Ok, So in janof this year, i bought a 2004 Rx8 55k miles AT. I just use it for transportation really and nothing more. No racing. Nothing.

Month 1:
Take it in to get everything checked up on. The day I take it in, engine light flickers. We get the 62,5 mile check up and spark plugs get replaced.

Month 2: Engine coolant light comes on. Take it in and they claim it was a leak but filled it up for me for free (it hasn't leaked since......)

Month 3: Due to my unfamiliarity with Rotary, i flood the car. They clean it all out and all is good

Month 4: Take it in due to engine light coming on randomly on acceleration, then completely on. They say its the ignition coils (i actually saw them... with the white spots on them) so they replaced all 4 of them.

And a week later, im all happy because my 8 actually feels like it has been fixed. Driving home , and i pulled in my driveway to find that the car stalls. tons of lights come on, so i try to turn it back on. Wont budge, so I give it another 5 minutes. It starts up again so I put it in the driveway.

Yesterday, I was driving to work and I could feel it wanting to die on me. Sitting in traffic on the freeway, when it just stalled. spent another few minutes trying to turn it back onwhile people behind me are slamming their faces to their horns. I think its time to take it in again

Today, i learned that the mazda dealership likes to claim its open but is not. So instead of taking it there, i took it to a local auto repair place (the guy their actually does a lot of rx8s so....) and told him to take a look at it. Got a call an hour ago telling me that "It is because I am so young (18) and drive it like it shouldn't be driven. It should be driven like a weekend car. The second you back it out of your driveway and turn it off, the whole system is shot and flooded. Spark plugs ruined, oil contaminated and everything." He has seen this before and the kid had his car in the shop every month. He suggested I got it fixed, then sold it. This concerns me as to why this would happen.. is my engine just shot? I mean, there is no way Mazda could still have the rx8s in production if there are this many problems with it. I just can't believe it. He said it would be 600 bucks for plugs, oil change, cleaning the engine out and reprogramming the computer (wtf?)

I just want honest opinions, and nothing will hurt my feelings. Tell me what you think i should do:

Sell it or Keep it and fix it (or suggest a fix)


------

5/27 Today I took it to the dealership with high hopes. i told the guy everything wrong with it and he said he would put it into the machine and then have a guy test drive it to see if it would stall. If it didn't stall and nothing came back, he could do nothing. My hopes have sunk completely. So i go back about an hour ago and he tells me nothing is wrong. The computer said nothing was wrong, and the guy drove it around for 30 miles and it didn't stall. my luck. I start arguing with the guy about it, but i was so lost in it i completely forgot about the cat converter. Then the guy goes "Your putting 93 in it right?" and i said "no... 87.. i know plenty of people on the forums that use 87 and have no difference". he looked at me, completly stunned, and said "you sir, are lucky this car is not in the shop more often" WTF!? he then ranted on about how i shouldn't use Chevorn to fill up and use Shell instead?!?!?!?! I was so pissed i just freaking left the place. Lucikly, it was under no charge :/ But I drove home in it, and suprisingly it felt a little better. Even though they did nothing. So im on the freeway, driving the **** out of the car, redlineing it (almost trying to get it to stall to prove my point) . start to pull in my driveway, and started revving to see if anything happens. Hit about 6.5k RPMs and the ******* radiator red line shined at me, then dissapeared.

Wow. thats all I can say. Sell it or keep it? **** civics.

 

Sell it. You neither have the interest or the constitution for owning a sports car.
Since you admitted that it's just basic transportation, the cost of maintaining it will far outweighs the value you get out of it. If you were enthusiast, you wouldn't have purchased and automatic in the first place. Unless you view every moment you drive as entertainment and you like to explore and appreciate the limits of what it can do, you get little from owning an RX8 other than being a poser in a nice looking car.

Get a Civic.

 

Just because the guy has worked on RX-8's doesn't mean he's a rotary tech. Get the care outta there and to a real Mazda rotary tech. Reason I say that is that this guy is blowing smoke. He CANNOT reprogram the computer. He can clear the check engine light and error codes, but he can't reprogram the ECU. That tells me that he doesn't know what he is doing. Have it towed, if necessary, to a dealer and make sure they diagnose the problem correctly and that they apply all the service bulletins related to your problems.

It is absolutely true that you should not shut the engine off cold and that it is a good idea to hit high revs occasionally.

 

RX8 Truths:
Remember "A redline a day keeps the carbon away". The RX8 is a thoroughbred. You have to let her stretch her legs every once in a while.
Some RX8's flood when you shut them down without warming them up.

$600 is too much for the work he is quoting. Go48 is correct, take it to the dealer.
Also, spend every spare minute (for a while) reading everything here you can to get your self acquainted with the car. A rotary engine car is a unique animal.

 

It would, but when i said i use it for transportation, this doesn't mean I like to have a little fun. I redline it once or twice a day (i've read the fourms before).

when i got it back i abused the hell out of it and revd high constantly.

i am not buying a civic.

I do enjoy sports cars, but didn't by the rx8 for that reason. I liked the rx8 when i test drove it... really great handling i just felt like i was connected to the car every time i made a uturn. thats why I bought it. I enjoy having a fast car, but im not an autocross wannabe

 

I've always let my car warm up before turning it off. Its normally a few ticks off medium before I even think about turning it off, yet the next time i turn it on it still is a little rough turning over.

 

get it away from there - your mechanic is bullshitting you about the reprogramming thing so don't trust him .
Try a tank of premix at 180:1 . Give it sh*t and see how it goes . If no good take it in to a reputable dealer and get a compression test done .

 

I know where you're coming from... you bought a reasonable car, you're paying for it every month, you haven't modded it or done anything out of the ordinary to it, and it's a taking a crap on you. That does suck, and it's not right. It's what you do from here that defines whether you're smart or dumb, regardless of if you're an enthusiast or not.

I wouldn't invest a lot of money into a car like an auto '04 RX8 to get it running right. That's just me. Theyre too common, and you could walk out your front door and run into one that somebody is trying to dump. Go find another one?

 

Well, my parents bought it for me as a gift, so I dont really pay the car off. I pay insurance and repairs. And ****, i might as well be paying for the car right now. I am willing to buy a different car, but is this **** gunna keep happening to me? Is it really worth it for a person taht drives daily?


oh and about the Computer thing he said it needs flashing...

 

IMO, the RX-8 is not a particularly good daily driver, particularly if you do a lot of stop and go, city driving. If that is the type of driving you do, then maybe it would be better to trade it on a Honda or something equally as mundane.

I hate to tell you this, but you couldn't have picked a worse model of the RX-8 to purchase--that is, an '04 AT. That engine, was not the same as the engine in the MT model. It had a quite different design and it was replaced in newer model year AT cars with a more capable engine of a design similar to the MT engine. A significant number of the early AT cars had engine failures, especially in hot/dry climates.

Unless he had access to Mazda information on PCM update history, he would have no way of knowing whether or not you needed a "flash". Take it to a Mazda dealer and they should automatically update the PCM.

 

+1 take it to the dealer. You may need a reflash or you may need your engine replaced. Many '04s had their engine replaced for free (including mine) under a recall because they were not injecting enough oil in them and wearing out the seals.

As for the rest of the problems you've been having you honestly have had really 1 problem with the car itself. The ignition coils. The coolant probably evaporated over time and needed to be topped off. It's happens to me about once a year. As for flooding that was just a learning experience for you.

So all in all you've had one true malfunction with the car. But definitely take it to a dealer and have them check it out and perform the recall check to see if your engine is in good shape.

#2 is when coils go bad they can kill the cat. converter. This is possibly the reason your car feels like it's dying. They would have to unbolt it and perform a physical inspection of the converter. You won't always get a CEL if the front element is melted. MAKE SURE THEY UNBOLT AND LOOK INSIDE!

both the Cat and engine should be covered either by warranty or the recall.

Let us know what the dealer says.

 

I live in Houston TX and so far its died on really hot days. (just an observation)

The guy had all the info.. it was like abulliten that mazda posted about things going wrong the with car.. and how to fix them. He said the store was subscribed to this service that let companies like his know about problems. He actually gave it to me (telling me that it was strictly confidential, but who cares. **** him.) so if you want me to scan it or show you guys whatever

 

Ok thanks man, so on tuesday when i go, just ask them to unbolt and look inside the cat converter?

Your right about the problems, but it just seems... too consistent.

 

Yup that sounds right. Tell them you've been reading up that these cars sometimes melt the cats. and they get plugged up and don't always cause a CEL. The only way to tell is to look inside.

 

aight cool thanks


anyone else want to put some input in?

 

Civic.

 

Was going to say coils too, but I see you had those replaced. +1 on the catalytic converter then. Flooding the car can bork the cat, depending on how the flood is cleared. If the dealer used the method in the owner's manual for clearing the cat (the do-it-yourself way), then all the unburned fuel that condensed inside the rotor housing made it's way into exhaust, and thereby the catalytic converter. If they then started the car with the cat full of this fuel and then revved the engine, the fuel could have ignited IN the cat and wasted it. I don't believe most Mazda dealers would necessarily do this though...there is a more formal, complicated method of clearing a flood without putting the cat at risk.

I'd side with ShaunV74...get the cat checked first, and if it looks good, look into compression testing. And cross your fingers...

 

confidential my ***....he wants to look more important than he is....here is your confidential information that you can show him all day long.....and there is no need to pay/subscribe..if he does than he is either a liar or a moron

http://www.finishlineperformance.com....php?pageid=11

 

ahaha

 

There's your problem.

 

thanks moron, because this thread was totally about bashing me for buying the wrong rx8 instead of at least putting some positive input in. i.e. buy a civic

 

lmao thanks man that first link is the exact same thing


i was thinking... how could you have some special thing when the internet is the home to an easy "search" button

 

Erm. Why is everyone recommending for him to get another car? I thought this was an RX-8 forum. I'll admit I wouldn't be caught dead in an AT car, but that wasn't what he was asking about.

I'd try to find a dealer or someone local that really know the engine, get it properly looked at, then drive it hard daily like it should be.

 

This "get a civic" **** gets really old on every one of these type of threads.

 

The OP asked for opinions: "I just want honest opinions, and nothing will hurt my feelings." That's what he got. His post indicated that he is not particularly interested in dealing with the peculiarities of the rotary engine, so some posters are of the opinion that he should trade the car for something requiring less TLC.