2005 4spd AT. I took care of the car, checked/changed the oil on a regular basis with Penzoil 5w20. Always used 93 octane. No engine mods. I put in a new battery a month ago and back in February I changed the plugs, coils, and wires. It's flooded on me once before almost 2 years ago which is what I thought happened this time. Back then they changed the starter, battery, plugs maybe other stuff too I can't remember. The car was driving fine and last Thursday my girlfriend and I went to go out to eat it would crank but not start. I had it towed to the dealer today and they tried getting it started while I was there but it wouldn't fire up so I left. They called me a few hours later after a compression check and the front rotor was gone. I made sure to warm up the car before pushing it to upper rpm's I've read quite a lot on here about rotary maintenance. I never premixed. It's had the marbles in a can sound off and on and sometimes a slight powerloss here and there but never misfired on me. Idle was going pretty low though at the end which was concerning me but it never stalled, it dropped below 750 and even saw around 500-600 a couple times. I added seafoam to it earlier this year and that seemed to help but not much. It was a daily driver for a while maybe until about 60K miles or so but for the past year and a half it's been the weekend car I've got a dodge stratus I can drive to work.

 

So I'm joining the new engine club. just shy of 80k miles. I took it in for misfires in April and now October its just gone downhill. It just got steadily worse over the last few months. It was still drivable but would misfire when water would go into the rotor and was low on power. The dealership was pretty quick to determine the problem since i had been working with them when the original problem started back in April. Its going to take about 2 weeks, 5 days to get the parts, 2 or 3 to remove it and 2 or 3 to put it back in and tune it. I'm working with Nucar Mazda in Delaware. John is a great guy.
I'm going to have them check a few things while there in there, like the clutch and pressure plate.

The only question i had was that did you guys get a courtesy car while it was in for repair? i had asked for one and they said that the extended 100k mile warranty wouldn't cover it. Its a real pain in the butt, so i was hoping to at least get a discount or something. My dealership has a enterprise on site so a used loaner car is out of the question, but i really didn't want to have to pony up like $300 for a rental.

 

Mazda does not cover it for the 8yr-100k engine warranty only the B to B and power train. Very few dealers are giving a free rental car because Mazda is not reimbursing them.

 

Gee, you North Americans are lucky to have this extended warranty.

I have just come back from the UK RX-8 forum website and Mazda UK /Europe are walking away from owners, one guy no assistance at all, the other owner of a 4 years old RX-8, 35,000 miles, serviced regularly at their Mazda Dealer where car was bought and all Mazda UK would contribute was 1300 pounds!, and NO More.

They are saying this will be their last Mazda...

IF this is happening, Mazda are in trouble with any new rotary..NOT GOOD.

 

^I wonder if here they were of afraid of class action lawsuit. So I wonder if that is possible in the UK?

 

So, everything was going fine after my transplant two months ago. Engine actually seemed to be getting a little stronger lately as it broke in. Then today on the way to work on the interstate a sudden massive loss of power. Hopped off at the next exit, luckily the one near my dealer, and with the engine light on and barely running, limped her in to the dealer's service dept. As I stopped, smoke started rising from under the hood. When I popped the hood, the smoke smelled like burning oil and seemed to be coming from under the engine. I thought the worst, another engine down the drain. To make an already long story short, it turns out all of the coils needed to be replaced. At least one or two catastrophically failed and the others were only good enough to allow me to limp into the dealer. It may have actually been the coils that were smoking when I pulled in as there was no sign of any oil leak. Since I am outside the BtoB warranty and the coils are not covered by the extended power-train warranty, I got the first chance to try the 3rd party extended warranty I bought shortly after I got the car. Worked like a charm. Almost $500 in parts and labor was fully covered. Didn't cost me a cent.

So, I now have my fingers re-crossed and holding my breath that this engine survives.....

 

I just wanted to let everyone know after 90,000 miles I've still managed to not blow my motor.

That is all.

 

so far im in 2 cats 1 set of ignition coils and one engine rem swap... ive owned my 04 for 11 months now... only thing i paid for was the coils which i found for 1/3 of mazdas price on rotaryfx.com oh and i think they caused all the problems it went cat engine cat coils and knock on wood seems to be like new.

 

all hail the wong

 

Anyone else find this amusing... a normal car has the odd engine failure with our rotary gems we get the odd good one... must have been a sunny day in Hiroshima when yours was assembled.

 

After ~70,000km's the 2nd engine in my 8 has turned in poor compression numbers and the dealer is replacing it. The same tell-tale symptoms as the first time - loss of power, poor-er gas mileage, strange plastic bag flapping in the wind sounds and CELs (P0301 & p2096)
Original owner, 5000km oils changes at the dealer with 5-20, no prelube, red lined every day, spirited commute daily 130-140kph cruise.
I'm going to get the clutch and pressure plate done this time round.
Railton

 

^ This time around, you should follow a break-in procedure(I followed a 3000 mile progressive break-in procedure. A little over board I know, but it only took me a couple of weeks), start using premix, and start using something other than 5w20. A little extra Lube never hurt anybody....... except for my boy blue.... Your my boy blue!

 

this engine imho is starting to show that it has design flaws? Read in the tech section. the problems can be addressed somewhat but mazda really screwed up----it seems.
OD

 

Shouldn't Mazda be replacing the engines with '09 version with the additional oil injector?
Railton

 

Unfortunately that will not happen..

There are too many under the hood changes that are not interchangeable, all new wiring harnesses, new PCM, new EMOP's, senors and switches...

They might as well give you an all new car???...the chances of that???

 

Agreed. I don't think any one will disagree that there is a design flaw. Mazda's way of fixing this is with the Engine Core warranty. Give the 09's a couple of years to see if the changes actually worked. It would be downright disappointing if the 09's inevitably have the same engine problems as the rest.

 

Ah, this is the main and only reason why we actually have not seen a "new" rotary surface by now, Mazda are waiting to see how these 09~ go out in the field...they have spent considerable money and time updating the REnny.

They just won't risk anymore financial loss with this design.

You guys are lucky you have an 8 year engine warranty, Mazda are walking away from owners even here in Australia, it is also happening in the UK (Europe).

Frankly none of this looks good, all Mazda have done is "protect" their most important under performing market (USA) because of US litigation laws..that is the real reason behind your warranty...reputation....but **** the rest of the Mazda world..

Great isn't it...I really thought better of Mazda.

 

I replaced my engine at 113000 miles, if you are after 100k then get the engine on ebay with the picture of the compression test. That is who I bought my engine from and installed it myself. Runs better than ever and the engine is great, only exception is the water pump started squealing about 1000 miles ago, i assume due to rust, replacing with high flow. I am starting to premix and also i hear that the stock water pump causing heat spots in the engine.. If your engine starts to not start then you will have to push start it and park on hills helps out. I drove like that for about 4 months and saved up money to replace the engine, it still ran good though but then started dieing at stop signs and lights, so started reving at low rpms. and got tired of it...

 

I think i have just joined, but browning mazda here in cerritos, ca are saying that they will not cover my warranty. They said my aftermarket products void my warranty (racing beat: revi, intake, and cat-back exhaust). Please note that they sell these parts in the showroom at Tustin Mazda. But i am fighting it with the headquarters. Is there anyone that can give me some info about who i can complain to or how i can deal with this issue. its a 2006 mt with 39k. Thanks for any help you can give me. I have heard that a few other people have had this same issue as Mazda finds excuses to not cover the warranty but they already know these engines were problematic by automatically extended the factory warranty at no costs to the owners. Thanks guys in advance.

 

BS, you are well within the acceptable timeframe.

I'm not sure who you can complain to but different dealers are known to handle the situations different. In the end, stay persistent and there is no real reason they should be able to deny it. Did they specify the cause ie: low compression?

 

There are plenty of references to stealerships trying to deny warranty coverages on this site, try searching on Magnuson-Moss Act for some good info on what to do about this. A good site to use to get more familar with the Magnuson-Moss Act as it applies to aftermarket parts is http://www.dummies.com/how-to/conten...ty-intact.html.

 

Just call the Mazda USA number the dealer gives you. Ask them to see the technical data sheets proving that the specific after market parts you have cause damage to the engine. Unless they can prove the parts caused damage, they need to replace it. It's just some BS they are giving you. Call Mazda USA and bitch bitch bitch. I had to do this as they were trying to charge me $600+ to replace misc engine parts.

 

Thanks for the details, that's crazy that you went through 2 cats in 11 months. What were the symptoms of the cat going bad each time? Did you get a CEL, or did it just start loosing power at a certain RPM range?

 

Thanks for your help guys. Yes, they said it was low compression. I will let you guys know whats up.

 

^ You may be out of SSP 67 coverage but will def be covered by SSP 77. The difference between the two: SSP 67 covers the Engine replacement 100% no cost to the customer. SSP 77 ONLY covers the engine and internal gaskets. Worst case scenario, you pay $200 for misc parts and get a new engine.