Now that I've confused the house...

OK, I've been looking over the paperwork that came with my 04 LY, reading up on the recalls and MSPs that have come out over the years, and couldn't find anything on the car concerning MSP16 ("Engine Lack of Power" in shorthand). Today being a down day, and the minivan needing a small road trip to settle in its refurb ECU, I decided to head over to Preston Autoplex to check on items RX-8.

I won't lie to y'all, there was another reason. Behind the sprawling complex of Preston's multiple dealerships sits a sad example of a 05 SS. Dirty, thought it was untagged the last time I was there, solid rust on the brake rotors, I was thinking "rebuilder / track car candidate". I saw the Delaware tag on it when I pulled up today, and after wiping snow off the passenger window, I had to think twice about asking. We'll just say the interior is going to need a bit of TLC, because the cat converter, transmission housing, bell and shifter forks are lying on the passenger seat and over the console.

I went around front and parked, was immediately recognized by the same salesperson I've dealt with for eight years, and pulled inside for an earful. Depending on if you ask her or the repair manager, the SS is either awaiting repo or a trip on rollback to it's new digs in North Carolina. I'll go with the rollback, because the manager spun a tale of woe that matches what I saw about the car. Seems the young chap who owns it has blown the tranny on it twice ( 1-2 fork split or broken), and Mazda turned "thumbs down" on footing the second repair tab. $3500 or so on top of car payments, I can understand why it is doing a "Piro" out back (Sad RX-8 in Snow). He disassembled the trans himself after the turndown, and the dealer isn't too keen on rebuilding it under warranty.

Talk turned to the history of my SYZ, so the manager shot a query to Mazda on the computer for my vehicle. Yeah, the "Zonk" has a history, which prompted this message's title. For instance, it is running on it's second catalytic converter, has had the 4206F PCM reflash in Dec 2006, and under warranty history, is apparently on it's second set of spinning triangles.



CarFax doesn't tell you this stuff. Sort of like finding out your fiancee was successfully treated for gonorrhea. Recently. Might explain the P0442 and P0456 OBDCII codes recently, maybe not, guess the Gas Cap Issue explains that one better.

Anyways, three questions for the multitudes:

1. Who might this SS belong to? 05, I think it is Sunlight Silver, Delaware tags, Falken Zs for tires on OEM wheels, and he has a habit of busting 1-2 shifter forks?

2. I now know the name of the original owner of my car, and an email address. Any way to see if they were a member of this board?

3. Curiosity more than anything, but which dealers are indicated on the left side of the Warranty History? Preston Mazda seems to be the second in line (51416?)

Cheers!

 

i bought my 05 back in Nov used and it had a brand new engine put in it on October so i basically have a "new" car so honestly i look at the engine recall as a good thing.

 

Good thing with Mazda recently taking over the rebuild duties for all things Renesis, but the short block that went into mine? 2006 vintage, which means a total crapshoot from what I've read about the contractor's output.

Guess it'll be plug change first, hopefully that takes care of the lumpy idle. In the meantime, I'll get the beastie scheduled for the MSP16 examination. She shows no lack of power once off the line, but the gas mileage has been dropping off even worse than what's considered normal for the -8.

Mileage is all relative anyway. I flew KC-135A and R models for 24 years, and recall using literally a ton of fuel to get from parking to the end of the runway.