192 hp engine, and 6 speeds with the 231 hp.
(The hp values are a bit different from those in US due to another standard of measuring it.
Automatic transmission is not available here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Go48

How many RX-8's have this problem versus how many don't? How many RX-8's are on the road in Europe versus the US?

I was not meaning the absolute numbers when I said : "Very many of the RX-8 owners in US have severe problems with their clutch and/or tranny.", but I aimed at the percentage of RX-8 drivers with problems in US compared to the percentage of those with problems in Europe.
In the German forum it's the same as in yours: The people with problems post reports, those without problems don't. And in the German forum there are no reports about clutch or tranny problems.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Go48

We drivers in Europe KNOW how to drive a manual transmission, but you in the US don't, so that's the "problem"?

I didn't say that. I'm just curious about the reasons, and as I have no real explanation that was only a possibility I thought of. There are a lot of you driving a manual for many years and I really can't believe that they don't know how to drive a stick.

Anyway, it's always interesting to read the US forum and I really found a bunch of valuable information here.

Gomez

Hahaha. Mate, this whole thread is about generalisations. Generally, what are the reasons for clutch and transmission problems in the US? I have put forward my general theory on why they fail in the US, the thread starter says no problems in Europe, I say no problems in Australia.

As all three markets get the same engine/gearbox package, let's hear your theory on why we have next to no failures and your cars are exploding like grenades????
Generally speaking, of course....

Gomez.

fizzer

Generally speaking... I think the reason is not a matter of who has failures and who doesn't. Its a matter of statistics. There are a lot more Rx8s in the US and a lot more US members on this forum. So... probability comes into play and you see a disproportionate amount of US cases of tranny failure.

I don't have the hard data on sales figures, if anyone knows I would be interested to take a look at them. But I wouldn't be surprised to see US RX-8 sales at least 10x that of other countries, we simply have a bigger market. (cheap gas doesn't hurt either). The sample size of non-US RX-8 owners on this board simply isn't large enough to get a good idea of tranny reliability. Also, ALL our manuals are the high-output renesis... maybe the 6 speed just isn't up to the task of 9.5k rpm, and due to the numbers, you hear about this happening more in the US.

Also (WARNING, possibly insulting generalization ahead) americans like myself appear to like complaining about stuff more that other people While we're busy trying to find someone to sue for our broken tranny... people in outher countries are just getting them fixed quietly and going on about thier business hehehe.

Gomez

27000 RX-8's were sold in the US last year, 42000 were exported from Japan.......9000 were bought by the Japanese themselves. (Source: Mazda Media)

So the US took just over half the total RX-8 production run.....

fizzer

Alrighty, so the majority of RX-8s in existence are within the US and the majority of the board members are in the US (I imagine, plz correct me if I'm wrong). So I think it makes a lot of sense that you hear a lot more about transmission problems from the US. Also, Americans tend to put more mileage per year on cars, so a higher incidence of reliability problems makes a lot of sense.

By the numbers you posted, there are 15,000 non-US RX-8s out there, 9000 of them in Japan, 6000 split up among every other country that imports them. So think of how many english-speaking, non-US RX-8 owners are out there... probably not a whole lot in comparison to the 27,000 US owners.

The numbers seem to speak for themselves. Here's an example, say you ask 2700 people if they watch a particular TV show. Say 5% of them say they do. Now you ask 600 people the same question and 0% of them say they watch the show. Does that mean that nobody in the region that the 600 were picked from watches the TV show? No it doesn't, you have to look at the margin of error for the sample size. The basic margin of error can be calcuated at 1 / square root of the sample size. Margin of error for 2700 = +/- 1.9% while at 600 it is +/- 4%. So if you have a result of 0% on a sample size of 600, then the actual result could be as high as 4% while the actual result for the 2700 sample could be as low as 3.1% Which baisically tells us that you can't possibly say one country breaks more transmissions than the other without gathering some scientific data.

smrx8

iTrader: (1)

well i had said this before that i was having problems and now finally bringing it to the dealer today let see what they say.my 2 will not go in on high rpms . wish me luck

fizzer

Good Luck! I have a service appt. on the 22nd... loaner car ready and all, just in case I'll feel bad being without my baby, but if I get a brand new tranny out of the deal I'll be pretty happy. If that one is all yucky after 6k miles, then I'll be willing to admit its my 'American' driving style that breaks it

smrx8

iTrader: (1)

Well just came back from dropping the car and explained to them that when i try to put 2 between 5000 to 7000 rpms it grinds and he told me iam reving it to much lol what a dork.I told them to have a mechanic look at it.so i will find out tommorow.

Gomez

No.....there are 24000 non-US 2004 RX-8's out there. Total production was nearly 51000, the Japanese kept 9000. As I said, 42000 were exported and you guys got 27000 of them. The Canadians got a few thousand, we got a few thousand, and the Europeans got the bulk of the rest.....5000 went to the UK, actually.

No-one except Mazda can talk specific percentages, generally speaking though , anecdotally, you guys are the toughest on the drivetrain.

Gomez.

smrx8

iTrader: (1)

Ok getting the car back today as they told me nothing is wrong he said they check the linkage on the trans and the snchro everything looks good.

Question is could they really check the snchro if they didnt pull the trans out ????

Gomez

Well, they certainly couldn't SEE the synchro's. BTW, there is no linkage either. The shifter goes directly into the top of the box.

smrx8

iTrader: (1)

you think thats what causing the problem ?? i wonder if i can just have someone take my tranny down and check.

RX-Nbg

Quote:

Originally Posted by smrx8

Well just came back from dropping the car and explained to them that when i try to put 2 between 5000 to 7000 rpms it grinds and he told me iam reving it to much lol what a dork.I told them to have a mechanic look at it.so i will find out tommorow.

Am not sure, but that might indeed be one reason for the problems: The shifting at high revs.
In normal driving we in Europe are used to take the foot off of the acceleration pedal when pressing the clutch pedal to shift, resulting in revs of a max. of 2.000 to 3.000 when shifting.
I think the synchros will appreciate shifting at lower revs.

smrx8

iTrader: (1)

i be taking my car to a trans place to get a second opinion.

velocity8

cas2themoe,
I have the same problem. Going to get it looked at soon. Did you you ever take it in to have it checked out? Also, do you hear it when you start the car also? Damn annoying. First tiem I heard it I was showing the car off to my fiance and we both heard the rattling noise when I accelerated. Got to love those first impressions.