Rotagirl,

Okay, its not been 3 months since you came to our forum asking for advice on your car. So far, it looks like the only thing you have done is proven to us that your "rotary mechanic" is completely clueless on how to inspect the RX-8 engine.

Can you please list out everything that has been properly inpected and replaced so far? The only thing I can find in the thread is you finally had the mechanic look at the convertor, and he replaced it with a used one, that might not be in any better condition than the original one.

If I remember correctly, we have recommended you do the following:

COMPRESSION TEST
Inspect catalytic convertor
Replace ignition coils, wires, and spark plugs
Replace Starter with upgraded unit
New Battery
Find a better mechanic

We've probably even recommended a couple other items.
Can you let us know what all you've done in the past 3 months to your car?

I think you've even stated that you have some kind of warranty. Why not get that compression tested in order to see if you can get the whole motor replaced?

BC.

Hey I'm frustrated too. I'm limited with what I can and can't do to the car so I don't void the warranty. It was taken to the only rotary specialist within an hours drive of my home, this was done through the dealer. I get what you're saying about the mechanics being useless but I can't do any better than them, they're the professionals. Believe you me, I want all this done but the dealer is being extremely hard to deal with, as it's taken this long just to get 2 sensors and a 2nd hand cat (which looks fine inside) When I first had issues, I relayed to the dealer exactly what you all said to me to get checked, the idiot kept telling me I'd probably flooded it. It was the rotary specialist that told me I didn't need a compression test, and again, he's the expert. Once I start doing repairs myself or through my own mechanic, if it hasn't gone through the dealer, it voids my warranty. The warranty only covers 5g so that won't completely cover a rebuild.
Please appreciate also, I'm not hugely car savvy. I'm fairly sure now that the starter isn't that flash so i'll replace that myself, along with plugs and possibly a new battery.

Ask if there is an upgrade starter available (I'm not actually sure myself if there is one for the AT ) from Mazda .
If not you can just buy new brushes for it (about $100) or buy a second hand one from a car that hasn't done many kms .

No upgraded starter for the 4 port :-(

Sounds like you either have the world's worst warranty, or don't truly understand its terms and conditions.

Honestly, if it were me, I would have flushed that warranty down the toilet, OR DEMANDED a compression test.

There's a reason why they are denying you a compression test.
Just like us, they know it will fail it.

BC.

I have same problem, I have a 54 plate with 68,000 miles. The plugs have done around 13,000 miles. Battery is a year old, starter motor is 16 months old. I have had compression check and Mazda said one chamber was low on compression.

That was 15 months ago. they told me I needed a new engine then but the car runs great, starts straight away when cold, runs fine and no problems until I stop it and try to start up again a few minutes later. I have to leave it half an hour to cool down for it to start again then it runs great again. I am not sure what to do and a new engine is out of the question it would cost more than the car is worth.

Any advice out there welcome, I love the car and it is fantastic condition otherwise.

cheers

Well, if a replacement engine is worth more than the car, then that means you should junk the car.

Or, you hunt through salvage yards until you find a replacement motor that was picked from a car crashed with low miles on it, from the newest version of the car you can get. If you can get an engine from an '08 car, that only had 15k miles on it, that would work out the best, compared to an '04 engine with 135k miles.

What you need to do is determine how the economics work for you.
If the car is worthless to you, you junk it, and move on to something else.
Or you sell it to someone who doesn't know what's up with the car, and buy something else.
Or if the car does have value, you have the engine rebuilt.

BC.

Thats just wrong to say that, How would you feel if it was done to you?

As for dealerships not knowing what they are on about...This is totally true! My friend has an 06 impreza bought from subaru,it had a misfire..15k miles on the clock,they told him new cat,he got it still misfire,then new precat,got it still misfired,new coils,he got them...misfired..Finally he went to an EX Subaru mechanic he said leads,supplied them and fixed it! Go to an independant mechanic,they are generally after custom and not more money

First off, it wouldn't happen to me.
I actually research a vehicle before I buy one used.

At least 3/4 of the new people who join our forum after buying an RX-8, didn't do any research on the car before they bought it, and are having troubles that would have been avoided had they researched it first.

Chances are, the person who goes to buy the car won't know anything about the car, either. Plenty of people on this forum bought someone else's problem car, either directly, or as a car that was traded into a dealership, and then resold.

Happens every single day, on more cars than this one.

BC.