The Viking

I posted this on another thread but thought it was worthy of its own.
My 2004 RX8 has done 41k and during a recent service it was noted that the exhaust was "popping' and it was idling rough.
I took it back to the dealer for further investigation and after trying plugs, leads, coils etc. they did a compression test (which it failed) and I was informed that I needed a new engine!
My car is 12-months out of warranty, however Mazda agreed to cover this as part of the new car warranty and I now have a new engine.
It concerns me greatly that a car of such low km (and maintained scrupulously) should have such a problem and I am seriously considering selling far sooner than originally planned.
My question is considering the only "symptom" was rough idling how many other cars of this vintage could also have this same problem!!

shaunv74

This is a very common problem with the '04's. Mine was replaced. There are a bunch of people on this forum that have had replacements on 04's and '05s. In the US they have extended the warranty on the motor to 8yrs/100K miles. Check out finishlineperformance.com or www.racingbeat.com for info. on this warranty extension. They may also be doing this in Australia.

The reason is they didn't inject enough oil into the motor with the Early PCM calibrations. They have since updated the PCM to start injecting more oil. My advice is to start using pre-mix (search and you'll find).

Enjoy your new motor and definitely find out if Australia is extending the warranty as well.

Revolver

Hi Shaun,

We've had a bit of a campaign running to get the engine warranty extension here (largely thanks to the efforts of one guy - Ash) but so far Mazda Australia have said no.

I wouldn't mind betting they are offering replace engines in these circumstances out of warranty to keep a lid on the issue. I wonder if they will continue to do that in all cases though - many owners out of the 5,000 odd who have bought the car aren't as clued up as the people on here and I fear they will get stitched up for the cost of a new engine when it's really a design issue as you say.

And yes, I own an '04, drive and track it hard and just wonder when mine's going to go pop!

shaunv74

Sorry to hear about that. Best of luck. Hopefully some peer pressure from Mazda North America will help. that's crap that they are sweeping the issue under the rug and plain and simple not backing their product for you guys. What are they afraid of?

REvolver: I think the track guys actually do better on the engine than the folks that putter around in the city since the OMP runs more oil on the track under heavy load.

The Viking

I think you are right about the usefulness of track days (which I have never done). The dealer suggested that one of the problems may have been due to my driving style (which I would call responsible) - it's not very practical (or realistic) to redline a car while driving to and from work in suburban Adelaide.

Cromax

Sounds like a good reason to move to Lobethal!

enforcer

Unbelievable luck. Oh well, think of the positives...at least we have an engine which won't let this happen to us...

Ottog

What! Don't we have those in our engines?

takahashi

If you see a silver EVO9MR going down Adelaide very fast, yes it is my friend. He red line his 300kW EVO every chance he has in Adelaide. The street is so wide man....

rotarenvy

yeah taka but an evo revs like a diesel compared to an rx8 if you can't hit 7K you might as well walk.

ASH8

Who did your replacement if I may ask, Australian Motors, City Mazda or Paradise?
Mate you have to rev the engine (when hot) at least daily to blow the muck out!
If you are driving your RX-8 for economy then sell it, you are killing the new engine.
And as an Adelaidian there are plenty of places to peak her out, use your gearbox. The more you vary your revs the more your internals are primed with oil.

ASH8

Yes Dave, I agree with you, probably because they guy also had regular (I am guessing) Mazda Servicing?
MA don't want bad publicity for their fast selling new RX-8! ..not...
The Campaign is stuck on 7 registered owners.

The Viking

The engine was replaced at Paradise Motors (where I have had all servicing done since new). They told me they have replaced one other engine.

I don't drive for economy but then again probably have never really gotten used to the high revving RX8 - but this will change!

I spent a long time deciding to buy an RX8 and wanted a rotary since the days of the RX4 so I'm not going to give up on it just yet!!

Despite the fact that Mazda replaced the engine out of warranty this was at their discretion. If I hadn't had it regularly serviced by the Mazda dealer since new I may well have been ****ed.

DMRH

Is it safe to assume you warm the engine from cold & dont thrash it until everything is up to temp. or are you on the other end of the scale & hardly rev it idling in traffic most of the time.

REgards

The Viking

I'm generally more the latter.

DMRH

Then chances are when your old engine is pulled part for inspection & rebuild they will find it carboned up. If this is the case then it would be carboned up apex seal slots causing the seals to stick a little that would have lead to your low or erratic compression results.

My parents killed a 13B-T engine in a Mazda Luce I gave them due to too much idling around & carboning of the engine. Dad thought revving to 5000rpm was going to kill the engine so he kept it below 3000 most of the time. Guess he was right !!!



<<< Mazda Luce with optional 13B-T in case you where wondering......

Noticed the rotors are heavily carboned on my RX-8 last weekend after peering into the open spark plug holes. Will be giving it the de-carbon treatment before it kills the engine & telling the wife to "Thrash it" more often.

So with this new motor............... Give it some death every week. The love it, they need it.

REgards

takahashi

"One redline in a warm engine a day, keep the engine replacement away"

The Viking

DMRH - I think you are probably spot on. This is essentially what the dealer said was the problem. They apparently tried the procedure Mazda recommended for getting rid of this carbon and while they said it worked to some extent it did not completely solve the problem - therefore, the new engine.
If I think back I probably redlined it only about a dozen times during its life - must be getting soft in my old age.
While we're on this issue what is the current thought about running-in a new engine? Mazda's advice is a bit vague.

DMRH

Nothing special...........

4000rpm max for first 500km
5000rpm until 1000km with occassional run up 7000rpm

Oil change & "happy days"

REgards

P.S......... Weekend coming. Time to uncarbon a weeks worth of wifes driving...

takahashi

If you have a 6 pot engine, you can get to 9000rpm after 1000km and oil change. Sorry Dave But really push hard only (like on track) after 5000km.

Have some track treatment now and then really open up the engine, especially when they are getting old. I really found when I have long spaces between track days with a lot of short trips, the idling is smoother and the exhaust sounds better after each track days.

RXP33D

I agree, this sort of news also kills resale. ahhh.

200 2nd hand rx8s and counting...

Revolver

Sounds like someone is having a tough time finding a buyer...