Welcome. I will be making a nice cross country road trip here in August!

 

2005 RX-8 Replaced at 69,500 miles. Just bought it from a dealership three days later it was misfiring took it To Browning Mazda and they put a new engine and cat.

 

2004 RX-8 6MT, replaced last month at 50k, just inside the warranty... Did the clutch at the same time. And I had some PCM problems not 700 miles before I heard the marble in a can, so that was also replaced under warranty.

Feels like a whole new car now, mainly because it is mostly a new car now.

 

Me me! *waves hand* 2004 M/T 6-speed

Car was at 99.7k so I figured it was time to run over to Mazda to have a checkup before the warranty poofed. Car drove fine but perhaps a little on the weak side(never realized, bought it at 85k and it felt similar). Turns out I had bad compression (low 6's and 7s for R1/R2) and a new engine was mine.

Like Labop I had them do the clutch as well - I was amazed at how light the new clutch feels. I thought something was wrong when I first got in the car the difference was so huge.

Car drives like butter sliding on ice.

New engine: 1/27/12

 

I must be an honorary member of this club as my first engine was replace at 30k miles and my second engine was replace, for the same reason, at 52k miles. The car is a 2004 model and as far as I know the first engine replacement was covered by the TSB on loss of compression... the second one appeared to be the same issue but it was caught when I started having misfiring issues and a blinking check engine light.

 

Just confirmed... joined the club.... Full details here: https://www.rx8club.com/canada-forum-35/game-over-natalia-dead-long-live-natalia-long-thread-rant-useful-information-229407/

2007 GT 6MT. Purchased brand new. VERY LOW compression results.

 

The 06's and 07's are racking up.

 

I'm trying to join the club! wheres the best, least hassle mazda dealership to go to for this near millbrae CA? i have no service records and light mods (ap midpipe+pulley,mishimoto radiator,kn intake)

 

Without service records you are SOL. I suggest if you are in warranty to start getting your car serviced somewhere.

 

im assuming you meant without and not with? i've heard of people getting it though without the service records. how is this possible if youre SOL?

 

I meant without, sorry.

Early on years ago when I received my first reman they did not ask for maintenance records. On my second reman they did. Now a days it is pretty standard for the dealers to ask for them, I am guessing Mazda is being more strict with the dealers now due to the amount of money this has cost them.

But if you go in without them now and they ask for them, it will be noted and attached to your VIN in the system and you will never get a reman.

 

so ive only owned the car for a little over a year. do they expect service records from the first owner till now or only from when i owned it?

 

Got a new engine now. Around 103 000 km. Should've gotten it 20 000 earlier, though. Wasn't as lucky as you guys in the states, though. Ended up paying around 11.000 USD for the engine, clutch, coils, plugs, work, shipping and random messing around. Still getting a random cylinder 1 misfire, though.

For the bad value of RX-8's nowadays, it really is an expensive car.
I bought mine in 2006. It's a 2004 model.

 

@DarkHelmet
They would like the records for the entire life of the car. If the previous owner broke the engine (or very nearly) and then sold it to you, it's still your problem unfortunately . If you are lucky, you will get a reman under warranty with minimal paperwork.

 

I guess I'll find out soon haha keep you guys posted on it. Wish me luck!! i'm in no position to not have a car or afford an engine.

 

People always say you only need the records for when you owned the car. That makes sense, requiring you to have previous records that are not under your control would be ridiculous I think.

Darkhelmet, you sure you didn't just forget about that log book you keep with all your oil change dates and mileage in it? You know the one, right? I would not go in without that.

 

hahahahaha oh right. mustve slipped my mind lol

 

Replacing the engine for free (even with a reman) is not cheap. They're allowed to be a little ridiculous.

 

2004 with 88k, just a few months left on the warranty. Motor has been weak for 2 years now, but it was a slow steady decline. I took it in when I first noticed, but compression was on the low side of normal.

Last week it wouldn't start when hot, so I took it in. Little delay in getting back to me as they did a comp test, decarb and another comp test. Didn't see the rpms yet, but the busy tech said numbers were in the high 4 low 5 range. Got a call on Monday that the reman is on its way to the shop, covered under warranty. Never asked for records.

Should get an eta later this week. The new motor will be getting treated to synthetic after beak-in and a cobbap, mostly to bump up the oiling a bit. I'm pretty excited - even a bad reman will be an improvement after hearing compression numbers like that.

 

Got the car back today. Needed motor mounts and plugs (no surprise), clutch probably has 2 years left at least, so I kept the old one.

Dealer didn't recommend any specific break-in, also the window sticker said they filled it with 0w-20 formula shell... So I don't trust their advice and I instantly went home, sucked out 4 quarts of "oil" that was the viscosity of water and threw in 5w-30 dino. I'll follow a 400 mile break-in, do a filter and oil change and start using royal purple.

Otherwise I'm quite happy, the new motor clearly has more torque noticeable even under part throttle. Fuel consumption seems better too (as one would expect). Fingers crossed, but I'm feeling pretty confident I'll be happy with this car for a while

 

Royal Purple = The kings of marketing hype.

 

Maybe, but what I do know is that the highest mileage 8 on this board used nothing by royal purple, so it is unlikely "bad" for the engine. That's enough to give me piece of mind. The biggest complaint I've heard with it is that it doesn't hold viscosity as well as some other synthetics, so I'll run 40 weight to cover my bases.

 

So one person had good results and you extrapolate that out to EVERYONE?

 

This is not the thread for this discussion, but you're thinking about it backwards. Fact is, no one really knows what oil strategy is *best* for this engine. I just want to avoid an oil strategy that is *bad* for the engine. Based on all my research here and at BITOG and my plans for the car and how I use it, RP 0w-40 is my choice. I will also premix a quality synthetic 2-stroke. IMO, along with a proper usage pattern, I believe this will extend the life of my new motor.

At the end of the day, I'm just sharing information. I'm not trying to sway anyone one way or the other, I see this thread as simply a way of recording owner's experiences in order to further the knowledge of the community.

To that end, I plan to post to this thread occasionally on how my new motor is treating me after changing my service regimen in a post-warranty world.

 

2005 6-speed manual, 53,000 miles. Engine replaced in February 2012 under warranty due to low compression.