rsjcrich

My 8 just flooded 2 days ago. I pulled it out to wash it, pulled it back in the garage for the night and Bingo, no start on Sunday! I had it towed to dealer today (monday). I'm picking it up tomorrow and I'm asking him about the m flash at that time.

snap-on

Do you know if the selling dealer did the "M" flash before you purchased the car?

rsjcrich

Got the 8 back today. I asked about the M flash and he said that they updated it to the latest version. He wouldn't say M flash, but I'm guessing thats what I got. He still told me to warm it up for 2 - 3 minutes and rev it to 3000 rpm before shutting it down again. It's running great, although it ran good before. I'll have to get it on the highway and see if it makes a difference there.

Nigandahu

I had heard at one point that Mazda was working on an N flash that restores the power of the 8 to its original spec. Does anyone have any information on this flash?

zoom44

you heard wrong. if and when there is an N flash it wont be to "restore the original power spec"

Icemastr

Don't worry the Type R flash will be out soon, its supposed to add about 40 more HP.

Nigandahu

Its funny how I heard it on these very boards by people who "have connections to mazda". It kinda says something about their reputability.

snap-on

Can you post a link to that thread?

I can't recall anything solid on it..

Or course I have CRS some days.

Nigandahu

Not sure if this is the exact thread, but here is one from the end of May referring to both "N Flash" and restoring power.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-aftermarket-performance-modifications-23/new-flash-today-29844/

snap-on

Yeah..

I check our oldest vehicle in stock yesterday for updates..

Still the "M"

I'm not saying we will stay at "M".

Might be one due this week...

zoom44

Nigandahu- i dont know where i was during the time that thread was active or i would have clarified things back then. if you search thru my posts about that time or a little later you will find me making a lot of corrections to those types of posts. as it is snap-on,omicron and a couple of others tried to explain to people there wasnt any new flash then but most people in that thread seem to have skipped reading their posts.

everyone in that thread and others up until now who think they got a flash newer then M and called it N were/are wrong. as Snap said above as of yesterday M was still the latest and even the 2005's that are on the lots now have M from the factory. Many people confused having the MSP04 work done with getting a new flash. that is a misconception that i have tried to correct as often as i could.

where the service people and the forum members start confusing each other is in the language we speak when talking about the flashes. there are part numbers for the software revisions and then ther is the revision number itself. for example

N3H6-18-881M - is the part number for a pcm upgrade for the hi-power(6mt) rx-8
N3H4-18-881M - is the part number for a pcm upgrade for the lo-power(4at) rx-8

the difference being the 4 and 6. note the M here at the end of the part number is not the revision or "flash" that we talk about here. thats where things get confused. the service techs use these part numbers in their language and we on the 8club use the following numbers in our language:

SW-N3H6EM000xxx - when a new revision or flash is released this number is changed by changing the letter after the "E". in this case this is the number for the "M" since that is the letter after the E. so-

SW-N3H6EK000xxx : Is what all of the first shipment cars had when purchased. the "K" flash
SW-N3H6EL000xxx : Was the first flash upgrade most people got. It's the "L" flash and help flooding and took care of some other problems like false evap test failures and cat sensor errrors.

when M came out everybody wanted it but most dealers wouldnt give it because they said "you have to have aproblem to get the flash" however somepeople did get it especially after mazda update the TSB to say "update all cars whether they have the complaint or not when they come in for service". even after that people had trouble getting the M. so Mazda came out with MSP04 which is a mandatory flash upgrade for all 8s not on M including dealer stock. when an 8 went in for service the service writer would say "oh there is a new flash upgrade" and people who already had M thought they were getting something new so reported they got an "N" flash. that was not true the service people were just following the directions of MSP04. the service guy checks to see what level you are on- if M already then he just "closes" the issue with the Mazda service system. If you were at a previous level then he did the flash and closes the issue with mazda. either way the paperwork says "completed MSP04".

that was a long post. i hope i was clear enough. any questions?

snap-on

Damn that was a long one..

Nice explaination...I get it now.

zoom44

you'd better or ill make you start answering them

Nigandahu

Well anyway, thats a good story about people being confused. I was just wondering if there was any news as of late of a new flash. I'll be gettin an 8 soon is why I ask.

Also anyone know of a good rotary friendly shop in Las Vegas that can install a light flywheel for me?

zoom44

on the first question- ask me again later in the week. on the second question- check with dan over at rotarynews.com. he's from vegas if i remember correctly and should be able to point you to a good shop

mtnpass

Thank you for the info.....had same question, service writer last week had me all confused when took in for campaign service.

Labop

ask you later in the week huh? hopefully wednsday counts, as that's when my baby will be getting her brakes changed at the dealer..., hopefully it'll be announced and I can do a "one-stop shopping" waranty-work -----thing

zoom44

there will not be a flash anytime soon that does anything to increase the power output. period. if you are on M now then dont worry about any flash that might be coming. just go get your service done. the only reason to even consider the supposed next flash is if you have some problem that it might help eliminate. other wise forgeddaboutit

Labop

At this point I don't care about a power difference, though it would be nice, I'd rather just get everything done on one trip to the dealer. It's hard to get time off work around here unless you're good at scamming. Thanks for the info zoom, good write up BTW.

samsonite1

Is this the new "n" flash? Mazda released yesterday.

http://www.finishlineperformance.com.../01-022-04.htm

Slims8

Yeah, why would they have a new flash, but say it's not required for people who have the previous? Wouldn't that mean that the "M" flash was sufficient? Why another?

mysql101

The N flash has special magic dust giving users who are complaining about issues a potent dose of placebo effect.

rx8cited

Weird? I don't think so. It sounds like Mazda is trying to hold the service people by their hands and just revising/clarifying/enhancing the existing TSBs instructions to make it absolutely clear that all the applicable RX-8s that are not at flash revision M get "upgraded" to M.

So this ain't nothing new or better for us who already have the M flash - cause M is the latest according to this TSB.

I have the M flash sticker on my car, so hopefully they won't try and flash me again when I get my next oil change.

rx8cited

zoom44

This flash is not the Nflash. the update to MSP04 shows that they have renamed the files used for our cars. in the past the files were N3H 4or6 E* where the star was the letter for the flash level H,J,K,L,M. now the file name is N3Z 1or2 E* in this case *=L. according to the MSP04 the H4(6)EM is the same as Z1(2)EL. There may not be any difference between the files at all other than nomenclature or this could mean we've gone from version 1.xx to version 2.xx. its to early to tell yet since there is nothing added to the MSP that suggests this file deals with a problem not covered by M.

bottom line- dont go running out to try to get a flash- you wont get any if you are already on M. It appears right now that this is just part of Mazda's continued effort to get everyone to M. its been said before that they are considering sending a letter to every owner that the records show isnt yet. this seems like just a continuation of that effort.

zoom44

thanks- in case you didnt see it- there was an Update to MSP04 today but not a new flash exactly. see the tech section.