dude, its not being a dick. They love to cheat people out of money when they don't know any better. I'd definitely print out the TSB and try to respectfully ask about it and try to get them to take care of you. What are they going to do, plant a bomb in your car?

I hate hearing stories like this cuz my service guys are like the nicest people ever.

But even though they are nice, I still do as much as I can myself. Don't be scared to start learning your share and take care of some of the stuff yourself. Chances are, even if you don't know what the hell you are doing, you will be paying so much attention and quadruple checking everything you do, that you are probably likely to do a better job than a service guy who is backed up with god knows how many cars and getting them done as fast as he can.

Just grab a ~90pc mechanic tool set and a pdf copy of the RX8 shop manual, and learn your way.

 

read the end of the post. about the time is money part.
and unfortunately yes, there are dealers that do that. your car doesn't get the max potential from the service. The car technically should get a quick roadtest after every major service regardless, but seeing both worlds,,it is obvious there are techs who will not - you generally DID get a service, the tech made his labor time, and you may never know the difference. SOme vehicles you feel a difference; means your car was loaded with carbon and you should be pushing your 8 a bit harder and performeing a tune-up more often, maybe switching to a better fuel. the ones the dont feel much of a difference are the people who generally keep the car up to date with services and engine wasn't really carbon'd up to begin with. It is a good thing tp have done, i recommend doing it yourself or get a friend. you dont have to disconnect many items. you can dump it right into the (warm) throttle body @ idle until the can runs out, then shut it off and reassemble, take for a blast. car will feel like its misfire, but hold the pedal down and let it burn. works.

 

that's the win!

 

Sounds good. but won't they void my warrenty, if their not doing the job? and me doing it?

 

No. For example. You could get your oil changed at a jiffy lube place. That's not official mazda service, but you could still get it done, and you would be meeting the scheduled maintenance needs. Take it one step further, and now you do your own oil changes. They could void warantee if you didnt use the appropriate oil, but even in that case, if you've driven the car a reasonable amount, no one can tell what oil you put in.

Case in point: I use Royal Purple 10w-40. That is a fully synthetic oil, of non-oem weight. But there is no way for them to know that.

 

Yeah man. I didn't know a single thing about anything. Yet, I grabbed the ole tool kit and my laptop with pdf manual, and installed a turbo kit in my car. Saves money if you do regular maintenance yourself, as well as know when you are getting bullshitted by dealers. Win Win situation.

 

this weekend for sure - i will settle this thing that has been bothering forever.

 

Oh I've been working on cars since I was 9 or 10.. after owning the Z I learned allot.
Thats why I made a thread a while ago about the 8 being the easiest car to work on.. anyone can do it there no need to pay overpriced stealerships.

 

It happen to me first time because don't wait the 1 hour before start the engine. I did last week with seafoam not deep creep just liquid seafoam in my booster brake vacuum hose having a partner rev the rx8 in 2k just use 1/3 bottle of seafoam and another 1/3 to the gas tank. Wait like 30 min but wait the hour like mazda said start the engine you would see the blue smoke with nice smell of plastic burn. It work for me I just get rid off the P2070 code the haunt me for 5 month.

Fix the P2070 code have 2 way :

MAZDA DEALER
MAZDA DEALER+WAITING LIKE 3 HOUR+MAZDA ZOOM CLEANER=$130.00

DO IT YOURSELF
HAVING FRIEND+BEER+WAITING 1H 5min+Bottle SEAFOAM=$9.99

here the video of making the same procedure look the result of the smoke of my friend Rx8 Shinka Limited edition. Warning Puerto Rico spanish version
http://rapidshare.com/files/192518713/MOV0012A.avi.html

 

funny story my war of getting rid of the code p2070 is far from over. Yesterday after almost 2 week of not having the cel on. Turn on the cel after the car was like 27mph and 3k rpm. Now gave me P0171[pending,current,history]system to lean and P2070[history,Current]SSV Stuck open. Can someone help this poor man just love his lemon car.

 

I will be doing mine again right before I do a tune up. I will video tape it again only with a charged battery this time.

 

Check the SSV. or the engine harness might have a problem(like mine)

 

p2070 tsb does reccommend using the engine zoom cleaner to properly clean out the manifold but there's also an updated ssv part.

Before this tsb came out realistically the only way to fix p2070 was to replace the lower manifold. the manifold itself is relatively expensive and the labor time is equivalent of pulling the motor out of the car.

if you manage to catch the p2070 in time you might get lucky and be able to get everything super clean and operable but at the least you're going to need a new ssv assembly, if you want i can copy the part numbers from the tsb for you.

kevin.

 

ok my SSV isn't stuck. Why I tell you why

1] I can move the SSV with my hand and with a vacuum pump
2]I check the ssv switch terminal A & B continuity when the rod above and no continuity with pushing the rod.

So that make my think is the solenoid stuck or malfunction or the PCM

Today take out the UIM and clean it but it was clean after all. Clean the throttle it was a little dirt of carbon and the ssv solenoid gave it like 4 spray of seafoam deep creep. Let see what happen my hope are not too high

But at least the code P0171 is fix it ,how? friday night clean the MAF Sensor and yesterday scan the car and the P0171 disappear well I hope so. here is my freeze frame

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/676/rx8800x600cw3.png
http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/227...800x600fe0.png


Kevin is this the SSV part #N3H5-20-160F tsb service bulletin 01-019-1929s

 

Worked great. Used Seafoam and sucked it through temporary hoses on each nipple. Found it hard to get more than one ounce of oil through each hose when putting the recommended little bit of extra oil in before starting. Other than that, no problems. Lots of smoke and an engine that feels new again. Great procedure, easy to do in combo with oil, filter and air filter change.

Will do again in about 3 oil changes.

Thanks for the tips and comments. Helped me a bunch.

 

hey kevin - what would your opinion be if I never got smoke when I ran the zoom zoom cleaner through? tried it two times on two different days...

 

Just cause you can move the actuator doesnt mean it isnt sticking. When i get home from work I'll post you up some teardown pics of a bad SSV and double check the P/N for the new one. The new one has a redesigned end bushing to prevent carbon from causing it to bind.

I've also seen the wires going to the solenoids just break off at the connectors at the back of the manifold but that'll normally set a "circuit high" code, normally when you get a "stuck open" code something was/is stuck.

I actually just did one of these a few days ago so the pics are still on my cam. The car had, IIRC, 38k on it and the carbon/gunk buildup was really severe. The problem with the normal zoom engine cleaning is the ports that you spray it into DONT reach the SSV, to clean the ssv port you have to remove it and clean it manually with the zoom cleaner. not too bad of a job though, gotta yank the ACV and thermostat housing then its relatively easy.

Don't worry if it doesnt smoke, the cleaner itself doesnt smoke, only the carbon and gunk does. no smoke = no gunk. We see it a lot on lower mileage cars. I've had no smoke come out of a car with 80k on it as well. The cleaner will do it's job so dont sweat the small stuff.

kevin.

 

ohh sweet!

 

Kevin,

nothing related to this zoomzoom cleaner thing.

motor still stall at stop light. not as bad as summer, it happened couple of times thru out the whole winter. hmm. Sometimes it takes at least 5 seconds to do a "hot start". hmm. what else hmm ...

got some "crazy" misfires once, light was blinking for more than a minute, it happened couple hundred miles ago, but I think it was just bad gas. it never came back.

Parking lever broke (again), tail light water ... hmm.

Oh yes Do I get more "special" treatments if I get a car from u guys? cuz I think it will happen soon lol

 

If you're trading in your RX I want your wheels.

 

I aint trading my 8 in ... unless they have some crazy deals like 0% apr plus 4K customer cash plus no payment for 90 days

I probably gonna trade my other car in, o u know which one

 

I still want your wheels.

 

when you get a "misfire capable of damaging catalyst" the light will blink, generally a specific amount of time, the blink starts when the misfire is detected but doesnt have to still be occurring for the light to blink, possibly a piece of carbon flaked off and got spat out.

as for the stalling i'm still left wondering, everything checked IIRC and with the cleaner going thru clean i'm figuring your engine doesnt have anything stuck inside. wish it would store some useful code.

kevin.

 

Carbon Attacks SSV - 38k on motor - Pics
Here's a rundown:
IMG_0451 - This pic was taken with the camera upside down, this is the SSV port in your lower manifold, you can see the capped off nipples in this pic so (once you flip the pic in your head) you can understand why the typical zoom engine cleaning doesn't touch the SSV port.
Just for a good reference that WHOLE interior surface, when new, is super shiny almost mirror finished metal, thats because the clearances are so tight for the ports to be successfully closed off completely when needed.

IMG_0452 & 0453 - Here's a closeup of the SSV port pre-cleaning. If you look all the way to the rear you'll see what is really the most damaging carbon. That recessed hole in the rear is where the SSV end bushing sits and moves, notice how the thickest carbon is built up there? That's what seizes/sticks up the SSV. As is the nature of carbon/gunk the part wont ALWAYS stick but with the right conditions it will, remember that ssv is being moved with simply a vac line and the actuator. Now even though the walls of the cylinder simply look dirty the clearances between the SSV and the walls of the manifold are practically nothing so every thousandth of an inch of carbon is bad.

IMG_0454 - Here we see the actual SSV. The top small part is the "bushing. This part has been redesigned specifically to try to prevent sticking, it is no longer solid it has either 1 or 2 lines cut into it and IIRC the material has also been changed. Now this SSV when new is ALSO shiny anything other then a silver shiny metal has been added on while inside the motor. The buildup on there is sticky to the touch and to get off you need to soak in zoom cleaner for 20 minutes and then scrub hard, which is why it used to be better to replace the whole manifold, but now the updated SSV is supposively better, so we'll see.

IMG_0455 & 0456 - Just additional pics of the old SSV to show how nasty the buildup is. Again the key thing to remember is all of the clearances are SUPER tight all these built up spots are whats stopping it from moving smoothly when needed. Specifically in 0456 you can see a blurry closeup of the bushing, what you should try to notice here is where the bushing meets the SSV where it meets is a dead 90 degree angle, so you can notice that the carbon has begun creeping up the bushing normally once its at that point it'll throw the code no matter how many times you clear it because the bushing will no longer move freely, ever.

Now of course me being me I forgot to take pics of the new part and the "after cleaning"

As for parts numbers, realistically all you REALLY need is the SSV, SSV gasket, and the new longer SSV bolt (you reuse one, the other one is too short and gets replaced.

SSV: N3H5-20-160F
SSV Gasket: N3H4-20-155A
SSV Bolt: 9979-60-640
Zoom Cleaner: 0000-77-A86

Specific improvements of the new SSV: Improved, Larger Vac Actuator also mounted more securely to SSV (to help make sure nothing sticks if it does get gummy again), SSV Bushing is redesigned, nothing else noticeable.

You WILL need that new bolt, new SSV mounts the actuator differently requiring a bolt about 10-15mm longer then the one that comes out.

To do this job all you really need to do is unbolt and remove ACV, remove water pump pulley, alternator bracket, thermostat (secure to front of vehicle, no need to remove hoses), unbolt thermostat housing and secure to passenger side (again no reason to remove hoses), unbolt SSV. Sliding out the old SSV will be difficult if you have a P2070 code but just keep wiggling and it will slide out.

Also if you go to a dealer and you're out of warranty they'll most likely try to sell you a manifold because the tech will be able to charge double-digit hours and the manifold isnt cheap. Show them this tsb and say youd prefer this service performed. Most likely you're looking at 3-4 hours labor and whatever the parts cost (i dont remember that stuff).

Hope this helps out, and remember, just cause you can go in and move the SSV with a vac pump or your hand doesnt mean it isnt sticking, it just isnt sticking at that time. But if you'd like to test the solenoids and stuff it's really simple, solenoid is an on/off switch with 12v and ground, not that complicated. But the plugs (black, white and blue) on the solenoids have a tendency of snapping their wires right at the connector or building up resistance right at the connector.

thats it for today.

kevin.

 

thanks for the writeup kevin