xexok

Yea I believe that was him. He must have gotten rid of the car because he stopped posting a while ago.

voe

Hi guys,

Good news. Mazda Australia agreed to replace my engine even though it's out of warranty. I only had to pay for a oil filter, coolant, and motor oil, which cost me $177 in total.

Car now purrs as new. I will take it easy the first 5000 kilometers.

But I'm not sure if I should rev it to red line from time to time or wait after I pass the 5000km.

ASH8

YEP!..

This is good news Voe...

MA are very good provided you can return any information that they ask for, don't become arrogant, demanding or nasty and show 'respect' for the brand...

I know my US cousins laugh at all this, but MMC's (Mazda Japan's) attitude is totally different to how we see it.

Bladecutter

I wish we knew exactly what failed on the motor, as it is one of the few reported S2 engines to give up.

As for showing respect, a huge amount of us filthy American's actually do show a decent amount of respect in our day to day dealings with other people, and even with Mazda. Sometimes, its the representative of the other party that doesn't show any respect, Mazda's included, and we have to then get our hands dirty in getting what we should have gotten the first time around.

Unfortunately, disrespectful people need jobs, too, so they always seem to find themselves in positions of power, so they wind up being the representatives for companies like Mazda.

Then you combine that with someone above them telling them to automatically deny any claims the first time around, and you wind up having to fight with them every single time you walk in the door.

Not all places are like this, but sometimes, it feels like they are.
My gf goes into every situation like the other party is going to try to deny everything, while I try to go into a situation thinking that the other party is going to do the right thing the first time around. Unfortunately, it seems like she's right more often than not. I could fill you in on our current situation with Pella windows, but it would bore you to tears.

BC.

ASH8

The OP is in Australia, not the US.

My advice to him was related to where he was at, not after any fact.

Mazda in Australia operates way differently than the US, even with NA owners having a far superior warranty available to RX-8 owners.

Over the many many years here on this forum I have witnessed plenty of US Mazda customers with a demanding "you owe me everything attitude" or "my lawyers will be in-touch" abuse when corresponding to Service guys, therefore Mazda.

I often 'think' of how I would be if I was the recipient of this 'type' of interaction, how much help would I do for this 'customer'?.

I have also witnessed some great Mazda owners here who communicate with knowledge and humility...with great eventual outcomes.

Please don't get me wrong, even here (Oz) we have the demanding disrespectful car owners.

As I said, I like everyone else was giving out 'advice', how you or they use it is up to them.

ASH8

With your new engine, your procedures appear to be OK..

At least keep the RPM down for the first 1000 KMS and then you will be fine to rev her as you wish...I would still keep it below 8000 RPM.

Higher than 8250 (roughly) RPM will result in little to no extra engine power/output.

Watch coolant/engine temps, I always like the first red Tacho LED out first before I drive off and keep RPM down under first 4500 RPM until ALL Tacho LEDS are out.
Just remember it takes around 10-15 minutes before ALL is @ normal op temps, much also depends on weather.

Track use, you said you were driving your 8 'really hard' around @ high RPM, IMO doing this constantly to any engine with thousands of miles on it can result with engine damage....My opinion is a fractured Apex Seal.

Again, the track conditions (weather) and sustained high RPM, anything can happen.

voe

Thanks Ash, and thank you all for your attention and advice.