And you'll get a million, sometimes conflicting opinions. I worried too, but basically just boiled it down to not taking any chances or cutting corners with the usual maintenance. Premium fuel only. Never let the oil drop below 3/4. Change plugs/wires/coils early and routinely. Drive it with enthusiasm, but don't beat on it.

And just accept the risk that it might just go boom someday anyway.

 

[QUOTE=BigMikeATL;4292553]Since it's a 2004, it's out of warranty.

Like any sports car, maintenance will always be more frequent and costly. The RX is no exception.[/QUOTE

I know it's a nice car mine has 98k and it runs pretty well I treat it good.. No races or stuff like that.... I'm just a little bit disappointed a lot of ppl talking shitt about it but oh well

 

What are these "C" coils? OEM or aftermarket? Cheers.

 

Hello gentlemen..i own a rx8 for 5 years..orginal owner.. I have a 2004 never had 1 issue ever.. it has 126km!! Right now. I suggest you to baby it like your daughter.. get best gaz premium... oil change every time never miss.. get the best oil eventually.. nev beat your car! mine is gorgeous never winter driven I always storage it 4 months a year during winter and drive it in summer. So don't think ex8 can live till 100k.. I'm still on the original engine dude!!

 

I've become convinced that the secret to engine longevity (now that I'm on my second engine) is using Idemitsu in the gas tank. Those apex seals need a lot of TLC. I babied the last engine with proper maintenance and revving it to 6000 rpm regularly. But it still lost compression. The apex seals are the reason. I haven't ever replaced coils, etc. (tho the dealer MAY have when the refurbished engine was installed) and the last engine made it to 65k miles.

Also, for those of us who live in a hot climate like I do (AZ) there's a lot of talk about using a heavier oil like 5-30 on this forum. I haven't done it yet but I'm leaning that way. The 5-20 recommendation may very well have come due to the claims of mpg and not for mechanical reasons.

My only problem, now, is that nasty "radiator low" idiot light that flashes on and off sometimes. Apparently, the '04 like mine was assembled with a float or sensor that fails after awhile. And' of course, you can't just replace the sensor...but instead the entire plastic container at around $300. Thanks Mazda!

All in all I still love my RX8 but I gotta say that it's been impossible for me to try and keep up with all the bulletins and recalls...know I've missed several.

 

it only cost $300 to replace the tank if you let Mazda do it, its about $120 for the tank and you can replace it yourself. Or if you are tired of the light just unplug the sensor from the left side of the tank (when standing in front of the car looking into engine bay) and check your coolant level periodically.

 

Found aftermarket tanks for that but Mazda quoted me high...much higher.

 

i got a rx8 04 and is overheating i already change the thermostat, water pump both fans are working and i don't know whats else can be wrong with my car,,can somebody help me out with this????

 

i want to change my car engine and ilive in dubai the parts of rx8 its not here .witch engin its good for rx8?

 

i want to chang my rx 8 engine because i live in dubai and i cant find parts of rx8 can u guys help me witch engin its good for rx8?

 

Hey dude btw I still haven't changed my coils. My car is still running great. Oil changes and 93 octane, oh and a new set of tires.

 

Be careful not to break the small return stem under the tank that is connected to the Radiator. If you break it you will need a new radiator too.

 

Does the temp gauge show overheating? My car was shutting down because the ECU thought the engine was overheating even though it was not. The temp gauge showed normal. I replaced the water temp gauge (under the alternator) and the problem went away.

 

I bought my 2005 with 50k miles and always fed it Amsoil 0W-30, Amsoil Interceptor premix, and Shell V-Power. I redlined the engine daily. I believe this kept the seals in good shape as it appeared to be making good power right up until the end.

At 123K miles I had a massive coolant leak. I pulled over and added new coolant. Upon trying to restart I could see the coolant spraying from the reserve tank. The dealer said the housing was cracked and allowed combustion gases into the cooling system which over pressurized it and caused the leak.

I have talked to several series 1 owners with cracked housings. I wonder if the series 2 blocks are more resistant to cracking.

 

Wow....I never would have seen that coming! My radiator idiot light comes on for a minute or two and goes out...checked fluid levels are ok...slightly overfilled...and temp gauge always normal. Thus far everyone is suggesting sensor defective in the overfill bottle...but now I wonder.

 

Prefer to keep everything working correctly....this frustrating thing only started happening after the dealer installed reman engine.

 

The ECU does not have any fail safe against overheating. You can happily run the coolant temps to 300F if you want, and the ECU won't shut down anything, despite you destroying the engine.

It is more likely that the defective water temp sender was causing the ECU to adjust the fuel trims far too far off target for the car to make acceptable power, and probably was killing the ability to idle.

It's the sensor in the bottle, which is $130 + shipping from Mazmart, a forum vendor here. Mazda dealers will always quote you higher and charge you more. No one should be surprised at that.

Seriously, don't overthink it.

 

Hey everyone, i have an 06 "8 and has 165k on original engine. automatic and it runs
perfect. although it does have a rough idle to it at stop lights and also when put in reverse.. any thoughts on what it could be?

 

Yes. But the list is too large for me to have motivation to retype it right now.

See the misfire thread in my sig. Most of the rough idle points are covered there. Yes, I know you didn't mention that you had a misfire, but nearly all of the basic problems have the same symptoms, so going through the same list is worthwhile.

 

I thought mine had a rough idle too....turned out, instead, to be cracked motor mounts.

 

I was going to start a new thread but this one is perfect.


I was just talking with a friend about when I was shopping for a air cooled Porsche 930. (Turbo 911)

After months of research and shopping I found one truth. ALL 930's need to have an engine rebuild of varying degrees by 100K miles. It is a VERY rare 930 that does not need anywhere from 3K to 10K in engine work at 100K miles.

When you tell someone you love Turbo Porsche 911's you never hear... "Yeah but the engines do not last 100K miles".

Yet, mention any rotary car and that is the first words uttered.


Ironically a rebuild on a Rotary is a fraction of the cost of a rebuild on a air cooled flat 6. Yet, somehow, Rotaries get the bad wrap for not lasting 300K miles and 930's get a pass.


I ended up giving up on a 930 and getting an older 911 with a newer 3.6 swapped in. Close to the same HP with much more reliability.

 

Take 5 minutes to pull the airbox out and you'll see just how easy this car is to work on. Everything is right there and there's plenty of room to do everything. Even more so it takes very little time to disassemble and remove many of the main components to create even more room.

The cost of parts though is where you may get even more shock. This car may be cheap to buy but it still is an over engineered sports car and as such replacement parts are not cheap. The low price point of used RX8s is why i feel a lot of threads like this are created. People think they're buying a civic type car and when they get quotes in the thousands for small stuff they freak out and post here.

I have experience with E46 bmws, add to your sentiment the XI models and i dare anyone to tell me the RX8 is difficult to work on. That car was a bitch, everything rusted out being in new england and XI models had more parts and double the prices on them.

i believe nycgps was talking about older bmws/mercs. I never experienced newer bmws but my B8 audi has a digital oil level. It also does NOT have a dipstick and burns more oil then the RX8 due to bad piston ring design. It's great fun relying on a computer to read oil levels all the time when you cant physically check it yourself and it burns a quart every 3k miles . It also is hardly real time and not very accurate and i can assume with some reliability bmws is probably the same way. My point, on a car like the 8 that relies on oil consumption i would still constantly check the dipstick.

If you're checking your oil constantly and you see it going down and you know it's not from billowing blue smoke out the tailpipes then you can assume your ok. At least thats how i handle it.

To add as my own comments about this subject, for some dumb reason i've been stressing about my motor blowing lately too. Mines an 04 6spd with 126K and runs like a beast still (at least it feels like it does). However i have been unable to determine if this is due to a replacement/rebuild at some point in time that isnt on dealer records or if it's the original engine still going strong. With all the hoopla over bad engines it seems unllikely that mine could possibly be this strong still with that many miles on the factory engine. If it is im a living testament to the overhyped rumor of the renesis being an unreliable engine.

 

Really nice post by the moderator, telling briefly about the engines. After reading it now the remaining problems not occur at least on this thread. Hope it'll be fine after reading it.

 

They replaced the bottle/sensor and, as you predicted, problem went away...but total cost was $230 and change including labor.

Now for this lock/unlock module....they want $695 for something called a TSM3 module. Youza!

 

but when you guys are saying new engine are you guys talking about a whole new engine or a rebuilt one