Hello all - my first post here

Name is Rob and I live in Las Vegas.

My local deal just told me that he has "28 RX's on the lot with problems and AT LEAST 13 of them have BLOWN ENGINES"

Here is my story:

I have a 2004 Rx8 with 13,000 miles on it - manual stick.

Last week my 8 went into the shop

I was losing power and I was hearing a "metallic rattle" coming from the engine compartment.

I took it to my local deal "Courtesy Mazda" at the Valley Auto Mall in Henderson, NV.

The car was in the shop for 5 days. The service tech told me the problem was I needed new ignitor plugs and I needed to have my computer programs updated.

Got the car back and it was ok for about 2 days.

On the 3rd day as I was driving home from work, the car lost power again and then about 10 mintues later it died while I was at a stop light.

I called Mazda roadside and they came and towed the car to a different local dealer - "Magic Mazda"

When the car arrived at the dealer the service tech called me and asked what was wrong.

I told him about the power loss and the rattle/grinding coming from the engine.

He said "I have 28 Rx's in the shop right now with THE SAME PROBLEM and 13 of them need new engines."

He said the problem is "the temp sensor is reading normal, but the temp on the engine block is off the chart"

"The engines are burning up and they are also not getting enough oil"

He told me he had 13 motors on order and I was looking at "at least 3 weeks"

He told me to get a rental car and Mazda would pay up to $35 a day while I waited.

That was last Friday.

I called him today and asked how things we coming along.

He said "Mazda just issued a recall on ALL 2004 Rx's for the engine problem."

He said "there is NO FIX for it right now. We are to take the cars and park them on the lot and WAIT for Mazda to let us know what to do next"

He said he had already replaced 3 of the first RX's to come in with new engines and all 3 have come back in with the same problems.

So the current replacement engine does not even fix the problem.

The current temp in Vegas for the last 10 days has been around 112-118

Apparently the RX8 can not operate in this type of heat and as of now Mazda does not know how to fix it.

If you live in a HOT climate, BEWARE. Call your dealer ASAP and ask them about this.

Has anyone else heard more about this or had this problem.

Bummed

Rob in Vegas

Currently driving a Chrysler Pacifica rental car - WEAK!

 

You have two threads now. Delete your other one.

 

describe your "ratteling" your hear.

When does it happen, under load with the revs, etc.

 

Ahhhh...yet another reason to live in Canada :D

 

I was hearing the "rattle / ping" between 4k-5k rpm

I would describe the sound like this.

If you took a small metal bearing and put it into a small glass jar and then shook the jar back and forth in a rapid manner.

A high-pitched, metallic, rattle sound.

My dealer said that was because the "oil was breaking down because the engine was running so hot"

not good........



Rob in Vegas

 

4 posts
2 threads
2 unrelated problems
___

Ate up

 

sorry is this an AT car?

 

oh and the recall is not for the issue that you have and that engines are being replaced for

 

No, my car is a manual trans

people here need to chill

Just trying to find out what the hell is wrong with my 8 fellas.

Rob in Vegas

 

se thats weird you have what appears to be one of only a few , 3-4, that i have heard that have hi powers with this issue. most ( about 100 as i have said ) are At low power engines..... i wonder if it is even the same cause yours vs theirs. i worry that since the issue is with many in certain areas that the techs , having had so many already, are starting to just assume the same issue when a car comes in with similar symptoms. did they do any tests on your car?

 

No, I do not believe that my dealer has run any tests on my RX8.


When it went into the shop for the 2nd time, the tech called me personally.

He asked what the problems were.

When I told him about the loss of power / loss of compression / rattle-grinding sounds / car dying at stop light / engine seeming to be VERY hot - the tech seemed to be VERY sure that I had the same problem as the other 29-30 RX8's that had come into the shop in the last 10 days.

I will call him today and ask him how many of the 29-30 are AT vs Manual and get back to you.

Thanks for your help ZOOM.


Rob in Vegas

 

thanks rob- see if he'll tell you if the engineer team is camped out at his dealership...

 

damn...I'm in Vegas, and haven't really noticed anything strange with my car. I REALLY hope that nothing bad happens to it....I've been monitoring the coolant levels like a hawk though.

 

Sorry Charlie..

 

wtf - didn't it get hot LAST summer?

 

Last summer you had a different flash.

 

last summer alot of these cars werent on the road.

 

Doesn't sound good.

I was getting those same symthoms (engine didn't die though, but have had a few real rough starts) this weekend when i was staying at my parents. They live where it reaches 110 out here in northern California. Where I normally stay its been kool. Problems went away after I came home. I'm in a 2004 manual.

I'm staying out there from thursday on so I'll give a update after being in the heat for a few days and see if the symptoms come back.

 

This is not a recall. There is only one new recall and it has it's own thread.

Thanks Zoom44

 

Rob - I had the exact same problem with my '04 6-speed. In both cases, it had been very hot out, and I had been idling in traffic for a long time. When I broke clear of traffic and opened her up, I got the weird power loss. Then the car made the grinding nouse between 3-4K on a slight incline. After rounding the corner, the car died.

I took the car in, and three things have been changed since, and I haven't had any hot operation problems, although the car seems to hesitate when I begin to drive it cold.

1) I switched from 89 to 93 octane gas.
2) I was upgraded from N flash to P flash.
3) The spark plugs and air filter were changed.

It's been pretty hot here in San Antonio, but all seems pretty well, although traffic is not bad during the summer when school's out.

 

I guess this should concern me. I have buzzing metalic rattle (almost like when piston engines dont have enough octane in the engine and when its under load you hear the valves clatter - butter faster and a little higher pitched). Mine happens for a split second @ 6k and from 7k on up. I have read and since then attributed this to the ports resonating or something, but now I dont know . What is currious is I get my "sound" when the engine is just warmed up. One would think the oil hasn't broken down enough by that point to cause any seal to start bypassing gas or not sealing. My oil doesn't look or smell burn. I'm not sure how the oil system works on a rotary - that is to say if the unused oil is recircutlated back into the oil pan?

 

If the problem here for this really was heat wouldn't using 93 make the car run hotter?

It's been in the 90s here most of the time, but I'm glad that I can do a bit of my driving 50mph and over, so I haven't had the problem.

So all Mazda will have to do is change the flash?

 

what kind of gas do you use?

 

I use 93, usually Shell or Phillips (which is also 76 and Conoco) but I have no heating problems. I can go over 50 most of the time, and I never use the AC anyways so that helps, but I've never had the hot console or any other sort of heat problems. It also might be because I think I'm still on the original flash (I always get 20+ mpg so I figured it was lean enough for me).

 

Well mine did the same thing today. Was driving in stop and go city traffic in Philadelphia for about an hour. The AMB showed 101 most of that hour, air temp was probably around 95. It is an 05 RX8 AT with 900 miles on it. The car would downshift strange as it seemed to try to find what gear to shift to. When I finally got out of the city and found the onramp for 95 I accelerated. When the car reached 5000 RPM it made that rattle sound lost power and eventually stalled as I was merging onto 95. Not fun at all! I pulled over, let it sit for a few minutes. Started it again with no problems and drove on the highway for around 30 minutes. I tried to reproduce the trouble but I could not after driving on the highway.

So I called the dealer today to have it looked at. They asked all the symptoms and I told them. They told me if they can not reproduce the trouble then there is nothing they can do. Bunch of BS to me. This was from the service secretary so Monday morning I am going to sit with the tech first then the manager. Also I was told that if it is not a warrenty issue then I have to pay for the loaner car! What is this crap all about? Should have bought a BMW.