chrisball0

Hello everyone. I bought a 2004 RX8 with 53000miles on the clock and 231BHP full service history from a trader who offered a 3 month warranty on it. It cost me £3150 Did I get a good deal? Seemed OK to me anyway... until I drove it away.

I stalled the car twice on the test drive due to being used to a very long clutch on a Mazda Eunos MK1 (still love this car and don't want to sell it especially after the RX8 problems) Both times I stalled it the car fired up instantly even when cold! I thought I would had flooded it when I stalled it so figured it must have been in good nick to fire up instantly and was very relieved.

I went on to buy the car and drove it away from the garage a very happy man. I then pulled up at the petrol station 2 mins around the corner and let my RX8 warm to temp before stopping and filling up. The car wouldn't start and I was pretty scared and thought I had flooded it!!! I tried the flooding procedure but being a stupid newb thought it would start with the accelerator down and cranked it for 20sec at one point!! (hope I didn't damage it) eventually it fired up and I put it down to not have driven it far enough. I was wrong. Also it was soooo embarrassed all the people looking at me in car that must of appeared like a bag of crap.

Long story short every time I would drive it for 10-15 min and the car being to temp of 1/2 I would have to do the flooding procedure to start it. I have had this happen about 12 times in 2 days (I have driven it a lot, spent £150 on fuel already!!)

The car would ALWAYS fire up instantly cold.

Now the twist is it suddenly is working fine, I had called the trader I bought it off and was going to go get it looked at under warranty. Now I am wondering if I should as it will cost me £70 to get there and back. Here are some events that led to the starting problem going:

• I checked oil and it was on the low line of the stick so filled it to 3/4
• I had revved the crap out of it and driven it very hard
• I had revved in neutral and the exhaust would make a pop or a puff (not very loud) and a some black liquid would come out. Since doing this barely anything comes out the exhaust when I rev it in neutral. Occasionally it would make the puff or pop quietly still but only a few drops of black liquid would come out or none at all.

Could it just have been bunged up with carbon from someone driving it like granny sproggins?

Additionally the dealer mentioned that someone had left the boot lid open and flattened the battery before I bought it. Could this attribute to it? I have done over 400 miles in it which may have only just been getting the battery back to normal level. What do you think?

If someone could help me I would appreciate it very much. I am extremely worried now and wondering if I have got myself into a world of pain. Thanks.


.

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

Check this out for "starters"

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/hard-starting-suspect-your-starter-motor-check-out-207244/

chrisball0

Thanks for the fast reply but I have already read that thread. The car sounds like the first starter and seems to be in good order. I don't think that's the issue.

I have spent 7 hours or more reading on Google about this problem and have had no joy in figuring it out.

The starter sounds fine. The whole car sounds great. Its just the issues stated above.

(on a side note the place I got it from had replaced coils spark plugs and leads)

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

I guess it is possible that by reving the crap out of it you have cleared the carbon and made startup better . If it happens again you should take it back .

chrisball0

I will defiantly take it back if it happens again. I'll rev the crap out of it again tomorrow in neutral and see if there is any more to come out then see how it goes for a few weeks. Do you think I should be worried about the car I have bought? I have heard horror stories about engine rebuilds etc. I intend to take very good care of it and keep it for a long time but as they say you can't polish a turd and if its already in line for being an engine rebuild candidate or worse I will just flog it and take the hit.

Thanks

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

Please don't - if you want to rev it do some rolling full throttle runs in 2nd gear - 3rd if you are game . Revving in neutral is not good for the engine and doing it under load is more effective anyway.

If you are really worried - do a compression check . That will tell you how much life you have left in the engine

chrisball0

Ok. I will avoid that then. I have been driving it with my foot to the floor every time I am in 2nd or 3rd to the beep if I am on a straight or an area which I can safely utilise full acceleration provided the engine is warmed. Is this what you mean by full throttle runs?

I will have to think about the compression test. It is £75 for one at the Mazda dealer thought £75 may be worth it for the piece of mind. If it was low compression would that mean the engine is defiantly on its way out?

I very much appreciate your help BTW thank you very much. I have been very worried and stressed out about the problems.

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

Yes


yes . If compression is good then it is likely something easily fixed - or possibly fixed already.

BTW search this site for "hard start" . There is a really good thread around here somewhere with lots of good info on it .

wcs

iTrader: (2)

LOL Holy crap, I never saw that thread Brettus.

What did you do? Sneak in to my garage while I was away to get a video of the starter with worn out brushes.
Boy that's a dead ringing for my car.

chrisball0

I am not sure if this is the one you were talking about: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/starting-issues-start-here-222584/

It seems very useful anyway and I will be trying these steps tomorrow when it is light outside

rebelo123

i bought my 2004 rx8 and took it for a good test drive but when i got home i tried to put a cd inside and it wouldnt go in . I pressed the eject button and the cd is now making noises everytime i start the car ... wat do i do most garages do not want to touch it and i do not want to go to mazda to pay 3x the price

chrisball0

Hijacking threads is rude why not make a thread for this instead?

azzuro

I'd take it in and get it looked at anyway. While 70 pounds may seem like a lot, a new engine is much, much more.

I had a similar experience with the hard start and wound up getting a new engine under warranty fortunately. Think of the 70 pounds as the cost of piece of mind and if anything is wrong the warranty will cover it.

chrisball0

Yeah I have decided to go get one done I am going to try to book it in for tomorrow and will post the results here as it may help someone else in the future. Hopefully it is in good working order though a new engine would be nice as its under warranty from the place I bought it

When you had your hard start issues did they go away for a little while then re-appear? I drove it today to do some banking and it fired up fine again while warm.

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

I know where you live Bro !

chrisball0

So I took it in for a compression test. It went bad. It went bad because they couldn't even do the test there -_- they said because of the year of the car they couldn't get a reading on the computer or some BS like that. I told them "isn't it just a case of plugging a pressure gauge in and taking readings off it? They said yes but there was something to do with a computer reading they couldn't get... they said I would have to go to a different dealership to get the test done and the closest one that could do it if about 60 miles round trip.

He said only 2 of the spark plugs had been replaced. The leading ones. Trailing spark plugs were rusty and old and he cleaned them up. The place I bought it from had put in the service book "new spark plugs + leads + coils" do I have a right to call them and be rather angry about that. Because I am certainly pretty pissed off. Also I got an advisory on rear tires and they are very very close to limit. Again should I be pissed off with them about this? They didn't mention the tires. (I am pissed off with myself too for not noticing)

I really wish I hadn't bought the car now its costing me loads in petrol getting it sorted and stressing me to no end

Bladecutter

You only have yourself to blame for not looking the car over better before you bought it. You didn't specify when you bought it that it should have brand new tires. Had you looked, you might have noticed.

Now, had you noticed that they were brand new tires, but they switched them on you before you got the car, then you would have something to be unhappy about.

And they didn't lie to you about the spark plugs.
They told you that they changed them, they just failed to mention that they only changed 2 of them. Shady? Yes. Liars? Kind of a grey area there.

Just go buy yourself a new pair of plugs, and new tires.
There's probably a whole list of other things that you should have done on the car since you bought it used. I would be changing every fluid I could right off the bat.

Here's a good question:

Have you even looked at the condition of your brake pads and brake fluid yet?
That's a bit more important than just about everything else, honestly.

BC.

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

Bladecutter is quite right .
Whenever I buy a used car i do a complete maintenance overhaul just so i'm sure that everything that needs to be done on a regular bassis ... is done . So from there on i can plan regular maintence .
That dealer is pretty useless IMO - even a standard compression tester can be used in a pinch if they don't have a proper rotary tester .

PeteInLongBeach

That's what I do, to establish a known baseline for ongoing maintenance. I never trust anyone to be honest or accurate about past maintenance and repairs - been through that waay too many times. And, just because something was documented as "serviced", does not mean it was done correctly.

azzuro

Dumb question (I hope): You did take it to a Mazda dealer, right? The used car dealer will likely have no idea how to properly service your car.

chrisball0

Naw it was the proper mazda dealer. I don't trust the place I bought it off. Long story short I managed to get a refund on the car but made a loss of £200. Tbh I was just happy to get rid of the thing and all the stress it was causing. I have decided to just stick with my MK1 Mazda Eunos and spend the money modifying it instead . I can't be bothered with the hassle of getting a new car and my Eunos has been pretty reliable.

Thanks all for your help.