Forgive me, but as most of you know by now im a new 8 owner that just got out of the breakin period. I am worried about the future of the car itself, it seems alot of Mazda dealers push repairs off on saying the car has been ran rough, etc. I paid extra for the 85K/7yr warranty as this is my first new car and cost me dearly in prices.

I am seeing stories of destroyed clutches, throwout bearings, misc noises, CELs, etc. It really worries me as to how dependable the vehicle is. I am fairly gentle on the car, shift at 5K, never do burnouts, clutch drops, etc.

Is there anyone out there that has had 0 problems?

 

Budweiser8jr,

You shouldn't worry so much. Just follow the normal precautions and you should be fine. You can just make sure to get a stronger battery, better spark plugs, routine oil changes so on and so forth. Just treat the car like everyone else here.......like a new born baby.

 

"normal precautions" ?? ?? ?

What are these precautions?

 

0 problems- in fact most of the "reliability" threads youll find plenty of 0 problem posts

 

Me!!

 

Bad news sells better. Just ask ABC, CBS, & NBC. I think there i an abundance of bad news posted here. Its a place to bitch, vent and complain. My experience (FWIW) with things mechanical is many problems (like the ones you mentioned) can be traced back to the operator and not equipment failure. Since you said you treat the car well I suspect the car will do the same for you. Dont skimp on maintenance. New oil in the car is not overrated.

To answer your question, owned two 8. Flooded the first one, ONCE (my fault). Started it with the de-flooding instructions provided. No biggie. The second has only been to shop for a couple service bulletins, oil changes and of course some mods.

Enjoy your beautiful car.

 

Yup...
Just a couple 'o hazy headlamp lenses...dealer replaced 'em pronto

Regards, Art

 

Owner here since August 2003, 32k miles, no problems.

 

Don't worry! Be happy!

December '04 build, 11 months on road. 9500 miles, three oil changes. No problems.

Check the oil every week or so and keep it topped off. The 8 is supposed to use oil - it injects oil into the top of the combution chamber to help create a compresion seal as the rotor spins through the compression phase toward ingition phase. You should WORRY only if it's NOT using about 1 qt oil/1500 miles or so. Unlike a piston engine, 5000 miles between quarts is a problem.

I also believe in warming it up, as recommended, before driving. I'm sure I'll be corrected if I'm wrong here, but... The independent rotary repair shop I go to explained that the tolerances on the face seals (when cold) are much higher in the 8 than in the RX-7s - to accomodate changes to the positioning of the ports. This gap closes up when the 8 warms up and the seal expands. He postulates that this may be why the 8 is more prone to flooding due to "cross- contamination" between rotor segments when the face seal is cold. I postulate that this could make it more likely to mis-detonate when cold (a logical leap). In any event, better safe than sorry. Gives me time to select some tunes on my iPod before I take off.

Enjoy! And, believe me, you can safely take it above 5K RPM. In fact, it will thank you for doing so.

Bob

 

Right now my startup regimen is to let it run about 5 minutes, if I cant afford to wait longer for it to reach temp, I simply keep it under 3K (figured this was acceptable given the deflooding procedure) after it warms, then I will open it up.

As far as adding oil, I use Castrol GTX. I have noticed that after I got the car back from Zebart, aside from the wax and scotchguard fumes, after running a while it has a strange hot smell such as oil burning or something. Right now, I can smell the wax from my car from 3 parking spots away so I will wait till that subsides before I panic.

My main problems right now I outlined in another thread.

 

Oh, another thing. My first tank of gas was from the dealership (not sure which grade) and I got 21.5MPG. My next tank was from Speedway (Marathon Oil). I used a 50/50 mix of 87 and 92 octanes...this tank got me 16.3MPG.

I just filled it up with Shell V-Power 93, noticed it was hard to start this time, but I will let everyone know what I get. I intend on driving it the same on this tank just to see if I can figure out the big mystery behind Octane/MPG.

 

almost 17K here, 04 with all the recalls performed.. and the car has no problems once so ever.

 

Had mine just over a year and no problems.....Enjoy your car and try to notice all those 1980's NA rotaries still on the road. I saw three in the parking structure at work today. If you perform the routine maintenance these engines will go and go.

 

No problems here man! Except either too much attention or too many "haterz".

 

yeah man, my first new car too. im at 24.5k n lovin every bit of it!!! routine maintenance, couple little self-inflicted issues, but nothin really. this car is more or less an engineering marvel, its unique, & WITH PROPER CARE should last long after it is technologically outdated.

 

There's no need to wait and run it for five minutes. Drive it right away, but the first couple of miles keep the revs under 4K. After that distance, my car is usually warmed up (not fully, but enough).

Don't panic - I had that smell too and many other people as well. It is just because your car is brand new - the smell will go away after a few days.

There's really no need to go over 91... in fact, many are using regular, with no problems whatsoever.
(Let's hope valpac doesn't see this statement )

 

LOL, thanks all for your comments. Like I said, the smell from this car is flat out amazing. I got the new car smell off the engine and whatnot, THEN it goes to Zebart and it really is a good smell (fresh wax)..but it is funny. I was about 15 feet away today and could smell it.

Also I had to detail the engine compartment. Obviously this car sat alot on the lot as the engine had a good coat of dust on it as did all of the seals around the hood, plastics, etc. I got all that cleaned up and she looks good. Not sure if I wanna get the flamed engine covers or just paint mine Nordic Green and be done with it.

I love this car so much, I even open the garage door before bed to get one last look at her. It really is a dream come true for me.

 

LOL!! You should post this on the "You know you're an RX-8 owner when.." thread!

 

Bought my '05 in August, zip, zero, nada problems. Not even anything to take it back to the dealer for.

 

0 problems here, only brought it to dealer twice for less dustier brake pads and the mandatory fuel tank/thermal recall.

remember, forums like these always make cars with problems seem to be of a higher percentage of the whole fleet in service than it actually is, i mean, what is there for me to complain about if there's nothing to complain about??

 

Purchased my 8 new in august 2004. No problems to date.

 

I bought mine in July 2004. 12k miles and no problems. Lots of smiles, but no problems. Since you are past your breakin period, I would redline it at least once a week, if not more often. The engine loves to rev! There are those that say that you need to redline it to keep it clean.

 

internet forums tend to magnify problems since only people with problems will post about them... people who is 100% fine dosnt need to post about it. if you take care of it, you will likely be fine. only thing to really pay attention to is flooding, while its a hassle, its 100% preventable.

 

Too late, saw it. But I've mellowed a bit on the gas issue.

The OM (pg 4-2) recommends 91 octane OR Higher. In my area, octane options are 87, 89, 93. Havent seen 91 around so...

I agree with you completely about warm up. The car warms up quickly (nature of the beast)