Andrewr

So my engine flooded in my 8 the other day. I tried to deflood it but this time i couldnt get it.. not a big deal i called roadside assistance since its free with mazda if the engine is flooded. the next day i got a call from the dealer. they said i needed new coils but i replaced coils plugs and wires about 3 or 4 months ago. I told them that, then they tried telling me the coldair intake i installed caused the coils to "burn". Theres small burn marks under the coils on a couple of them. Is this true that intakes can cause coils to go bad or are they lying to my face.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Call them and tell them it is utter and complete bullshit.

Andrewr

thats what i thought. thanks

invasion08

iTrader: (7)

Yes that is BS. There is no way any intake would cause you coils to fail. There are lying to your face. Here is how you inspect a coil, http://www.finishlineperformance.com...16-07-1793.pdf. As you can see you do not go by the white spots or burn marks.

expo1

I looked over another post of yours and you indicated your intake was a home made one. That pretty much gives the dealer a free hand to say what ever they wish when you fabricate parts such as the intake. The other thing was yours is an 2004 out of warranty, are you sure the dealer isn't going to charge you anything?
As for you situation pay for plugs and the de-flood and nothing else.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

What cold air intake are you running? If it is the AEM then it is the same exact intake as the Mazdaspeed intake (both made by AEM) which carries the manufacturers warranty. So ask them why they would warranty a cold air intake that would damage the coil and potentially the engine?

The fact is that the dealers don't know **** and the coils suck. Save yourself some aggravation and ask them for the test results of the coils because there is a procedure for this in the factory service manual for testing them and the "burn" marks or white spots on the coils don't mean that they are burnt out.


Edit: They beat me to it

DarkBrew

Dealers and most garages don't hire mechanics anymore except for maybe the lead hand.
The so called troubleshooting skills I've seen from most dealer techs is the reason I work on my own car.


BTW, Mazda's own TSB states clearly that the marks on the bottom of the coil are not relevant to coil operation so tell them to suck it! http://www.finishlineperformance.com...16-07-1793.pdf

Andrewr

alrite, well with a little while of argueing and proving them wrong by showing them the print out about the coils, i got them for free since the coils themselves were still under warrenty. They originally tried telling the coils werent under warrenty but i had the original receipt to show them they were too.

The warrenty on the car ran out awhile back. its was only 3 month 3000 miles. ive had the car for 6 months now and its been in the shop 5 times already and ive done some work myself that other people might have brought it to the shop for so i bitched about that too and got free labor.

After all that i get it back, start it up, drive it down the road and at the second stop light it stalls out. the whole way back to my house, at stop signs/lights i had to put it in nuetral and keep it at about 1200-1500 rpm's just to keep it from stalling. The belt squeaks a bit, the battery light came on once during the drive home and during a sharp turn i lost power steering for a second. could a loose belt cause a weak battery and lose of power steering? or could this be another issue?

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Sounds like you have low compression my friend. Typically with a low compression engine they usually try to replace the coils and plugs to see if it fixes the problem. But if you are under 100,000 miles it should be covered so look at the bright side.

Before anyone buys a used RX-8 (or any car) they should have it compression tested, and make sure the car has new plugs, coils, wires, air filter, etc.

Andrewr

I actually did a compression test a couple weeks back but never looked into the results of it. each test per plug was the same. i had a friend crank the engine for 8-10 seconds like the manual said and for each plug during cranking would bounce between 60psi and 90 psi then as soon as he stoped cranking it steadly droped down to about 30 psi and stayed there. Like i said i didnt look into the specs for compression so could anyone tell me if thats normal or is something wrong?

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Did you use a Rotary compression tester? If not then your test was useless. A typical compression tester will not work on a rotary the same way as on a piston engine.

Andrewr

Oh and it only has 37000 something miles on it but like i mentioned before, i only had a 3 month 3000 mile warrenty. will it still be covered with no warrenty? is it a mazda thing.. like the flooding?

Lord ET

iTrader: (1)

Mazda covers the engine core for 8 yrs or 100000 miles

Mazurfer

If they changed the coils, then they may have disconnected the battery at some point during the process. If that last part is true(disconnect battery), then the car could be re-learning the fuel trims. It can do that stalling for one or two drive cycles. Give it a chance and report back if it keeps doing it.

Also, go out and clean your battery terminals and then make sure they are tight. Also............you might want to have that battery tested. Remember, if you do dis-connect the battery for any length of time, you will have to reset the DCS/TCS and you might have the stalling issue for a brief time as noted above.

Since you heard squealing, then you should get that belt checked out, it could be the alternator belt that may need to be tightened or replaced. If you get your battery checked at like Autozone for free(hint hint) they will check the alternator output as well.

Andrewr

it's a new battery but they did say it was weak. maybe from cranking the engine over trying to get it deflooded. ill have it tested and see what happens in the next day or 2

VashGS

The revision A coils cook up fast and leave the white marks. It probably does not take a lot of cycles to do this. Poor engineering. Get Rev B or BHR, etc.

laythor

+1 for mazurfer's response.

EDZRIDE

iTrader: (1)

Yes it could. Get the belt adjusted and check your alternator output.

Andrewr

ok, i adjusted the belt, battery is good 12.6 volts, alternator tested good, coils plugs and wires are good as they should be since theyre brand new. still runs like ****. now its at a different mazda dealer. I just got a call from them and found out there's coolant in the oil. theyre gonna get back to me when they find out how coolant is getting in the oil. until then can anyone give me possibilities of how and where its getting in there? is this a common issue with the 8?

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

IIRC, Coolant in oil typically means engine failure due to a cracked rotor housing. And is 12.6V at the battery with a load? Anytime there is an engine issue, Mazda points to the coil, plugs, etc. they never do a proper diagnosis. the last time my engine was replaced they pointed to the same and the cat, yet they had just replaced the cat, plugs, and coils a month earlier.

Andrewr

12.6 not under load. its was out of the car.

If it is a cracked rotor houseing, about how much damage is that gonna do to my wallet?

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

How many miles on your car? If it is the housing and you are under 100,000 miles and 8 years then you are covered by Mazda's extended warranty on the motor. If it is that, then you may want to argue for reimbursement or a discount on the other parts you didn't exactly need.

Andrewr

2004 with 37600ish miles.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

You should be good, but keep in mind they will as for proof that the engine has been maintained. So hopefully you can get oil change receipts.

Andrewr

i bought it used. Is the extended warrenty still valid or for the first owner only?

could it be anything else causing coolant to get in the oil such as a gasket or something?

and you bet ill be arguing for my money back for the other parts i didnt need