NHTSA link to file a complaint (takes 2 minutes):
https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

So looks like quite a few people are having their oil cooler lines rust out because of road salt in snowy regions, despite washing every week in winter (at least in my case)!
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/rusted-oil-cooler-fittings-183281/

There is a recall in Canada for this issue:
https://www.rx8club.com/canada-forum-35/received-recall-notice-oil-cooler-hose-146807/

The cost to fix it? $2100 asked by sentry west mazda in shrewsbury, massachusetts!!

I urge people affected by this issue to file a complaint with the NHTSA link above so that the Canadian recall can be brought to the USA.

 

I did the smarter and cheaper thing and replaced all the lines and fittings with racing beats oil line kit.

 

my dealer (sentry west in shrewsbury, ma) is going to try and get me covered by mazda. I am waiting for them to reply until Monday - otherwise it will the racingbeat way for me.

Regardless, for the benefit of others - I filed a nhtsa complaint anyway. Hopefully they will bring the recall to the US.

 

The salt eats those lines fast.

I would never drive a sports car in winter.

Salt eats everything.

 

Liberty Mazda in Wakefield, MA wanted $2400 for the same job. I called Mazda USA and they would not help. I had it towed home and replaced them myself for $400 in Mazda parts from Rosenthal Mazda. I think it's awful that this would happen to a 6 or 7 year old car. Since then I have been driving a 92 Volvo 240 as a winter beater and garaging my 8. Amazingly, the volvo has no such rust issues.

 

From what I have seen of my families cars in ohio, its really not mazdas fault. I understand the oil lines and fittings get destroyed but they make chemicals other than salt that dont destroy cars. I have seen rotors so seized onto cars the whole axle had to be removed.

 

Ohio is one of the worst for salting the heck out of roads - mines there are a primary source, so no way they will use any restraint or smarter chemicals. That being said, it took 21 years of year-round driving in Michigan with an 1987 Audi 5000Q to get the first corrosion failure (a brake line). Mazda in general is not doing a very good job wrt rust. A friend's Mazda 3 is rusting from the inside of both front quarter panels at the same location after 6 years. My Solara is not showing anything similar after 11.

 

my rx8 is rusting pretty bad too on the bottoms of the fenders, undercoating is off the fender well and the lines have a leak after an engine replacement this week and then its rusting inside the back doors in the door jam and the bottom of the right front door along the seam sealer line. Its horrible. i work at a body shop and nothing comes in that bad thats that new. my 1994 mazda mx6 only had rust in the trunk lid because the person who put the spoiler on didn;t seal the holes up around the bolts. the rest of the car was solid and i sold it with 280k and it was 18 years old.

 

I've had mine since '04 so mine has been through 9 Wisconsin winters. This is the worst car for rust and corrosion I've ever had. Just had the leaky, corroded oil lines replaced and when they showed me the ones they pulled out, I could not believe what I was looking at...they were destroyed. Both of my rear wheel well lips are being destroyed by rust as well as bubbling around the trunk lid brake light. With this car, a lot of it was just shitty engineering. That lining in the rear wheel wells was definitely a mistake. In general, it just seems like the level of body deterioration happens a lot faster with this car for whatever reason.

 

I just had mine replaced under warranty (in canada) small leak had started at D/S cooler, originally replaced the crush washers but leak came back. Otherwise no rust anywhere.

 

I was told mine were "seeping" oil upon engine swap and Fitzgerald Mazda in Maryland was asking near the same price $2100, but they told me that was only the cost of the parts and the labor was free because the engine was out and everything was disassembled. I found that reeeeallly hard to believe so I told them to just use the old ones and I'd replace them myself.

 

That seems a bit high for retail. As the dealer claimed $1348 from Mazda on parts warranty for my oil cooler lines. Which is more than dealer pays for them, and I am in Canada so prices are usually higher here.

And they are BSing about the free labour cause you only remove 2 oil cooler lines when replacing the engine, there is still 6 more that have to come off the car to properly complete the job.

 

Really not happy Mazda won't extend the oil line recall to the US. They obviously know it's a common problem basically due to poor engineering. Not making things right with their customers is what causes people to go to other brands.

 

I wouldnt say poor engineering, likely just the fitting quality. GM should also likely extend tranny cooler line warranty on all models but they havent lol

 

I just hope in working on the next RX-7, Mazda takes into account the ton of problems from the 8 to assure they are fixed. At the very least, it already seems like the series II RX-8s have been much more reliable than the series 1s.

Despite all the problems I've had with my 8, the thing that bothers me the most is the rust and corrosion problems. Not sure what it is with Mazda but I know that a few of their other models have a ton of complaints of premature rust as well.

 

The drivers side one is really the only one horribly exposed to the elements. Mine blew out one day and i somehow nursed it back home by adding oil constantly. The part is only around 130 so i have no idea where those giant 2K+ numbers come from. Took me just a couple hours and a dozen headaches to get it swapped out.

I contemplated the racing beat swap because it gets rid of the hardest and worst of the lines to the rear. For the price though i just couldn't justify doing it for the easiest line i blew out. When the other one goes i will most def swap out to the RB lines.

 

I had the same problem. The engine had just been replaced (@ 45,000 mi). The dealer found the line(s) leaking and wouldn't release the car to me. They wanted to protect the warranty on the engine. There was no indication of a previous oil leak. No spotting on my driveway. They wanted $1500 to replace the lines. I got a complete used set out of N. Carolina for $150 and had those put on.

 

lets send complaints to the NHTSA for anything we can find that is annoying...

burn mazda to the ground for this!

you can have it done for cheaper with better quality parts anyways. and i dislike the RB/mazdatrix lines because the swivels only last a few years before they start pissing oil.

 

$2400 sounds about right, had the drivers side of mine replaced costing $1200 - I should of got it towed and did it myself as well for $400 with the RB kit, it is more simple and seems to just benefit the system overall.

 

Get some nice aeroquip or earls fittings, stainless line and 6 fittings for the coolers & engine and your good to go.

BTW the mazda recall in Canada does NOT include the hard line running from the front of the engine to the filter housing on the back of the motor.

 

Wow, I'm glad I didn't run into that problem! They're still standing behind my warranty, original oil cooler lines and all. I got to looking the same day they told me and I saw a complete set for $200 used and mazmart had them at a fraction of the cost.

 

holy *****? 1200 just to replace the one drivers side line? I got my line from an online mazda dealer and the part was somewhere around 130, dont remember exactly. With labor even at a dealer that should not have cost 1200.

 

Seriously, you drive your car in salt and then wonder why it's rusting, and then you want the manufacturer to foot the bill? Amazing!When I lived in New York I had a beater I paid $500 for. It served it's purpose, why cause it left my good cars out of the salt. Nice bump by the way.

 

same goes for cars that live near the ocean where salt air will rust out parts.

you just have to accept certain conditions and the consequences of living in certain areas. if the car was rotting off the frame in a year i could understand but a 5-8+ year old car is going to begin to heavily rust out any exposed pieces to the elements.

next there will be threads of rusted caliper bolts, rotor retainers and misc fasteners all over the car.. you simply have to deal with it, the car is not built with stainless steel.

 

Yep, I think their labor was like $500 and the parts were couple hundred each, I needed like 3 of them.

Either way it annoyed me, like someone else mentioned before - i had NO LEAKS prior to the new engine going in, then I was losing quart after quart of oil.

I brought it in and the dealership wouldn't release the car to me either, said I would have to tow it, because they did not want to risk seizing the engine.

I think though what happened when I got the new engine, and I feel this is someone everyone should check first - is if it really is the rust leaking, or the stupid mazda ppl who put the new engine in REPLACED THE ONE TIME USE GASKETS ON THE OIL LINES.. which I doubt they did >_>