early 30's crisis

Well the shifter vibrates, and its idling rough, but when the idle drops (three marks between 0 and 1000) it goes to the 1st and 2nd mark. It just DROPS, like you fired up your AC, rear defrost and the fan is running all at the same time, its brutal. It shook so hard sometimes, I couldnt identify the vehicle behind me other than in color in the mirrors. Rearview would move on its own over a few days time. Keep in mind, I have THREE lights on my highway commute to work, and really dont go anywhere else. Give it some gas, it hesitates for a second, and it goes away and runs fine.. until the next drop. On the average light of what, two min it will do this three to five times. The best way to describe the drop is when you mistakenly take your foot off the clutch and you arent giving it gas? It starts to lug before it stalls.. thats it to a T. Instinctively when it does it I press the clutch in further. Didnt take long to realize I had it to the floor already, I was not the issue.

THe new plugs helped, but its still there. I could identify vehicles today in the side mirrors.. but something else is wrong. Its just not right.

There are no, or have there ever been, engine lights at any time. Fuel economy has been fine (or as fine as it gets). It seems to afterfire, I mentioned last winter in another thread it would pop exhaust rings with a little thud.. didnt have those today.

I had suggested motor mounts some time ago, could this be it..?

I had it at Kramer Mazda.
What I dont get is I give them several problems of what I think is wrong, based on what is happening, and has been happening. They agree with the worst one, and tell me they will advise after compression tests when the new engine will be here.
And then they tell me its fine and we were all wrong, but its still pretty much the same issue (after it ran for an hour and had a road test.. 3km, and if it ran for an hr, pretty sure my gas gauge would have moved alot further than it did..).

So confused..

SlowLude

Thanks for the detailed description. I haven't had my idle that rough, although once or twice, the RPM has dipped down and shudder like a bitch, but nothing like what you described. I know that all rotaries have their shift ***** vibrate at idle so I wasn't concerned. But it's not true that BMW or Honda vehicles are like that. You can put your hands on the ***** of a BMW or Honda and not feel a thing.

philsbluerx8

not only BMW and HONDA, even HYUNDAI and Mustang(like some American and Korean cars), dont have vibration on the **** when idle.......

DMRH

Dont sweat guys.

You know the GM-Holden here in Oz has serious reliability issues.

Its V8 engine has the pistons go oval shaped after a few thousand KM. Owners complain to dealerships about the enormous oil consumption until the engine just loses compression & fails to start.

GM-Holden send the same car to the USA (+ Canada??) as the Pontiac GTO. Its a well known issue here but unsure if you guys would know about it.

So dont think the rotary engine is an unrelaible one. Its very reliable for the power to capacity ratio & if treated well can last 300,000km if required. Unfortunately, Mazda have found its the first time rotary users that have the most engine failures.

Most common cause is the rapid heating of the engine from drivers who give the engine some decent revs whilst its cold or just warming. The over expansion of the aluminium rotor housings crush themselves into the cast iron side plates & the engine starts to leak water into the combustion area after that. Little by little at first then after time. Enough to make the engine lose compression or just fail to start from too much water inside.

REgards

philsbluerx8

fortunately, i really be careful about it.....but what i exactly heard is that to warm up car at idle is not really good for engine, we need to drive it to warm up but very slow

rotten42

kramer...figures! I hope you haven;t been talking with George. He is a f&ck-stick! He will deny any problem possible.. Take it to another dealer and have them look at it.

I have an appointment with North Hill next Friday. I have a few things I need done:

1) Oil Change
2) Moisture in a tail light
3) Temperature control is not working properly....again!
4) Rough Idle. Not like yours but it has come close to dying a couple times and my mpg has dropped quite a bit


I can't wait till my lease is up. I'm really getting tired of Mazda Service center waiting rooms.

-=drift=-

9's for compression means around 115-120 psi. Motor looks good, and rotaries always idle hard. If it idles for 30 seconds and doesn't try to stall, I would be concerned.

philsbluerx8

****!!!what can i say???? the same thing finally happened to me!!!!
rough idle? yes, it is, i think even worse than rough!
last night, i had my KN type filter cleaned at my buddy's house. when i was on the way back to home, my car started to run roughly. i knew thats the problem we have discussed so many time on this forum. i was so worried cuz i didnt want my car to stall when its running but its possible. cuz if the car stalls when running, steering wheel will stop working, it would cause a crash!!! But high way is not infinite, i eventually had to stop at the lights. i saw my rpm needle dropping from 1k to 500 and back to 700 and 0, it stalled. i started my car again, it wasnt hard to start probably because i had the recall already. i had to keep my foot on the gas pedal all the way.
This morning, i drove my car to north hill mazda, but the guy said they cant do anything today cuz then only have two people working for service part. i left my car there, there are gonna call me tomorrow to let me know what the problem is. but i hope i dont have to replace the engine cuz i had an intake on there, i probably have to pay for 5100 dollars to get the engine replaced or even more!!!

early 30's crisis

^^ I hope its something else, other than your engine.. something nice and cheap. I forgot about this thread. I should have updated it with now its stalling.. idle is better with the new plugs, but it stalls..

Going to have to leave mine somewhere for awhile too.

philsbluerx8

crisis, didnt you get a new engine replaced?
i just talked to north hill mazda, i couldnt believe they left my car at where i parked when i brought my car to them for the whole weekend. they havent even had a look at it.
one guy told me that i could just buy a oem air box and put it on, then drive it to kramer mazda to let them do the engine replacement for me. also, when the guy drove my car, it didnt stall, its just had a really rough idle and i can tell from outside: The airflow is not straight, cuz the rpm drops too frequently.
i wonder if you car is still about to stall everytime you drive it? what did they really do to fix your previous problems? i remember last time when we touched your car, it feels really smooth. why does the problem still happen? i am going to sell my car this winter after the problem is fixed. i will probably get a s2000 from US or an elise....i dont wanna have this problem again and agian.

early 30's crisis

No, no new engine for me. We went from that, to new plugs and they claim it was fine. Why not do a compression test before telling your customer their going to gut your car under the hood?
It was smoother when we were out on our cruise, to me it felt the same. This weekend out and about my dear spouse commented "What the hell is wrong with this thing?" and its back to ol shakey again.. mirrors going like I'm pounding some 80's dance music *which i would never do* lol.

Let us know what happens Phil...!

And if you do sell and get an Elise, I so want a ride...

philsbluerx8

i dont know yet, but 70% i would get a S2000 cuz i dont wanna drive a car which is even better than what my dad has. if i have enough money to get an elise by the time when i buy a car, then of course elise cuz its the only car that i really like now.
by the way, can anyone find a law about warranty and slightly modified car? cuz i wanna get ready before fighting with mazda, i have seen some people found the US code for that, but i dont think we use the same law in canada, do we?

Macius8

iTrader: (3)

Guys with the vibrations get your motor mounts checked. I had a similar problem and it was a cracked mount. Supposedly Mazda updated the mounts to stiffer ones at some point. Because of that some vibrations are transferred to the transmission instead of the chassis. If the whole car vibrates than you have cracked engine mounts. If you feel a shudder in the shifter than you have updated engine mounts and all your feeling is vibrations transfered from the engine. If you have a rough idle with no vibrations than its possibly fouled plugs. Check your coils to be sure. Also if your car hesitates at certain points your cat may be clogged. Get that checked out. Your engine is fine unless there's a serious loss of power, but then again that could only be a bad cat. The problem with the clutch thing could be some improper alignment of engine and transmission/ trans axle and of the clutch components. I dunno maybe something got loose and isnt working properly. The noise you hear with the clutch disengaged is a worn throwout bearing. Its something like a whirring, growling sound. If you have those symptoms get them check out when you get a chance cause it may lead to wear on the pressure plate. Just get a heave duty clutch and a lightweight flywheel and you'll be happy. Hope this helps.

cloud7

bad luck on the shaky engine/car... I hope all goes well in the end.

philsbluerx8: Elise are still relatively expensive (even used ones)... if money is a concern, I would buy a S2000 from the states... the states has cheap used Elises, but too bad you can't import Elise to Canada from the states... I have been in a Elise before and it is hardcore... getting into and out of the car is a task. I definitely would not recommend it as a daily driver... it is very fun though on the track.

philsbluerx8

well, everything will be concerned after my 8 is fixed. it is the second day since monday, i have received any phone call from them. They told me they have to take care of all the appointments first then have a look at my car; i understand this. All i am waiting for is that they firgure out the cause of the problem is not the intake.

early 30's crisis

Think positive!
Dont worry about it until you have to worry about it.. maybe its just something lame and we'll all have a good laugh when you post it.
Hopefully tomorrow they'll give you a call. Mondays/Tuesdays are bad anywhere..

philsbluerx8

i guess it is the time to worry about more but looks like i am still under warranty.
i went to mazda yesterday cuz they called me about my starter......my car, now, is not even firing any more... i was so confused cuz even though my car had idle and stalling problem but it was still able to be started.....how the fuc its not firing anymore. anyways, they told me they are gonna bring in a starter on Monday and install it for me to see whats gonna happen...."to see whats gonna happen"????? they are not even quite sure what they are gonna do.....but fortunately its covered by warranty, about my intake, they are gonna bring in a new undertray since i cut mine, and install it for me with a new filter. they said they were gonna get me a K&N filter....do they usually do it??????

philsbluerx8

oh yeah, i required them to do a engine compression test for my engine....hopefully its gonna be done by next week......

StefYVR

If they say the compression is good. I'm wondering if you have either a plugged cat or bad ignition coils. The fact that the plugs were fouled even tho they were changed recently makes me think that the coils are faulty.

Insist that they change all of them, with the updated ones.

Before you do that tho, Dunno if you have the OEM airbox installed or a CAI, cuz when I had my CAI installed, the idle was BAD. All ok since the stock box is back in, just using a K&N drop in and that seems to work fine.

Good Luck.

early 30's crisis

Is this for me, or Phil?
Phil how is your car anyway.. any word?
Mine shocked the hell out of me today with a flashing CEL on my way home.. in my usual daily (if I can) redline spot in my commute.

Coils? Bad CAT? Both? SIGH.
Time for a beer...

philsbluerx8

i havent received anything from them; probably with the new starter, they still cant figure out what the main problem is....i cant trust them...anyways, i still have the 3 year & 60,000 km warranty till Dec 18th. Hopefully, they can fix it before that date....
but why does your car have so many problems? is every rx8 not reliable at all??????

climacus

Don't feel bad, it happens to a lot of us. I love this car to death, and planned to drive this car into the ground when I first bought it. But after having all kinds of engine trouble, it will be gone the day the powertrain warranty runs out.

Just be warned, once your bumper to bumper warranty runs out in December, you'll be paying $100 a pop to have your engine looked at. If the dealer cannot satisfactorily resolve your engine issues by that point, you might want to think about getting rid of the car.

early 30's crisis

Make SURE they fix it before Dec 18. Although, if they tried and it still does it, you might have some sort of a loophole.. I hope for your sake Phil!

My car doesnt have many problems. I've expected SOMETHING by now, I'm a pessimist . If compression is good, its got to be one of a few things.. and they refuse to check any of them. Other than plugs.. which the condition of believes me to think a) they werent changed on delivery and b) they werent checked in the recall, I just cant think they could get that bad in less than 10K km.. or c) its still doing it, maybe they didnt change them and showed me someone elses plugs.. I just dont know.

I dont have a problem with the car, or things going wrong, its the guys 'fixing' it. I dont like being told "How many times have you flooded it? Its a rotary engine you know, are you sure you know how to drive it..?" Makes me want to scream..

My words are being waved away like I'm stupid, and thats a big problem. To a degree, I understand they deal with paranoid customers and customers that break things and expect them to be covered, BUT, listen to what I am saying and please check it out, then make your judgement of me. I joined this forum so I could learn more about the car and make educated choices in parts, and help me to self diagnose so I would be more armed with information. Its awful to know there is something wrong, and they won't even take the time to help you figure out what it is. Funny thing, if I was PAYING for them to help me figure it out, they'd probably be all over it and find a whole pile of things wrong.

They want me in and out in 20min or less, wham bam, thank you ma'am and I enjoy none of it. LOL.

philsbluerx8

they havent done the compression test for my car and i forgot to ask them this noon when i went there; there was a news for me, but i dont know if it is good or no. they said they were gonna replace the ignition coil, with the new ignition coil, the problem would be fixed. I believed them at that time and when i got home late tonight, i knew i made a stupid mistake.....this noon, i was actually gonna talk to the service manager about replacing engine but when the service guy told me about the ignition coil, i felt a little more happy then just left without talking to the manager....no comments to myself

climacus

Heh you too. I'm done with Mazda dealerships. Only rotary shops will work on my car from now on. I don't have time to deal with people who waste my time *and* try to rob me at the same time.