I was driving my 8 yesterday (which has 3000km on the clock) when all of a sudden i noticed a hissing sound followed by a crunch crunch crunch.

After the initial thought of what the f.. was that i pulled over to the side of the road to find out that the plastic undercarriage (the piece of plastic that protects the radiator and bottom of engine bay from stones etc) was half hanging off and the plastic air deflector to the brakes near the front left wheel had been completely destroyed. This part had obviosuly moved and rubbed against the tyre which mangled it and in turn almost ripped the entire plastic undertray off.

Luckily i was near a mates house so was able to slowly drive there and get some tools and remove the offending plastic duct and tie the undercarriage back on. Upon doing this my mates and i were amazed at how poorly the whole plastic engine undercarriage is assembled. Shitty one inch screws hold the plastic to the car.

I have not hit any pot holes (well its NSW roads, so lets say any SIGNIFICANT pot holes), speed humps etc and have not scrapped the car hard on the road at any time.

Has anyone else had or heard about the same thing happening? I am very curious to know why it happened and hope the warrantly will cover it. After seeing the way this is assembled i am a little concerned the same thing could happen again.

 

Sorry to hear about that. I've never heard of any one else having that problem. I hit a traffic island head on at about 70km/h last year, buckling all four wheels in the process, and the plastic undercarriage, which suffered the full force of the impact, stayed in tact.

(Kept that one quiet didn't I!)

Welcome to the forum. I can't see why it wouldn't be covered under warranty. Don't let this dampen your feelings about the rx-8!

 

Welcome to the forum, idolo

What Wildcard said. In fact, I have been amazed at the durability of the plastic undercarriage, as I have unavoidably hit quite a few big lumps of delaminated truck tyre tread that litter the Hume as I commute between Canberra and Sydney, especially in summer -- have heard them thump underneath, but have not seen any real damage after stopping to inspect.

Should be fixed under warranty, unless anyone was doing anything which loosened the shields (as you have to do to fit the Hymee gorilla -- I was careful about that).

Go forth and request it to be fixed, I say

 

Sounds like your car was screwed together at beer o'clock (or sake break time) since only a manufacturing error could result in it happening.

My 8's lowered and scrapes the undertray pretty much on most speed humps and driveways, but has held up remarkably well considering the punishment it endures.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I agree with the beer/sake o'clock theory. I think some (or most) of the screws were probably missing in the first place as there was no evidence to suggest some had been ripped out when the thing came loose.

Wildcard..ouch..that must of been an expensive mistake.

Good to know the undercarriage is not as crappy as it seems and hopefully its a one off.

 

Just a thought. Was there any reason that might have caused the dealer to remove the undercarriage before you took delivery? Assume you got it new. I think they have to remove it for the sump replacement, which affected older (2003 build) models, so if it falls into that category.... Or for any body mods -- front skirt

 

^ good call Timbo

Expensive for AAMI, not for me. I also cracked the front cross beam and front suspension. The perils of DSC OFF.....

 

Wildcard

Thank god their are no traffic islands in the sky , how are you going to drive once you get the HYMEE special .......... :D .LOL

cheers
michael

 

Well its an 04 model (one of the first Starto blue 8s released in OZ) so i am assuming that it was made with the modified sump. The front skirt is stock with only the rotor badge as an option so i don't see why the dealer would of needed to remove the undercarriage. Anyway i'm taking it to get fixed tomorrow so i'll see what they say.

BTW what was wrong with the original sump for it to be changed?

 

I fitted one of my protective grill kits to Jellybean's car, and some of those screws I undid with my fingers. Since then I noticed on a few cars the odd missing nut in the engine bay. I'll take a photo of a missing nut on mine (well - where it should be). I think it is the o'flow tank from memory.

The sump change thing is to do with an overly sensitive oil level warning.

BTW - Welcome to our place Idolo. Idol... Hmmm... I thought he had a yellow one....

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

Saw my first strato blue in a showroom its different

cheers
michael

 

and it is out of focus!

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

Its a very nice colour (well i think so anyway), it looks kinda purple when their is no sunlight on it but its bright blue in the sun. I'll get some better pics of it soon. I am still yet to see another one on the road.

BTW my nickname has nothing to do with Idol, i too think Guy Sebastian should be cut up with a rusty razor blade.

 

Hmmmm, me thinketh thou dost protest too much.....C'mon, you love the Guy, don't ya??! Fess up, buddy.....

 

I'm sure you can post some better posts than Lock.

And since we often use "simpliciations" of others nics here, you are officially idol. :D

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

C'mon, I'm seein' someone there, doing his best to reinvigorate the afro as hairstyle du jour :p :p :p

 

S

Settle down, Hymee. As you well, know, L&L has a good reason for his deteriorating eyesight....

 

^^^^^roflmao^^^^^

 

OK OK i love him and just bought the RX8 to be like him....and since they don't make yellow ones anymore i had to settle on Strato blue.

 

5 posts and he's fitting right in....

Careful ... you're building expectations... :D

 

He'll ask an oil question shortly and blow all the good work of his last five posts.... :D

 

^^^^^^^^ROFLMAO^^^^^ Post of the day! Have a cigar :D :D :D

 

Good call, 'Mez! ROFLMAO!

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

No oil questions, have been a rotor head for a long time (this is my 3rd RX) so know all about putting oil in them. I have a 5l bottle of the mysterious Mazda oil.

 

ahh... a rotor tragic... 'fess up ... what were they? (sorry for hijacking your thread)