My engine had all sorts of problems which Mazda has apparently traced down to 3 out of 4 ignition coils being bad. They say I should only get OEM ignition coils for this car and quoted me $102/coil = $408 total for parts. They called NAPA and the price was similar.

I did a little hunting myself online and found 4 OEM coils on Amazon for $190:

I have also found 4 non-OEM coils all over, ranging in price.
Here's one set for $85 total:
Rx8 Ignition Coil | Racepages.com
and another for $126 total:
Mazda RX-8 Ignition Coil - Free Shipping - Replacement, Standard, Beck Arnley

So, my question is, are those $85 coils something to avoid, or am I not even going to be able to tell the difference? Do I really need OEM ignition coils?

Thanks for the support & advice!

 

Those other ones you linked are OEM coils.

They just didn't go through the dealer network. Enjoy the savings!



Detail:
Basically, for every manufacturer, they outsource parts like these to individual companies that mass produce the parts. Typically, there is a non-compete clause in whatever contract for a specified period of time, usually about 5 years. After that time, the company producing the part can sell the part directly to other retailers, other warehouses, wholesalers, etc... So the exact same part becomes available for cheaper than the dealer prices, if you know how to look for it.

Yes, there are knock-off items possible, but typically the companies that make fakes or knockoffs typically target wear items from high volume cars, or aftermarket parts. Not a concern here, since even if you found some knockoffs, they would have to fail in about 7,000 miles or so in order to be breaking even with the cost the dealer will charge.

 

Even AutoZone has Duralast (non-OEMs) coils for $29/coil:
Duralast/Ignition Coil (C1459) | 2005 Mazda RX8 1.3L MPI Rotary | AutoZone.com

 

Oh, the ones even from Racepages.com are OEM? Sweet!! How did you know?

 

The race pages link are OEM, except for the 2nd one down (REPM504630, only see the item id when i add to to the cart). They look quite different than the OEM, and I wouldn't expect those to fit. That appears to be an error for their system.

 

Or you could just order them from mazmart.

 

Wow, close call, because that's the ones I would have gotten. I can see the shape looks off. Thanks so much for your help!

One more question - instead of the "Replacement Ignition Coil" ($22.43/ea), any convincing advantage to getting
* "Standard Ignition Coil" ($48.89/ea)
* "Beck Arnley Ignition Coil" ($54)
* "Karlyn Ignition Coil" ($66)

 

There are aftermarket alternatives to the OEM coils such as the conversion kit BHR assembles. Cost and reliability are higher than OEM coils.

 

Nope, no real difference. Even if there was a premature failure, many sites offer a warranty on them. The coils on my car are from Advance at $22 each. ~23k on them i think, no issues, though I suspect one of them might be starting to soften up on me.

 

No insult intended sir

Tell him about the Monkey!

 

Alright, so I was about to order online but then hesitated and decided to worry about it later. It's later.

I'm going out of town on Friday and basically, not having my car is a huge pain, in particular because dropping the rental car and my dog off and getting to the airport on time for an AM flight will be tough.

AutoZone doesn't have any ignition coils in stock at the store. Still not wanting to give in to the stealership prices, I tried O'Reilly.

They have "Import Direct" ignition coils, in store. That sounds el generico to me. $29/ea.
Import Direct 23-0100 - Coil On Plug | O'Reilly Auto Parts

Sound good? Can I safely and happily get these and stop beating this issue to death? Looking for an official blessing by somebody more knowledgeable than myself.

Thanks again!!

 

Yup, that's the right coil.

 

Sorry to bring back an old post...
I made a thread a while back about using O'Reilly ignition coils and might link it here, so. Firstly I'll proudly say I work for O'Reilly and before that Kragen. Before we converted here in California our coils were BWD branded and I was hesitant about using non OEM coils from what I'd read. But I went with them and discovered they were "true" OEM just relabeled. As the years have gone by we've begun transitioning our premium import options to what we call Import Direct. We have Ignition, Fuel, Cooling, Chassis and now Driveline "Import Direct" store branded product. The parts are either true OEM or OES. All Import Direct products are either made in the country of origin or supplied with parts from country of origin for OE. How much "OEM" for any particular make and model car changed throughout the years has occurred I don't know enough about. But, I'm about to install current 2014 Import Direct Ignition O'Reilly coils this month. And, they're made in POLAND? I should have spent more time at the vendor booths this year rather than wandering around St. Louis hungover, lol! I'll take pics and let you know!

 

the ones that Made in Poland were made by a Company that makes ignition coils for companies like BMW/Mercedes, they took the coils, opened it, and Redesigned it a bit and release it as OEM-replacements. I "heard" that they improved them to a point that they're pretty confident that it will last much longer than their Japanese competition, the quality is preetty good, it's about the same as whatever Hitachi has to offer so far(see below)

stock coils was made by Hitachi Japan, and first version of the coil suck major *****, talked about they usually last LESS than 5K miles, they improved the coils by changing material and slight change to the design, now it's at Revision C, which is by far the best stock coils. it's still hard to say how long C would last, and it's really hard to test these coils with just ohmmeter(which is just what Mazda wants u to do, cuz they usually fails only if it's hot),, but compare to the original WTF 100 coils (without even the A letter), C version is 100 times better.


I have tried both and I gotta say they work about the same. but I would pick the Hitachi ones over the Poland one. cuz it cost about the same, so why not get the OEM made one ?