Hey guys! Something is wrong with the RX-8!


- Just tonite when I left my friends house I started up the car and it sounds like its not about to start as if it wasnt going to turn over, but it did start! Not like how it started before just normal!

- ALso when I put it in 1st gear to go it feels and sounds sluggish and bogged! It just didnt go.

- I went to an open commuter lot to test it out again and I started from 1st gear and so on and it felt sluggish and hesitant!

- I went to the gas station and open up the hood and I also heard this ticking sound! I was like WTK now!??


My car has 50,000 miles and so far the current mods are the Racing Beat Cat-back exhaust, Racing Beat cat-less mid-pipe, and AEM CAI..... And lowered 1.4 inches...

If anyone knows what it might be please feel free to elaborate. I am taking it to the Mazda dealership as well! Thank you all and take care!

--"ACE"

 

you might put the cat back in before you take it to the dealer..

beers

 

That ticking may be a badly connected spark plug wire jumping fire!!!!!

 

A good place to start a pulling the CEL codes from the car.

You may have recently gotten a new one, but didn't notice it due to the CEL from being catless.

 

he has 50k miles, I don't think they care anymore at that point.

 

Hey guys!!! Thanks for your response!!! I took it to MALLOY MAZDA here in my home town in Woodbridge, VA and I talked to Courtney one of the service advisors and he said that the tech said that one of my plugs were bad and the wires and my water pump was leaking!!! Also he told me the 3 codes that were a problem.... I will post those codes up when I call him in the morning becuase I forgot!!!! Anyways the total with parts and labor will be $878.00!!!!

- $118.17 PLUG WIRES

- $180.00 for all PLUGS (trail &lead)

- $137.92 for WATER PUMP

- $10.65 for WATER PUMP GASKET

And I guess the rest is labor!!! I was like WTF!!! Is it a pain in the *** to put the plugs & wires, and water pump on the RX-8 because its a rotary??? I mean is like very specific on the plugs due to being a rotary?? I am new to the rotary world so bare with me!!! I was in the mustang scene for while and went to imports.... Off course anyone can work on mustangs and we are talking about night and day with the V8 type engines and Rotaries!!! I am just still shock of the labor!! Does the labor sound reasonable??? Thanks and please feel free to repond!!! Take care!!

--"ACE"--

 

all should have been under warranty... it was extended to 60k miles with the last recall..

beers

 

must be a true story, nobody could make this up ...

 

are you sure? plugs/wires could be considered 'wear items' that need regular replacement, and is water pump part of the 'drivetrain?'

as for the original poster, yeah the plugs on the RX-8 from the dealer is quite expensive, due to its iridium tip and all, and dealership service department does charge a higher labor than an independent shop (~$90/hr in Northern VA), so yeah, those numbers sound about right, sorry you have to spend all that money at once, but hey, it happens

 

actually, i'm looking up the prices of those parts from Rosenthal Arlington Mazda in Arlington, VA, and here's their prices:

spark plugs set $129.95
http://www.finishlineperformance.com...n&key=RX8M1004

plug wire set $56
http://www.finishlineperformance.com...n&key=RX8M1005

they don't have the water pump price listed so let's assume what you paid for is 'fair price', but damn you really got hosed on the plugs/wires, guess i won't be visiting that dealership anytime soon

 

yea,

any dealer with the recall going on would do this.... what would be different from coming in at 40k miles???

beers

 

and no, plugs and wires are no more difficult to replace on the 8 than most cars, actually easier than a Mazda6 V6 ( have to actually drop the engine down a bit to reach the rear row plugs on the transversely-mounted v6)

 

yeah, if he took it in for the purpose of having the recall done.... hmmm shouldn't recalls be automatically applied if he took it in for any repair purposes

hey original poster, you better go back and have them look up your car's records, and make damn sure that they reimburse your money for the plugs/wires/labor since that SHOULD be under the engine recall going on right now

 

ACE, Malloy mazda in woodbridge can be trouble sometimes. I was getting a key programmed (only had 1 other so I couldn't do it myself ).

Anyway, while I was sitting there for 4 HOURS WAITING, I heard one of the service people tell 3 different people that they NEEDED a complete fuel system cleaning, transmission flush and a few other stupid things for about $400.

Your prices seem about right from them, but you could've saved a few hundred bucks and done the plugs and wires yourself. Hell, I'm currently living in Fredericksburg and wouldn't mind helping you change them just to keep those service people from playing their game.

 

Thanks!!! I did exactly just that and I talked to the tech name MILES and he was pretty cool and honest and he did all my recall history and told me all I needed was PLUG WIRES AND WATER PUMP....So I called later that day and talked to the advisor again and I asked him how much would it be now and he said it went down to $482 and some change! I was like "That's right!!!!"

So it was a good thing that I talked to the tech or else I would have not known....

Basically the tech said my plugs were still good and it was just the plug wires. Also my water pump was leaking and I told him cool and just change out the water pump and plug wires.

I know the service advisor was trying to get me to change everything out so he can make his commision and I've the industry before, so I knew better!

Thanks again!

--"ACE"--

 

I looked and the water pump is covered up til 60K miles. Should not have to pay for that.

 

Thanks for confirming that Old Rotor. It didn't sound right to me either and I had been meaning to look that up. Isn't it great that you have access to more accurate information than the dealership? But we love Mazda anyway ....

 

almost the same issue as you.

Mazda replaced battery and starter, seems to be back to normal

 

So 703RX8, has your car been fixed and is it back to normal? If not , good luck with it.

 

You should not have to pay for water-pump work(60K warranty covers water pump). Send your bill to Mazda they will reimburse you.