So I had an appointment for a CEL last week Tuesday. I forgot what it is called, but they had to replace a "motor" that has something to do with the intake. It wasn't working right and was causing a lot of carbon buildup. Well, to do this they apparently had to drop the entire engine and tranny to replace it. I was supposed to pick it up on Friday. I go in there and I still see my car in one of the service bays. They tell me it is all back together but they couldn't get it started. So of course they have the battery on the charger (which was replaced no more than 3 months ago from the battery/starter recall). They figured they'd have it for me today (Monday). So I call after work and it is still not done. They still can't get it started and they have no clue why. Now they have one of those experts from Mazda coming to look at it and now I'm at the point of being absolutely irate!

 

..Earlier on in the Service Bay area.....
Jimbo: "Hmm.. what is this..." Jimbo picks up a peice of wire ".. 'eh nothing.." Jimbo toss's peice of wire into the trash.

Thats your reason... well comicly atleast.

I'm partially willing to bet that the Tech's never installed or took out a Rotary Engine and messed sumething up while they doing it. Be glad they are calling in a "expert" instead of telling you "we are gonna keep trying to get it started and give you a call when we do.".

Is your rental/loaner any good atleast?!?!

 

The gave me a brand new 2006 Mazda Tribute for a loaner. It's a bare bones POS in my opinion but I am not and never will be an SUV/truck person. I just want my 8 back. And it actually did cross my mind to ask how many parts were left on the floor after they reinstalled the tranny and engine.

 

haha havent reset the Eshaft sensor profile

 

Through the short few months I've owned my 8 I've come to the realization that all Mazda Service area's should be allowed to visit our site and have access to Zoom, Rotary and all the other Moderators.. lol since they know more about the 8 than a room full of "Mazda Tech's".

And a Tribute.. ouch.. for the pain and suffering they are putting you through.. Beat the ever living **** out of it!!.. then again that is what I do with any rental I get.. god I loved the Buick LaCrosse CTX hmmm.. for a buick that car had *****!! If that car was a few thousand less I would of got one instead of the 8.. but anyways side tracking myself there..

Mention what Zoom said and if we are lucky maybe Rotarygod will pop in and chime in his 2 cents.

 

Finally got her back this afternoon. The invoice laid out everything they did, and it was quite a laundry list. The CEL problem I had was officially diagnosed as: "excessive carbon buildup in APV motor and in intake EGR ports due to exhaust gasses." I'll try to scan the invoice and post it. There's a lot of stuff on it. From what I can see, the replaced the APV motor and the intake manifold, as well as put in new oil and replaced the spark plugs, along with 4 or 5 other parts. (probably all part of the intake). I've obviously never heard of anyone having this problem with their 8 before, but it did all fall under the powertrain warranty, so I didn't pay a cent.

 

there have been several threads about carbon build up around the apv including one with pictures of the apv when the upper intake manifold removed.

 

Has anyone determined what exactly causes this "carbon buildup" in the intake?

 

excessive low rpm running and/or lots of short trips

 

I'll have to find those pictures. I'd like to see that. The service guy actually told me to drive at high rpms more often to help burn off the excess carbon.

 

also b&g 44k.

beers

 

That ain't happening with me,,,zoom zoom zoom

 

Probably excess oil in the intake. I wonder how long it will be before some clever dealer tries spraying Ezy-Off oven cleaner in to clean out the coked on deposits.

 

the lower RPM problem definately isnt happenning to me either. Idont shift until 5000-6000 anyway..

BOT: That really does suck. Good luck. Hopefully they didn't completely screw it up.

 

Ok, I'm going to go out and beat the sh*t out of my 8 at lunch. Thank you very much sir.

 

How do you normally drive? You must have a great deal of discipline because I can't go for a single ride without banging through the gears atleast once or twice.

 

I try to shift at approximately where Mazda recommends, but not all the time since it is not always possible with the traffic conditiosn. Based on their speeds in my manual shifting into second is 3250 RPMS or a little higher (I usually get that one around 3500-3750 unless I am in stop and go or downtown traffic). Shifting into 3rd is around 3000, and the subsequent gears are all approximately 2750. I seem to get them pretty much around 3000, except where I have to get moving really fast from a stop and then I often will get up to between 5000-6000 and then just skip the gears in between to shift into the appropriate one for my speed based off my manual recommendations. On the way to work I encounter bad traffic towards the end of my highway commute and it moves really slow and keeps changing from barely moving to speeding up, so I usually just put it in second gear and my RPMS are anywhere from 2500-4500 sustained for awhile. It seems like everytime I change gears they stop moving and I have to downshift. LOL

I would really hate to have a carbon problem.

 

TUSTIN MAZDA SUCKS! just my opinion they do everything but fix my rx-8

 

You should realize that those "recommended" shift points are really just for maximizing MPG and are not considered even close to being "real world" shift points—even for routine driving, to be honest. I've followed them too, just to see how good my mileage could be—but not if anyone's behind me. I bet few drivers ever shift that early—in an RX-8, hardly anyone. Of course, if there's no need to accelerate quickly, what's the harm? (Well, as you suggest, the carbon problem could be what the harm is, but I get the sense you don't have to worry about that as long as you really rev it every now and then.)

 

I realize it is an MPG thing. That was part of why I do it. I put 70 miles a day on in my commute to and from work so it's nice to try and maximize the MPG, and I have been averaging low 23s in mixed driving. This also includes a little of my higher revving.

Those shift points actually work pretty well for me and I use them most of the time with no problems. There are only a few particular spots on my common routes where it can be a little difficult sometimes. The four-way intersection merging into the highway or pulling out onto the main road from the current detour route I have to take. It's in kind of an odd spot. It's right smack in the middle of a curve, where you go uphill either direction when you pull out so cars come around the corner pretty fast and if you don't get moving you'll be killed. LOL

The only one, basically, is shifting into second. I usually always shift between 14-16 but sometimes it gets up closer to 18, and that that point I say to hell with that and just keep on accelerating and skip second and go into third. I'll just do it for fun on occasion to get my revs up. In that instance I'll usually shift into third, fifth, sixth. Keeps my revs up around the 5500 range when I do that. I figure that ought to help keep Bella relatively clean.