sjiraff79

Hey guys! I'm new here, and I've been lurking for a few days because I'm now buying a RX-8, and there seems to be a lot of info about the car here.

Hopefully some of you can give me a bit of advice!

The car I'm buying has had its engine replaced once, and before that the Cat was replaced twice. The warranty expires in about 4 months. I'm a bit worried about all the repairs..

I'm wondering, is this car still safe to buy?
Should I expect similar problems with it in the future?


Here is a translated version of it's repair history:

-----------------------------------

7. dec 2005:

Mileage: 7325 Kilometers

Case:
Engine light is on, and it's lacking engine power

Comments:
Checked and found burnt catcon. There were ceramic residue in rear exhaust silencer. Changed catcon and rear silencer. This has happened before too, and it seems too many short trips leads to fuel residue in the catcon. This residue starts burning, and this melts the catcon.

Parts list:
N3H82055XE Converter
N3H140100H Silencer main
N3H140305 Gasket
L31540581 "Tetningsring"

Total cost: USD 4338 (covered by warrany)

-----------------------------------

17. feb 2006:

Mileage: 7432 Kilometers

Case: Car is difficult to start in cold weather

Comments:
Previously replaced 2 catcons who were melted down.
Checked compression, and found 87,1 PSI on rotor 1 and 99,4 on rotor 2. Should be 120 PSI, minimum 98,6 PSI. Replaced engine in agreement with (company). Replaced starter and plugs, serviceinfo R035/05.

Parts list:
N3Y318S70 Starter & Plug
N3H110153 Gasket
N3H113111 Gasket, In. Manif
N3H113461B Gasket, Ex. Manif
N3H114342 Gasket, Oil Filt
N3H140305 Gasket
L31540581 Tetningsring
N3H102200 Engine Std Pow
B6Y114302 9A Oil filter
5555EG001 Engine Oil Full synthetic
5555CL001 Coolant (sp?)

Total cost: USD 19652 (covered by warrany, thank god!)


-----------------------------------

27. april 2006

Mileage: 9694 Kilometers

Case: Oil change


-----------------------------------


3. jan 2007:

Mileage: 13906 Kilometers

Case: 2-year service

Comments:
none

Parts list:
B6Y114302 9A Oil filter
995641400 Gasket
5555BK001 Brake fluid
LDY461J6X Filter, Cooling
Lazerway 5W-30 A5/B5

Total cost: USD 560


(Please excuse my poor english skills! :-)

DarkBrew

Who would you be buying from and how much are they asking?

Also where are you located?

sjiraff79

I'm in norway!
I'm buying from the mazda shop in a near city. The same show which sold it new, and which did all the repairs.
Cars in Norway cost a LOT, I'm paying about 55000 USD for it..

nike178

DarkBrew

How does that compare with other RX-8s you have considered?

Will the dealer include an extended warranty to allay your concerns?

sjiraff79

The one I'm looking at is about 3-4000 USD cheaper than the other ones. The other ones do have 30-40.000 kilometers on them though, while the one I'm looking at only has 15000 kilometers.

One other car has 32.000 kilometers and no CD player, otherwise the same. But it's warranty has just expired. I could that other car for about 1000 USD more..

sjiraff79

Oh, and about the extended warranty, shops normally give 3 months of warranty for used cars. But since the car still has 4 months left of it's original warranty, that should not be necessary?

I could buy an extended warranty from an insurance company for 6 months, but it seems drastic to pay $330 for only 2 months of extra coverage..

sjiraff79

Ok, so I got some new info:
The previous owner was in fact a old woman! And she's been driving kinda slow..
Thus, the cat/engine failure at is probably caused by carbon buildup.

My question is this: Is the catcon and engine replacement a permanent fix for the carbon buildup problems?

DarkBrew

So this car has gone 7500 km on the new engine which is about the same as the mileage required to kill the first.
So how does it run?

sjiraff79

The car is in another city, about half a day driving from here, so I haven't tested it yet. The salesman of course tells me it runs fine..
I plan on taking it for a test drive before the handover.