vegas RX8

Yeah Zoom, third replacement engine to come + original = 4. It gets confusing I know, even to me that I'm going through it so I'll explain in order of events:

1. The original engine lasted 33,500 miles, took into dealer 7-21-06.

2. The first reman engine (engine #2 in car) lasted over night, I picked it up on 7-31-06 & took it back on 8-01-06 after engine stalled on my way to work.

3. The second reman engine (engine #3 in car) didn't make it off the dealers lot becuase it stalled when they were taking it to get a car wash, roughly around 8-08-06. They "replaced coils, wire set, battery and recalibrated PCM, performed compression check and test drove" (still on engine #3). They were going to release it to me on 8-18-06 and that's when I went to pick it up and noticed the Check Engine Light on and they've had it since then.

4. Got the call yesterday 8-22-06 that they will be replacing the engine again (with engine #4) and I did verify that it was because of recall w/ service tech. That's why he said it would be at least a couple of weeks.

Hopefully it clears it up a bit. Thanks.

vegas.

S.Cruey

Well, we got the 8 back today with the reman engine. I knew that they were lying when they told me it would be a new '06 engine !! I told my hubby when he picked it up to demand that a tech go with him on a test drive, before we accepted it. They drove about 5 miles on the interstate & had to stop for gas. It had a half a tank when it went in, but was empty, when they gave it back. As hubby was putting in the gas he noticed smoke boiling from under the hood. He yelled at the tech to pop the hood & see what the problem was. After about 30 seconds he went up front to see why it was getting worse. By that time hubby was really getting worried. He got down & looked under the car & there on the ground next to the gas pumps was a burning shop rag that the idiots had left under the hood !! They rolled the car back quickly & threw some water on the rag. I told my hubby that I wish he had just let it burn the car down to the ground !! I'm so sick of this that I'm trading in the 8 as quick as I can figure out what I want to replace it. I really loved this car, but I'm not going to end up playing the engine replacement game.
One question... does anyone know how long it takes for the engine replacement info to show up on CarFax ?? I'm thinking that I may trade the 8 in at the Mazda dealer, & just let them have their problem back.

Susanne Cruey
Foggy Mountain Chow Chows
http://home.earthlink.net/~ascruey/index.html

ANIBALRX-8

I Am On My Thirth Engine, And Its Running Great!!!!!!
I Love This Rotary Engine!!!!!
I Love This Car!!!!!!
It Feels Great!!!!
I Wood Tread-in My Wife And Kids
But Not My Rx8

devious12

I'm on my 3rd engine and it felt good for about 1000k miles, but now I'm noticing a loss of power in the low rpm range, again. The car just doesn't have the kick it did when I first bought it, which I wouldn't expect it to be exatcly the same, but there is too much of a power loss when I push the throttle to be happy with it. Who knows, once they call the car in I'll almost bet that it isn't going to pass the vacuum test. I had this feeling when there was a loss of compression on the first and second engine, Iknew there was something wrong. I don't care what Mazda says, I'm very familiar with the way my 8 should be running and the way that it feels now.

Oh and I almost forgot, yesterday I let the car warm up to operating temp., then started to drive away. I thought the clutch wasn't catching at first but then realized that it felt as though the engine got locked up and I couldn't move past 2k. I thought I was just imagining it, but then when I was close to work it did the same thing again.

lbeagley79

Hello again everyone. I've had a replacement engine in my RX8 for less than a month and put about 1000 miles on it since I got it back from the dealer so thought I'd update everyone with my results.

Devious12 - when I got the car back it was running great. Lots of power and acceleration. But already in less than a month I can feel the lag at lower RPMs and power loss. I really hope it's not all in my head but that's what I'm experiencing.

Vegas - man, I can't believe all the troubles you've been having with replacement engines. The latest info regarding the engine recall is quite interesting. I have a feeling my replacement engine (with less than 1000 miles) might not even pass the vacuum test.

I guess only time will tell....
LBeagley79

yeraturney

I am on my third engine with less than 27K total miles. I have a (Nov 03) 2004 A/T and I am a female and the Austin,TX dealer told me I drove it too soft and caused the problems. So you guys being told you drove it too hard need to call BS on your dealer's nonsense. They are pitting us against one another so we cannot put forth one coherent demand for replacement autos. According to Mazda's techs I failed to rev it high enough and built up too much carbon blah blah blah. I now have 28,000 miles and the 2d engine only lasted 3k Miles. It was "reman" acc to their own docs. I used only 93 octane, never drove it faster than 89 or so and didn't use cheap gas. There is no reason for the failure but DEFECTIVE engineering. Now they want to "give me" 16K to put toward another RX-8! Outrageous. Mazda has kindly offered to pitch in 5K to "help" me. They want me to pony up 9K for a car they cannot assure me is not defective. According to my dealerships own techs, my car has had every single upgrade known to man and yet it is giving me trouble with the third engine: loss of opower under a load and a rattling noise. They now say that once a car is driven, while in the defective condition, replacing the engine is not good enough. You must start over with a zero-miles car. It needs to be trashed and yet they will not replace it.

devious12

F*#K THAT! Don't give up until you get what you are entitled to. They tried that bs with me and we went back and forth for 2 months. After calling the local news, and telling MNAO that I did, Attorney General's office, Better Business Bureau, they finally saw things my way. Don't be afraid to send emails, have you're family sending email to MNAO etc. I would call corporate and make an appointment to have the corporate rep in your area see you. Or ask when the next time he/she will be at that particular dealership. Then, just show up the day of and start bitching. Make sure you are dressed formal so they take you serious and know you are not going to put up with their bullshit! Good luck, if you need any help I can give you some insight as well as other memebers who have been through this situation before.

Mr986

Posted by yeraturney:
[I]They now say that once a car driven, while in the defective condition, replacing the engine is not good enough. You must start over with a zero-miles car. It needs to be trashed and yet they will not replace it.

So are they saying that this is more than just an engine problem? Next they'll say Priests need be hired--not covered under OEM warranty-- to Exorcise the demons that have taken over the car.

I have to say, I've never heard of a car manufacturer creating a situation where their customers are completely left in the cold like this. Apparently, the remanufactured engines are worse than the OEM and fail way before the warranty is up. They don't want to use new engines because it could cost too much and may fail anyway. This seems to translate into the engine design is defective, they have not come up with a viable fix and short of a redesigned motor, there is no permanent fix.

So, the owners are left in a position of hanging on to the car until Mazda gets tired of replacing the engines or to dump it for what ever you can on the open market. Terrific--either way you get screwed, a car that doesn't perform as advertised and spends lots of time in the shop or give the car away at a big loss.

CERAMICSEAL

It is true that gently driven autos will make up a very strong portion of those that can't pass the vacuum test. I don't trust Mazda's current reman program myself. I hope that they are planning on getting units out of Japan for this recall.

zoom44

by the way - caterpillar is doing the remans. a freind in georgia sent me this info from inside a reman crate for core return

Williams Technologies Inc.
2725 W. 5th North Street
Sumerville, N.C. 29483

which turns out to be Caterpiller

delco owned it until 2004 when Caterpiller bought it

zoom44

you were ok up until that part- that would be wrong. and the folks getting a 3rd the replacements failed for different reasons than the initial problem. Mazda will not let that happen thru this recall. they can sit at teh reman plant and inspect everyone- they cannot look over the shoulder at each of 700 dealers and make sure the dealer doesnt screw up during installation.

CERAMICSEAL

Williams Technologies is correct. I had no idea of the Caterpillar purchase.
You, my friend, are the ultimate investigator: Sherlock Holmes practically.

vegas RX8

Zoom - I agree w/ you 100%, I've never questioned Mazda's intentions in fixing my car or that they've given the local techs the wrong information on how to fix my car but I do have to question the local techs because I feel that they just haven't had the experience to deal w/ rotaries her in Las Vegas. The dealerships can be nice as hell but if the car doesn't get fixed then their attitude doesn't matter, satisfaction comes w/ them repairing the problem not with them having coffee and donuts in the waiting area. I just hope that with this recall the local service techs can get it right because if not then I'll be forced to deal with Mazda USA to remedy the situation. I've already talked to them and had them give my file/info to the regional rep. so he/she is aware of all the problems I've had with my RX8 and all the attempts the dealer has made to fix it. We agreed to give it one more shot for Mazda to repair my car before we seriously talk about what Mazda will offer me as a customer "to take care of me".

P.S. Have you heard anything else on the warranty extension?

Thx, vegas.

yeraturney

I wrote "They now say that once a car is driven in the defective condition, replacing the engine is not good enough. You must start over with a zero-miles car. It needs to be trashed and yet they will not replace it. . . ."

The mechanics told me that the carbon build up and overall damage to the system has gone beyond what an engine replacement can cure. That's at the point the second engine failed. The dealership agrees on that. At 27K they all agreed I need to have the car replaced. But, since then they have not made a fair offer so I accepted back my car with engine #3 but with the understanding between me and the mechanics that the car needs to be replaced. The mechanics and the sales crew are at odds on their statements about whether the problem with the A/T is fixed. The mechanics say no. Mazda USA out of Houston is still working on upping the $ offer. The dealer will only pay 16K for my otherwise perfect condition car and they claim they will not resell it. Monday I am meeting with attorneys about the Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

rx8fanatic2085

I hope this all doesn't come down to them having to replace the 4AT with the 6AT that would be expensive for mazda. It just seems these new engines aren't holding up at all.

kw1k

what are the symptoms of needing a new engine?

VT_Wankel

I took my '04 AT to the dealership on Thursday for a "noise" issue and loss of power. They say my cat element broke and there are pieces of it in the pipes. That is what is rattling and that is why I have the power loss issue. I told them about this forum and that lots of people are complaining and eventually getting new engines. They checked the "official Mazda problem site" and found nothing about people having the engines replaced. My question is this, when they take apart my exhaust, if the cat is fine, what do I do next? How do I convince them that the engine has STB?

Jump120MPH

Ok I just got my car back today. Remanufactured engine. It took 5 weeks. The drive home was good no issues. Im going to do some cruising around tomorrow.

DOMINION

I think I will be going on Engine #3. I hear the same unpleasant sound and have observed the same symptoms like the first Engine. This can not be good after 3,000+ miles on Engine #2.

davefzr

I may be the next member of the club. It all started when I picked up my car yesterday after being in for minor repairs and everything seemed fine at the time. I drove it more that night and the car is getting very rich (in the mid 10's low 11's) when any load is placed on the engine. Basically when I accelerate hard or when I am going uphill to maintain a certain rpm I have this issue.

I then took my car into Mazda this morning because I received recall notices regarding emissions and drivability (Engine, Transmission and Front/Rear axle). I didn't know whether or not Mazda was going to step up and perform these recalls but they did.

My car is there right now getting checked for these issues.

This issue happens from 5,000 rpm to redline and my car even failed to start the other day and I had to tow it into Mazda. I have been experiencing this issue for the past few weeks now and at first I thought it was my clutch slipping, but it has been getting progressively worse and worse.

Old Rotor

Did it ping? How many miles do you have? Have you used synthetic oil? What type of driving do you do, are you and you an aggressive driver? Pleas give us more info....miles,reg or prem.....etc...

davefzr

I didnt hear any pinging at all but I do hear a vibration type noise whenever this occurs from the engine bay. It's pretty difficult to describe. My best explination would be that the engine sounds like it's racing hard but you dont feel the acceleration at all. There is a vibration noise that I feel in the cockpit when this occurs.

I have 60,000 miles on the car always use non-synthetic oil, 89 gas and drive like everyone else does. Like to have fun but dont drive my car into the ground.

I gave mazda the go ahead to run a compression test and I am awaiting the results.

bluzclu

As I read these post. Am I understanding right that babying the car. driving at low rpm's can damage the engine? i have had my 8 for 2 years I have less then 20K on the car. i rarely go above 4k rpm on my car....have never hit 7 8 or 9 on the rpm. the only problem i notice so far is the idle is very rough. i always put 93 in the tank. change the oil about every 3,000 or less depending on the lenght between oil changes. i do have a 6 speed..
am i about to get a big awakening when i take my car in for the recall?

bluzclu

also if there is anyone in the columbus, ohio area with 8 problems send me a email at
zjoezx@aol.com

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

[QUOTE=bluzclu]i rarely go above 4k rpm on my car....have never hit 7 8 or 9 on the rpm. [QUOTE]

Oh dear - your car will expire very shortly