That is the symptom of a bad cat.

If the checks out ok... Have to take the pipe off and look at it.

Then bring it in to check the engine.

Like Swoope said.

 

It sounds like you have the same issue as me except mine only happens with the AC on and besides your not being able to accelerate, my car sputters at 5-7k.

Dealer is giving me the run around also. They claim to check the cat and they say it's good. Been to 2 different dealers 3 times. I will try a 3rd dealer soon. I cannot enjoy this car with the AC on. Arg

 

Sounds like a bad side or cutoff seal.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that! It has happened a few times recently that I got that rattle/flapping sound (I guess it's knocking?) while cruising on the highway.


The frustrating thing is that the car sounds normal and performance seems reasonable when it is started and driven cold. My ~30 minute commute doesn't involve any highway driving, so most days the car still feels okay after the trip. It really takes a ~20 minute trip on the highway at ~70 mph for these symptoms to appear, and even then it doesn't happen every time. There seems to be many factors that contribute to this behavior, and I don't have a good grasp on them.

No, I'm relatively easy on the car, and it is well-maintained.

No, she only drives the car when I have to take hers in for service, or when I need to transport something big like my guitar half stack. I will check out that thread though. Thank for the link.

If that's the case, it should show up in a compression test, right? The dealer said my car checked out okay at the last recall service--weren't they supposed to do a compression check on every engine at that time? Also, do you know under what conditions they run the compression test? My guess is that the readings would be much different on my engine when it is cold versus when it is warmed up and experiencing those symptoms.

 

The recall service has a very specific series of tests. I am willing to wager that the vast majority of dealership service techs don't bother. They just slap the sticker on and run the flash.
I recently had a friend from MD tell me that he dropped off (via a tow rig) a MS Protege with a blown motor at a well known dealership around DC. They called him to tell him that they couldn't "reproduce the problem" and that he should pick up the car. It was still backed into the same space.

They wont run an actual compression test unless you pay for it or raise such a stink that MNAO OKs it.

 

My car is doing the exact same thing as the OP. Even sounds the same once it is piping hot. It was a problem last year when I had the recall performed and it reappeared this summer. Would the bad side/cutoff seal register in a compression test MM?

 

My advice to buckeye is take the service manager out in the car with you for as much time as it takes to duplicate the stalling and poor performance so he can't say "it's fine."

It should never stall just idling. I had my car in for the recall and compression check a year ago and they added the new flash. 3 weeks ago I brought it back in and it failed the compression check and they replaced the motor. Yes it CAN deteriorate and fail later on after the original fix was performed. If they won't perform the tests again on a car with these symptoms that still has it's powertrain warranty than call Mazda North America Operations and report the dealer and ask them to assist you with getting proper service. Bottom line is they aren't addressing your problem and they need to.

 

Sounds like the dealership is not performing the recall correctly. (aka lazy freaking "technicians")
Have they done a compression test?
If so, have you seen the results?

My first thought was a clogged cat but after reading your latter posts, I'm leaning towards engine problems.
How many different dealerships have seen the car?

 

A good percentage of the failures have been on vehicles that passed the recall initially.

Any combustion seal failure will show up on a compression test (apex, side, corner, cutoff).

 

Keep us posted and let us know how it feels.

 

While I do not have any useful helpful information to contribute, I am currently going threw the exact same issue. My issue however is with my 04 AT Rx8, at only occurs when temperatures are above 100 and driving long distances. For example Ive driven up and back from Tallahassee over the past few weeks multiple times, getting things orgenzied for college and my new apartment. If I drive at night, I have no problems. If I drive during the day when its hot out, I have the EXACT same issues you do Buckeye.

I took the car to the dealer here locally, in vero beach and also to the dealer in Tallahassee, both confirmed they could not find anything wrong with the car and both stating they have run the compression tests and other varieties of test and my car is passing with above average marks.

 

Ill be taking my car to gem Mazda in Tallahassee on Monday; they are going to be putting a new motor in, and a new transmission as well as an additional oil cooler to support the new motor and transmission. Also they are putting in the 6 speed automatic they told me, so we'll see what happens. Ill keep everyone posted, they said it would take about a week, in the mean time i have a mazda 6 =/

 

OT -

I love that quote! I'm going to use it.

 

Well what broke the dealers back was influence from Mazda North America. I called their 1800 and exaggerated a bit saying I was concerned with my safety and well being blah blah, im sure you can think of a story to put in place of my "blah blah". Three hours after filing a complaint against Mazda and a little bit of threatening I received a phone call from the S.E Director of Operations and Retail Sales. He explained to me how understood my problems and concerns with my vehicle and since It was $36k new he said he would do everything he could to make things right. Th following morning I got a phone call from Gem Mazda in Tallahassee from the Service Manager explaining that I would need to bring my car in to have a new engine and new transmission put in at no cost to me with a Mazda 6 for me to drive while the repairs took place. I said alright, I will see you on Monday and I look forward to having my engine issues finally being resolved. The whole experience from the Director to talking to the dealership seemed very nonchalant, almost as if it was no big deal to replace the engine and the transmission. I requested the 6 speed auto because the 4 speed, frankly is just terrible on gas millage and im hoping by switching out to the 6, it will get at least sticker advertised MPG. I get around 8-9MPG with my car in downtown Tallahassee, where most of my driving occurs, that comes out to about 150 miles a tank @ $47-50 per tank, which is ludacris. So I will keep you guys posted on further developments, right now I am set to drop off the car Monday at 2PM and pick it up the following Monday afternoon, if everything goes to plan.

 

UPDATE: Today I brought it in to the dealer for this same problem. I insisted that a tech ride in the car with me so I could demonstrate the symptoms. We drove nearly 50 miles on the highway and the car simply refused to show any of the symptoms. It actually ran very strong, and idle was smooth after exiting the highway (whereas normally it will idle very rough and often stall out).

Here is the part that baffles me. Yesterday I changed the air filter for the first time in the life of the car (~43,000 miles... yes I know I waited way too long). The old filter was very dirty, but I have a hard time believing that the problem was caused by a clogged air filter. Why would the lack of power only present itself after ~20 minutes of highway driving? The car seemed to perform just fine during city driving, even during WOT accelearation where a clogged air filter would really affect performance. Also, how would the clogged air filter be responsible for the knock/preignition that I was hearing? The only thing I can think of is that as the engine compartment heated up after sustained load (like 20 minutes of highway cruising), it somehow increased the amount of restriction in the clogged filter. I don't know... seems like a stretch to me.

The only thing I can do now is drive the car some more and see if the problem returns. I'm sure the dealer thinks I'm an idiot now.

 

My car is on it's third air filter and I have 32k on it. It's easy to change and if you don't follow the maintenance the car has sensors and will fail to work properly if it cant breath well. Lets hope thats all it was.

 

New 6 port engine and new 6 speed auto transmission currently being put into my car. Dropped the car off on Tuesday and it is supposed to be ready today but its already 4:40est so it doesn't look so good. Hopefullly tomorrow, ill keep you all informed.

 

Not bad. You got a new engine and new tranny.

Let us know how it goes.

 

Well got the car back friday afternoon (late)

The car feels solid and a lot quicker in the lower rpm range, no lag like I use to have. Their is no rough idle with or without the car in gear or with or without the ac on or a combination of the two. Their is a 500 mile break in period the dealer told during which time I am not supposed to go above 4-4.5k rpms or above 75mph or travel at extended distances without varying my speed frequently.

The motor looks shinny and new inside the engine compartment and everything seems to be working fine. Ill let you guys known when I hit 500 and can red line it and to see the difference at higher rpms.

Bottom line, looks like they fixed whatever the problem that they were NOT! able to duplicates.

Total Repair time from complaint to resolution: 13months. Time to replace mechanical parts once they were in stock: 5 days.

 

ok so just failed my compression test today with flying colors. my biggest prob is no waranty. and 75k on the car and im pretty much screwed with mna. so i ask how many miles are on your 8 and what did you say to get them to replace an engine and tranny for free, i only ask because i am in dire need of a solution. im broke beacuse of this car and cant afford the 5500$ its goin to take to fix it.

 

This is a recall campaign. It should be covered by Mazda under the recall. Below is the link to the documentation. Call Mazda North American Operations to find out how to proceed.

http://www.finishlineperformance.com/rx8/bulletins.html

 

the dealership who did my recall, they did not do **** to my car. like MM said, they just flash my ECU and call it a day (where the fuxk is the label? I cant find it anywhere )

*sigh*...

Pathetic dealerships.

Try what swoope said, throw a couple tanks of premix into it, maybe 8 oz per fillup.

if the problem goes away completely. your motor is on its way to heaven.

if not. check the cat at a local garage.

 

My problem was NOT solved by the air filter replacement as I originally thought. The problem still occurs after extended highway driving... except for the morning I brought it to the dealer, when it refused to misbehave!!! At this point I'm hoping that symptoms get worse (or at least more repeatable) before my warranty expires in less than year, so I can actually prove to the dealer that I'm not going crazy. If I can't get the dealer to recognize the problem before the warranty expires, I'll probably just get rid of the car. It's really sad that it would come to this, but the dealers are so clueless when it comes to this car that I feel helpless.

 

Yeah, Life is like that

and it really suck if u want something to be done, but for whatever reason, it just cant be done.

I just called my dealership up who has my car for ... today is the 3rd day. well, guess what the service writer said I dont have to pay anything !!! but he dont know what was changed because he doesnt have the papers with him(he spoke with the tech who touch my car earlier)

so hehe ... just keep pushing ur car till it showing problems, then bring it to the dealer ASAP

 

tell them to check the compression aftr driving the car for 20 miles in traffic and the highway, thats what i did . when they checked the compression when the engine was cold it barley passed, afetr the tech drove it like i told him to and checked it again it failed miserably. be a dick about it man or you will be stuck like me at 75 k with a useless p.o.s in the driveway. or get rid of it if you can. i am. i will miss the handleing and all but this is just to much damn trouble to deal with. good luck man