First a little back story on my 2004 RX-8.

I bought the car in Hawaii about 3 years ago and had no issues. I then got stationed in Germany for 2 years where the only issue I had was leaving my car with my neighbor when I got deployed and he moved it and then shut it off which caused it flood. Now im in Cali and this is where my troubles begin.

After about 5 months of being here I had no problems until the car suddenly broke down while I was driving to LA. Had the car towed to a local shop where he was able to tell me that the engine had lost compression and needed to be replaced. I then had the car towed to the dealership where they confirmed that the engine needed to be replaced and because I was under 100K miles it would be covered under warranty. The first engine they put in there was bad out of the box so they had to replace that one as well. After they installed the second one, the called and had me pick it up and after driving less than a 1/4 mile it started to sputter and I had to turn around and take it back to the dealer. They called me the next day to tell me that I needed all new coils which was not covered under warranty. I paid to have the coils replaced and once again went to pick it up and the same thing happened again, the car sputtered out almost as soon as I drove off. Took it back to the dealer where they then told me the second replacement engine was bad, but hey at least this time they gave me a loaner vehicle .

So now it has been 3 months, 3 replacement engines, 2 rental cars and a loaner vehicle. I pick my car up again and to my surprise I am able to get to my house. But before I get there a CEL pops up. I call the dealer they tell me to bring it in the next day, I start the car in the morning and now I not only have a CEL I also have no power steering!!! I get the car to the dealer drop it off, no loaner car this time, and wait for the next bad news. They call me 4 days later because their Mazda tech doesn't work everyday and tell me I now need a new manifold for the cheap cost of $3000 with installation and it will be another $268 to fix the power steering.

I have attached the work order they gave me when I came to pick up the car. I am asking for any help deciphering what it means and if there is a cheaper option other than replacing my entire intake manifold. Any help would be appreciated and thanks in advance.

 

For some reason the PDF did not post. I uploaded the service order as a jpeg.

 

They should have cleaned and lubed the manifold when it was removed for the re and re... there is no way that it should be stuck test soon after a new engine install

 

Im currently talking with Mazda corporate to see if they can do anything but so far they are not helpful at all. Since I have no way of knowing what they did and did not do when they replaced my engine I dont know if I have a case.

 

Did they at least tell you what the CEL was? Electric Power Steering can be an easy DIY, but ask what the CEL was.

 

In the service order which I posted above they said the fault code was P0076 - VDI Solenoid Control Circuit Low and P0061 - SSV Solenoid Control Cirsuit Low. I also did just find the DIY for the PS I will give that a go this weekend and hopefully that fixes one of my issues.

 

It's really easy to tell if the VDI and the SSV are sticky....you can manually move them by pushing on the actuator rods....

Seems really strange that they would BOTH suddenly decide to not work after the engine is replaced 3 times in a short period of time....also I have seen quite a few gummed up SSV's...but never a gummed up VDI....what's up with that?

 

When my engine was replaced the tech drove it and said that it still had low power and they found out that my cat was no good so they replaced my cat, and engine the dealership that i bought the car from paid for the new plugs and coils and voila car ran perfect. Check the cat

 

They did replace my cat I didnt mention that in the story above but it was replaced. The car runs fine even when the CEL is on, I dont notice any loss of power. Also the CEL did not come on when i started it today. Im guessing whatever was stuck came loose but i am sure it will stick again. Would an option be to put redline in it and drive the car hard for a couple of tanks to get rid of any extra carbon build up?

 

You would be better to run some seafoam into the intake and let it soak the SSV and VDI .

I would spray it into the brake booster nipple with the car idling...and then shut it off and let it soak overnight