SoulShott

Hey guys, i am super confused right now. My mind has been blown, i am in full rx8ception. So i own (what i believe is) an 09 Rx8 sport with 87.5k miles on it. i bought it at about 84.5 ish. It is Sparkling black mica.

Now here is where things get weird. The Carfax that i got with the car when i was buying it, (it was already printed out and given to me when i got there so i did not see it on a computer) and it showed regular oil changes about every 3k miles and only one owner. Seems good enough. So 6 months later, while my beauty is in storage and i am overseas, i get to thinking and i try to find the carfax of it again to see if any of my plugs were replaced etc. So i made an account at www.mycarfax.com and i entered in my vehicles information so that it would show me my cars report. Well at the top it shows the last updated odomitor reading at 99,711...... there was an update button next to it so i clicked it so that i could update my reading (in theory) but it just made it so that the number that was there is shown as current. so i dont know the date that was reported Now when i created the account and put in my cars information it asked me my trim (it is definately a sport.) but when i went to 3 different VIN decoder type websites, they all say that my car is an R3 (witch is wrong because the R3 does not come in my vehicles car color, although it COULD have been painted, i highly doubt it) every single one of them.

The last time that mycarfox shows the mileage on a service is 09/24/2012 and it was at 57,707. All of the records underneath it show the oil was changed every 7-15k miles! </3 and it also shows that the last oil change reported was on that date with 57k miles on it. it has been "serviced" twice since then both in 2014. One did an emissions test and both did maintinence inspections. And since that point. there is no information.

I feel lied to, cheated and very upset! I am extremely confused as to what happened, if the dealers carfax was fake (it wasnt a bigbrand dealer) and WHY my odomiter reads differently than what carfax shows.. I just want to get back home, take my 8 out of storage and replace everything. especially considering what was shown for the service records.

Anyone here with some words of wisdom or guidance or even a hint of what they think happened?

04Green

iTrader: (1)

First question, do you have the one they showed you?

SoulShott

Thanks for replying 04Green. Im not exactly sure but i THINK i do. i cant exactly check right now because im overseas at the moment, and my beauty is sitting in storage right now in the states. If i do have it, it will most likely be either in my glovebox or in my center console ._.

04Green

iTrader: (1)

Best starting point I can think of. Compare that one to the one you got on line. I would be willing to bet that someone on a TV station or with a fraud department or even CarFax would be interested in the story...

SoulShott

Yeah, only problem is that i am overseas at the moment and wont be back for another 5 and a half months or so, and by that time my wife will be giving birth and ill have so much on my plate i probably wont have time to deal with it until a much later date, and at that time it will be about a year and a half since the purchase of my vehicle so im not sure if it would be worth pursuing at that point.

Ill be replacing most of the parts that would/could/are probably damaged. I guess first things first is to wait till i get back to see if i can find that carfax. and compare everything. If it doesnt quite add up, see if i can talk to seom fraud investigators.

I think the biggest one to me is my odomiter reading. because my o meter shows me at about 87,5xx ish but carfax shows the last report at basically 100k. No signs of any rebuilds or coil replacements.

Loki

iTrader: (1)

You could get in touch with Mazda of North America and give them your VIN. If (IF!) the service was done at a dealer, there should be some record of it. But it's a good data point to have, whatever Mazda may have on record can be compared to what Carfax shows.

SoulShott

@Loki, the very last service was from a mazda dealer (ive actually spent a quite deal of time in that one when i was looking for a car) however, no mileage was reported. As seen in attached.

G_ man

iTrader: (2)

Not sure if this helps or not, but here in Ontario,Canada my R3 came in sparkling black mica

SoulShott

Yeah after doing some research, i found out that every country got different colors of the R3, U.S got blue and red, i know that Australia got white, and thats about all i know, they could have started r3 sbm production in the U.S or it could just be canada, im not sure. But that does help!

Unfortunately i dont have the recaro seats or the fog lights or anything else cool super stock sport version haha no lights in the bumper, non leather seats, (although they could not be the stock seats) i do have the r3 rims though ( i think) and no spoiler (not standard on any 09 trim but still an option) Im basing my car being the sport version on the fact of not having recaro seats, and i dont have the r3 body style, or the fog lights. I

did get the car at 85k miles, so the bumper could have been replaced (not sure about the lights on the side that are supposed to be near the fender) it could have been painted and the seats replaced as well, its really all skeptical because im not the original owner and the whole carfax thing is kinda messed up so i dont really know what happened to it D: Tis very sad.

QuiQuik2003

Ok, first of all this is America and you can sue enyone for anything at any given time. It would be smarter if you checked carfax yourself but since you didn't, I hope you still have that paper of the "fake" carfax. So just sue him. It doesn't matter how much time passes. If it comes up, you can say that you were overseas and had no way of taking care of it earlier. When I was buting my 8, 2 of the people that I called said that it was clean, and when I checked carfax it showed that it wasn't. Obviously I didn't get them. I got the one that was clean. You should've checked it but you didn't. That guy gave you a fake report. So just sue him.

SoulShott

Yeah, if i still have a copy of the report they gave me then it will be golden. I have the official carfax online that mycarfax.com gave me. I

m not exactly sure if it is the OFFICIAL carfax though, so im half tempted to just pay for it from carfax or give carfax a call to verify with them that the one i have is correct. If i do not have the carfax that they gave me originally then im pretty sure i dont have any grounds to justify other than that my odomiter reads differently than what carfax is saying.

Ill have to look at all of the paperwork when i get back to verify the information. because if my registration says what my real odomiter says, but carfax is reporting another mileage then there had to be some sort of problem in this cars lifetime.

Too bad there wont be any sort of real resolution for another half year :'(

Thank you all for the help though. Much appreciated

Razz1

It simple. It's a typo error on the car fax website.

That's why it says your car is an R3 etc...
Contact them and fix it.

Would you believe I got a ticket the other day and the DMV is holding up my license?

They even have a picture of the car parked illegally.

Unfortunately it is a different car with a similar license. They made a typo error. They have to fix it.

Don't get you hair in a bun or your panties in a wad.



Let's PANIC!!!!

SoulShott

But why would the carfax be missing multiple services, mileage and when i put my vin into 3 non carfax websites, they all say its an r3 (acccording to my vin) even if the mileage posted on carfax is a typo, why would it be missing almost 40k miles worth of services and records, on a 2009 vehicle. when on the carfax i was given, it showed records of oil changs every 3k miles, the carfax that i am getting from the carfax website itself, the oil changes range from every 7k-15k+ miles in between each one. i dont think that is a typooo as much as i would like it to be. :/

Razz1

It's a typo error on the vin that is reported to car fax. All the information is correct but is for a vin number for an R3 that has one or two digits off from your Vin number.

SoulShott

Ah, that makes sence now, hmmm if only i had the original carfax they gave me or i could get to my car and verify the VIN is correct. but that is only one possibility (i hope it is.)

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

While a typo is certainly possible, keep in mind that Carfax does not always get every service performed on a vehicle reported to them.

SoulShott

Yeah i totally understand that, but why would a carfax the dealer shows me have all of these services every 3k miles, and then 6 months later i want to look at my carfax again to check for engine/plug/coil replacements etc. and the carfax shows my vehicle having basically 100k miles on it (when my o meter shows 87.5k) and oil being changed every 7-15k miles up to the last service that shows mileage being like 55k. Just makes me question not only the integrity of that dealer (because when i got there they already had a printed version of a carfax that they handed me) but also question whats really under the hood of my car and all the damage that is in there that i never suspected before

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, it's quite possible they are unethical & ripped you off.
I guess you'll have to do some investigating.

SoulShott

I hope not, but man when i get back to the states, someone is going to have a very angry rx8 owner on their hands, and im going to get to the bottom of this. no way am i going to just take their bull **** excuses either, fraud is fraud.

But if i dont have the copy of the carfax they gave me still.. then what would i do? i would have zero evidence other than my o meter not matching, and that could potentially just be an error on carfax's side or whoever reported the mileage to them. And i would just have to live with what the carfax says about my engines services and hope that whats under my hood isnt too bad and ill be able to keep anything catastrophic from happening. I think, not sure what i would do or be able to do if i dont have that original carfax the dealer gave me.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Slow down everyone. The US got R3s in Velocity Red, Aurora Blue, AND Sparkaling Black Mica.

I've seen several black R3s in the US. They aren't common, but they are out there. Here are some FS threads of them on the forum from the US:
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8s-sale-w...-miles-252751/
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8s-sale-w...-black-248774/
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8s-sale-w...loaded-249494/
https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8s-sale-w...-black-241124/

Now, if you definitely don't have an R3 (different body work, recaro seats, no moonroof, 19" wheels in a different color) then there is a problem. But if you are basing all of this Carfax stuff on the color alone, then you are making a big deal over nothing.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

I think the mileage discrepancy is the biggest issue he's concerned about that doesn't match.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Could have many explanations.

My RX-8 had a Carfax entry with 421,968 miles reported. That was my license plate number at the time.

Should be simple to clarify and clear up, not really something to get worked up over unless you can find evidence of fraud. I don't see someone trying to commit odometer fraud with only 12,000 miles different. A typo is far more likely.

gwilliams6

There are carfax omissions and errors and typos all the time. carfax does a great job of advertising its importance but most servicing is never reported to carfax,especially from some dealerships and certainly not from private servicers. and many accident reports never make it to carfax.

Once you get back and have the "fake" report ,you can check that out with what carfax currently has on your car and find the differences between the two. Unless you have the actual original service records or they were reported to the Mazda service computer, it will be a pure guess as to what is or is not the truth of the mileage and what actual maintenance you car got. also remember some of the mileage confusion could be due to an engine replacement somewhere along the line.

Once you know the real chassis and engine mileage, use this Rx8 club chart to work on issues that will need your attention.

Car mileage over 30,000:
- Replace Ignition coils
- Replace Plug wires
- Replace Spark plugs
- Clean MAF (mass air flow sensor)
- Clean ESS (e-shaft sensor)
- Reset ESS profile
- Clean power steering connections
- Clean battery terminals and clamps
- Replace transmission fluid
- Replace coolant (Mazda FL-22 is highly recommended, read this thread for why: Issue Many Are Ignoring: Most Coolants Contain 2-EHA (which 'eats' silicone))
- Replace air filter
- Replace brake fluid (fluid in the brake lines AND the clutch line)
~$300 USD in parts if you shop smartly.


Car mileage over 60,000:
...all above, plus...
- Clean all chassis electrical grounding points
- Replace accessory belts
- Clean OMP lines
- Replace rear differential fluid
- Replace thermostat
- Clean / Straighten AC condenser fins
- Clean / Straighten oil cooler fins
- Inspect catalytic converter
- Clean / Inspect intake valving
- Consider / inspect all points in 90,000+ as well, many items fail early
~$130 USD in parts if you shop smartly.

Car mileage over 90,000:
...all above plus...
- Replace coolant bottle
- Replace radiator hoses
- Replace radiator
- Replace front O2 sensor
- Replace motor mounts
- Inspect clutch pedal assembly for flex / weld breaks
~$900 USD in parts if you shop smartly.

Obviously if you get information about any of these items already addressed, it will help to reduce the list / cost. Get as much certainty as you can though! All cooling related items can cost you your engine! Even as soon as the same day you take the 8 home with you. It has happened more than once. The rest can be just as critical in how much it can cost you.

Note: This isn't a dealer's maintenance list that is filled with questionable fluff. Every single one of these items is something that typically fails in that mileage range, and for each item, if it fails it will either A) strand you, or B) cause significant and costly additional damage.

SoulShott

Thank you all for the replies, I guess with the differences in the carfax etc and the odomiter, i just have to live with, because if they were trying to upsell me on that carfax, true or false, i still bought the car, i payed for it. certainly if it is fake, there probably wouldnt be too much i could get out of taking any legal actions. I feel that my best bet is to just live with it, i absolutely love my car, ill just have to go through the engine much thrououghly than i was expecting and learn as much as i can. Sure it is very unfortunate with all the lack of actual service records on the car, but what can i do. I appreciate all your responces and concern greatly, i guess as soon as i get back. ill be getting all the tools and parts and spending a loong time replacing everything, probably going to do all 60k and 90k maintinence just to be extra sure, including a nice welcome home scrub/wax and detail :D

If you guys have any other things i should do, or any tips please let me know, even if its something that should be deemed as common sence. Still usefull :D

One question i do have, when replacing my radiator (im still going to search myself just to be sure) would it be better to go aftermarket? (ill be doing some tuning and afterparket part shopping a little later down the line once i go through all the maintinence) or should i just get an OEM replacement, also where do you guys get your parts? ive heard that ebay can be your best friend, but ive also heard to stay away from ebay and other places like that.

RIWWP

iTrader: (2)

Go OEM from Mazmart unless you will be driving in high heat conditions, or tracking it. Best price for OEM, perfect fit. Ebay is a crap shoot and simply not worth the risk of making it wasted money that costs more in the end when you have to buy the right thing.