Might just be coincidental, but The car has had new plugs and coils for about 12k now, MAF and ESS have been cleaned.

I took my car in for the fuel pump recall. Due to me having installed an aftermarket pump (because the OEM was dumping gas last year before the recall came out) Mazda had to order a complete new oem fuel pump assembly.

Since then, the car has misfired (flashing CEL) on me twice. Once in WOT shifting into second gear at high RPM (around 6-8k) and one time shifting into third slowly accelerating on a residential road. Both times the CEL flashed and the car felt like it slammed into a brick wall, and the tach just dropped like a rock.

Since that was the last time the car was touched mechanically, I was just curious as to if anyone has had this issue happen after their recall was performed.

I'm going to check tomorrow to make sure they didnt let the pump turn when re applying the retaining ring, maybe thats part of it. But I figured I would ask and see if anyones had this issue after having the recall done.

 

Need to do a fuel pressure check during the problem

Sounds like a bad pump based on the symptons

 

I called the stealership today. Explained that the car wasn't doing this before hand, and it has since occurred twice afterwards. So they put me down to bring it in. I'm expecting the dealership bs.

I told the service advisor the car is up to date on its maintenance (coils, plugs replaced OEM new less than 12k ago. Have documentation of the parts.) ESS is clean, OEM. MAF is clean, OEM.

I don't think she understood that a flashing CEL is a misfire because she tried to phrase it that to have a misfire the CEL would stay illuminated. So either way, I'm prepared to drop the car off, wait, and have them come back with some reason as to why it's not the pump. It could be a complete coincidence. But the car never did that before the pump was changed. Not doing it regularly either, but twice now is more than enough to warrant concern.

I'm willing to bet either the pump is bad or installed incorrectly. They probably let it rotate when installing the retaining ring. I was going to check on it..but if this is the dealerships fault, I'm not touching any area of the car they worked on because its instantly going to be a "not our problem" scenario if I do.

 

Sounds like the idiots that did my car. Fuel leaked out the passenger side of the saddle tank, enough to pool on the garage floor. Threw a code that I haven't been able find out from them what it is. Now for two plus weeks they "can't figure out" why it won't start. I am worried they flooded it and didn't do the right procedure. If the don't get it fixed on Monday going to complain to Mazda North America about it.

 

The dealer has had it that long for the fuel pump recall? I can understand a slight delay..in my case the pump was leaking (the aftermarket entire assembly I had to have put in because the oem pump was doing exactly what the recall was for, with a new retaining ring.)

They said itd be a week and they couldnt let me take the car, liability reasons I'm assuming. So I complained about not having a car for a week and they gave me a CX-3 loaner, and they expedited the shipping.

Being that they cant tell you what is wrong, I'd be worried. Considering if it did throw a code, it takes all of a few minutes to connect the car to IDS to pull it (Mazdas diagnostic software.) It doesn't take two weeks to unflood a motor. There could be a delay on parts..but they should just be upfront and tell you about that from the beginning if that is the case.

I'd call the dealership today during service hours, speak to the manager, hold if you have to. Don't let them call you back. Get a straight answer. If you can't get a straight answer from the service manager, go straight to MNAO (anytime I've ever had an issue with a dealer, they corrected them, usually very quickly.)

Id be interested to know how this pans out, feel free to reply to the thread or PM me.

My appointment is this coming Tuesday, so I'm expecting basically every excuse as to why the issue isnt related to the work they peformed (even though the issue did not occur until after they put the pump in.) They can't get me on plugs, they have 12,000 miles on them tops, Coils about 10k. ESS is OEM and clean. So this is probably going to be one of those times where I have to call MNAO.

 

If I don't get a real answer on Monday MNAO is getting a call. These guys just got the dealership so I know they have no clue what they are doing. Sadly I didn't have much of a choice on taking it to them. Closest to me. Figured what they had to do shouldn't have been too difficult, but well I was sorely mistaken.

 

Hey Tyblat, I am not saying that it isn't a fuel pump problem, but when you mentioned the plugs and coils were about 12k old, you didn't mentioned whether the plug wires were changed at the same time. If so fine, if not, then that could be part of the problem. Any bad or loose wire can lead to misfires.

And don't believe that a plug cant go bad after 12k miles. Depending on how hard you push them, plugs can be starting to decrease in performance by 12k, especially if they have been fouled by the car having been flooded. Have you inspected/tested your plugs,wires ,coils and all their connections ? There are DIY guides here in the forum.

In fact with the way I drive, 12k is around the mileage that I replace my plugs, as I can tell they are starting to lose performance (noticed especially at high rpm).

So yes get the dealer, who did the work, to check it all out, at their expense. Just be prepared to diagnose elsewhere, if they come back and say the pump and its installation are fine and working properly.

 

I'm expecting them to just outright say it without doing any real testing. It's only occurred three times now, but I'm just guessing the pump rotated when they were tightening the retaining ring and thats whats intermittently causing the problem, car literally stops dead in its tracks and the tach just plummets. The dealers I've dealt with for recalls, have usually had the "not our problem" attitude. They tried to deny the seat belt recall on the RX-7, Luckily I brought the letter from Mazda regarding it. But they may find something wrong related to installation and fix it.

I've inspected everything short of pulling the plugs, the car hasn't been flooded, but it wouldn't hurt to check anyways.

 

Maybe the electrical pump connection isn’t fully seated or making contact inside the tank is another possibility. You might check the connector on outer top of the pump just to be sure it’s fully seated too.

 

Yes it could also be a pinched/kinked fuel hose . That could be caused by the pump rotating as you suspect.

 

Well, that is my assumption. But, (and this could be entirely coincidental.) I've noticed every time i've filled up at a particular gas station this issue has happened. I don't use that station very often, which would explain why its so erratic. But I just got home from a 2~ drive round trip, and at the start of that trip, gas was bought as said gas station. car misfired twice. Same symptoms.

I might be beating a dead horse on this one, but I'm calling the station manager tomorrow. The gas might be contaminated.

 

Yes I would never use that gas again. You should be using top tier gas in your RX8. Many brands have met the specs for top tier, which has more cleaning additives to reduce carbon buildup.

Here is link to the current list:

Licensed Brands | Top Tier Gas

 

That service station is a shell, and I always put 93 in my car. Never once will I ever put anything less. lol.

But since its happened everytime i've gotten gas at this particular station..I'm inclined to believe its contaminated fuel.

 

You could be right about that. Especially if you are getting gas when their supply is near the bottom of their tanks where contaminates can sometimes collect.