Hey guys & gals.

My baby turns four next month, and I've got 43,000 miles. I've loved it most every day (except those three days it was being de-flooded back in Jan. '04). So, last month she starts stalling on me at stop lights, and I figure it's time to have the spark plugs changed (I know, I'm about 10,000 miles late on that for the two that weren't replaced with the recall). Anyway, the mechanic drives it a bit and then calls me at work... "we're replacing the engine."

I am literally less than a month from my warranty expiring! Holy Crap! Good thing I did't put it off. Apparently the car showed low compression. They are telling me to stop using 89 octaine and start using 93, and to redline it more often. Honestly, i'm inclined to trade it in, but... I'd miss her.

I've been away from the forum for a while. Anyone want to educate me on the "we're replacing your engine" topic?

-megareds

 

wow, nice timing for that swap!

 

93? No where to buy 93 in New Mexico. 91 is the top at most / all stations that I have seen.

 

My warranty is up april 08, hope any big problems will happen before then atleast im getting my taillight and AC fixed under warranty. sounds like you got a bit lucky on when it decided to go.

 

Most places here put that damn corn in the 93 octane so it may as well be 89. I settle for filling up at a station near me that prices their 91 a cent below 89.

Good luck with the new engine - some people have gotten lemons. They're refurb units out of...North Carolina (I think?) assembled by convicts. Oh, if only they still sent engines over from Japan.

 

You might consider buying an extended warrentee. My 2nd engine is having problems just one day after installation. Some owners are on their third engine. If you live in a hot weather area, you might need a new engine next year or sooner, since it appears Mazda hasn't found the solution to the engine problem. Or you might get lucky again.

 

One bit of advice from an experience I know a friend had with her 8. Make damn sure you get a NEW engine....demand it...even if you have to wait, not a reman. She's on her third engine....and only had her second one a short time before it failed...warranty states that mazda will replace with a new engine....doesn't say anything about a reman.

 

I have 36K mi. on my car and I am on the 3rd engine.

 

Megareds - long time no hear and apparently, long time no read. Do a search on "replaced engine" "replacement engine" you'll get an eye full. Also look in the tech section.

 

This thread scares me to death!

 

Scares YOU to death?!?! I'm just at a loss. I don't know whether I should look into trading it in for... what? That's the problem. My enthusiasm for any other car is half as high. A CX7? I love this car, but my confidence in this engine is not real high right now. I suspect I'll keep her until my wife insists that it go and we get the Prius she's always wanted.

I currently driving a nice but way-too staid rented Hyundai Sonata. Nice to try out XM Radio, but I miss my Auxmod iPod connection. Nice to have good acceleration, but i miss being able to turn a corner without feeling like I'm going to tip over. Nice to have leather seats, but the prior guy's disgusting cigar or cigarette smoke is criminal. I miss my baby.

Anyone know what my third engine replacement will cost if the warranty expires?

-megareds

 

I think I read somewhere that it cost about $4,000.

 

If you had the engine recall done your engine warranty has been extended another year. You should be good till 09.

It appears that engines are still failing among the RX-8 and many believe it is carbon build up doing it. I am of the opinion that the RX-8 engine is not quite debugged. You'll hear some of the fanboys say otherwise but.......

 

I dont get it! Dont you have a 5 yr/60000 mile warranty on the engine(powertrain)?

 

I think I have this problem beat! Remans have a warrentee of one year, so you'll be okay if you get a reman every 11 months.

 

The way the mechanic explained it to me, I have a 4 year, 50k warranty that expires November 3 (that being the end of four years). It is entirely possible that he doesn't know what the warranty terms Mazda was offering on the '04 RX-8 (he's new), and that all he is sure of is that MNA told him that I was covered. In other words, I'm still not sure why I was covered, only that I was.

Is it possible that my memory was correct, and that I actually have a 4-year/40k warranty, but that Mazda extended it on power train issues a while back? I seem to recall seeing a notice in the mail that my warranty was being extended on the power train.

I picked up the car last week, and it's running well. At that time I asked about what my warranty was going forward, and the mechanic said only that I had the remainder of the original warranty, whatever that happened to be. I told him that I thought the rebuilt engines had 12 month, 12k warranties. He then acknoledged that his information made little sense, since if this engine fails on November 4 (one day after four years), it was clearly a problem with either the re-build or the labor, and he told me in that circumstance they would "work with me" to make it right.

Obviously, I need to figure this out.

Other interesting tidbits: he told me that he threw in the spark plugs without charge, even though Mazda did not ship the rebuilt engine with the spark plugs. I did have to pay for the oil change I requested when I initially dropped the car off. They also charged me for a brake fluid reflush, another thing I requested initially. They also acknowledged that they put 200 miles on the car testing it. The car was returned to me with less than a quarter tank of gas, although I don't recall what the tank was when I dropped it off. I have all my gas receipts, so I could sit down and figure out both what the tank had in it when I dropped it off and how many actual miles they added to the odometer. Since I thought I was up against the warranty expiration, I happily paid everything... I think the total was about $270.

 

Original warranty 4y/50k. They extended to 5y/60k. Search on finishlineperformance.com they have the PDF.

I have yet to see a definitive answer on the reman warranty situation. If I get a new engine 500 miles before my warranty expires, and the reman fails at mile 501, what next? I would assume they would cover it but we're talking about the same company that left me out in the cold when my clutch exploded two months after I bought the car. Go figure.

 

What kind of rental car did you get?

Edit: Just read your other post, didn't see it at first

I'm jealous! The rental car I got has nothing...Just 4 wheels and an engine >_<

the cupholders in this thing suck really bad too, last night I was taking a corner at around 10 MPH and the cup fell right out of the thing and onto the floor board. Luckily nothing spilled much and the lid stayed on. Grabbed a couple of napkins out of a bag and cleaned it up in no time

Chevy Aveos suck.

 

They put 200 miles on your car "testing" it? Umm... does that sound odd to anyone else?

 

Better they test the engine out than you getting it back after they drove it around the block and think it's okay.

I'll see how far they tested mine when I get it back in the next few days. stay tuned.

 

Ethanol 93 is the same thing as non-ethanol 93 as far as knock resistance is concerned - in fact, it's actually better than straight gas for that.

Now, it does have lower energy content, therefore less fuel mileage.

 

200 Miles is just fine with me... that mileage includes the weekend the mechanic kept the car before they called me and said they were going to replace the engine, and all the testing afterwards. Even if they kept the car longer than they needed it and drove it around for fun, I think the first couple hundred miles after such a big procedure are the likliest place to have something fail... better that happens on their time than mine.

The Sonata they gave me was also fine, as a temporary measure. I liked the XM Radio, as noted.

So far, I'm entirely happy with the deal. I would have guessed that instead of doing this all happily, they would have fought me about whether it was necessary and not really taken my problems seriously... and I wonder if having the extended warranty made their decision to go this way easier -- it was going to fail in the next few weeks or months. The stalling at red lights was getting worse. I also think I said just the right thing when I took the car in... (1) stalls at red lights, (2) makes "marbles in a tin can" sound accelerating, (3) has no power, meaning that I drop the accelerator and the car remains at the same speed.

 

At least they could have given you the oil change for free. I mean they ripped out the whole engine.

 

They had bad flashes and teh seals were not oiled properly. That's why you have a new engine.

Good thing they tested it. You will be happy w/ new engine.

 

Don't think I saw it in your posts: Did you have the recall done last year?