nannerhut

now reguarding the service bulletin will they just check for the updates for the battery,s tarter and leaading plugs free of charge, or replace them free of charge if they need replacing?

swoope

iTrader: (5)

the recall for the r flash should have taken care of most of it... and much more!!!!

beers

nannerhut

a I went in and had all recalls (two or three I believe) taken care of quite awhile ago. I had my 30,000 mile check up...my 42,000 mile check up and I've gone in continually for an A/C problem and I've never had my car engine flood until yesterday. I was planning on later in the month taking it in for a 50,000 service.

Jpaulspeed

Alright, I have a new question. Since I bought the car used on ebay I don't know what tsb's have been done. Can I call the dealer and give them my vin to find out what has been done?

Go48

You can call Mazda North American Ops at 1-800-222-5500 or go to MazdaUSA.com and send customer service an e-mail and they can tell you if there are any open recalls on the car. They probably won't be able to give you complete details on all the service done on the car. You can also go into the dealer and ask the service department to check for a record of services. I'm not sure just which services are entered into the database other than recalls. I doubt that the dealership service department will give you any information without verifying that you are the owner.

ultradave

In the last couple of weeks, I have had 3 instances of flooding. Each time I was able to start it myself, but not without 30-45 minutes of using the flooded start procedure - crank with pedal to floor, crank with foot off pedal, repeat until hoarse from swearing at the car for making you miss a meeting at work. I have also had it into the dealer to fix the headlight aim - 3 times. No luck - lights still aimed at the ground. I can't drive the car safely at night. I see there are various posts on how to "do it yourself", but I wanted the dealer to do it themselves. (I really like the service dept - they've been great with all the flooding episodes, they just had no luck making the aiming stick)

I have had 3 previous flooding problems that required towing to the dealer, before the battery upgrade. With the new battery, there is enough juice to not kill it starting it flooded, at least.

ALL of my flooding occurences where with a fully warmed up car. I have moved it cold numerous times and revved it up when shutting it off with no problems.

Anyway, the last couple weeks were it. I'm tired of getting stranded by a new car. I just signed a deal on a new Miata, and am trading in the RX-8. I know - not the same car, but still quite nice and lots of fun to drive - ZOOM ZOOM!

Dave

CERAMICSEAL

Great choice of car in the MX-5. A few questions I might want to ask if that's OK by you: Do you have the new starter and is your car a 6 speed? Have they up-dated your sparkplugs, how many miles are on yours, what year is it and did you purchase it new or second hand?

ultradave

I bought mine new in August '04 - build date March '04. It's a 6 speed Touring Edition. It has had the new starter, new battery, 2 new sets of plugs during it's various tow ins for flooding. Just had it in for 15K service so it's got the latest software (flooded twice after that). It has 16,600 miles on it.

I've had loads of fun driving it, but I think I'll be happier with more dependability from the MX-5. I owned a TR-7 a long time ago, and at the time was a bachelor lieutenent in the Army with nothing better to do in my spare time than fiddle with a finicky sports car :-) My tastes have changed. I'm looking forward to the Miata. On a test drive it felt as tight and glued to the road as the RX-8, maybe even more so! Just not quite the acceleration in the midrange.....plenty to keep me happy. Loved the one hand from the driver's seat putting the top up and down - couldn't be easier.

Dave

Mendossa

Well, I guess it just *had* to happen at some point but I sure didn't expect it to be so soon. Had the car for 3 weeks, made sure I didn't shut it down without properly warming it up. Parked the car at my GF's uncle's place while we went on a 1 week cruise in the caribbean... he "showed it" to another of my GF's uncles. What do you think they did?

After a full week without running, humid and cold temperature outside. Just a few hours before I got there to take it back: Unlock doors... get in... start the car... "it sure is a real nice car"... shuts off the car.

Did I mention I had informed the uncle in question about "never shutting it down without a sufficient warm-up or it'll be good for a flatbed ride to the dealership" ?

Now of course it won't start. Tried the manual procedure... now I can smell gas so that probably means we flooded it even more while trying to start it up.

I'll get it towed to the dealer on Tuesday since everything is closed for Easter. For those who had this trouble, is everything covered under warranty? I read changing plugs, sometimes changing oil + oil filter. Is that all covered or do they make you pay for it?

Thanks

66cooper

I believe I saw you at Mazda Gabriel at 7:30am this morning. Looks like the service guys there were being real helpful.....

Mine was in for the Thermal Damage/Fuel Tank recall. Of course, mine is a 2005 and I've done the cold start, short run-shut down many times with no problems at all.

Let me know how it goes and particularly how you are treated by Mazda Gabriel.

Thanks,

Daniel

Susie Paxton

I love my 2004 RX8 when it works. However, mine flooded the first time last December. My husband backed it out of the garage and turned it off. He then went inside for a minute and then we both got in to go to my party. Then of course, it would not start because it flooded. Since it was on the weekend, we had to have the car towed and wait until Monday, without use of the car, until they could replace the plugs. At that time, they gave me a better battery and charged me $65.00 for it. I was angry, but got over it. Then on this past Friday, April 14, my husband backed it out to wash the car. Then when he restarted it, it had flooded. So back to the dealer again for the weekend. This time they did provide me with a loaner. But had I known that this was an issue with this car, I would have never purchased it to start with, despite the fact that otherwise, it is a great little car. I am too old and too busy to have to remember that once I start the car, I have to leave it running for five minutes or else run the risk of being stranded.

Go48

The dealer should replace, under warranty, your battery, starter motor and spark plugs with upgraded units. Those items will greatly reduce the possibility of a future flood, or help with recovering from a flood, but you still should not shut the engine down cold. Print out the service bulletin at the link below and take it with you in case they claim ignorance.

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...4-05-1448e.pdf

tuj

Then you are too old and busy to own a rotary engine car. Are you also too old and busy to remember to check and add oil? The dealer and the manual should have told you about both of these things. The rotary does ask more of its owner, but its not that much more. It demands that you:

-always warm the car up before shutting it off

-check the oil every week or every other fill-up

Both of these things will prolong the life of ANY engine, but are mandatory on the rotary. If you can't handle those two simple things, get a different car.

BTW: I've always let mine warm up before shutting it off, and I've never flooded.

MEGAREDS

And it shows in your response. Please believe me, tuj, it only takes once, and the warm fuzzies one has about this car tend to evaporate. I've driven mine since Dec. '03 without a flood, but I've never made a mistake since then. . . not since that first time. In fact, my "first flood" was the last time my wife drove our RX-8 and, although that might sound like a good thing to some, it's a pain in the neck arranging my life so she can drive our other car at all times. It also made it a waste buying the AT; I'd have surely gotten the MT if I had known I'd be the only driver.

Personally, I love my car, but the four days I watched it sitting in my driveway waiting for a rotary mechanic to come back from his New Years' holiday were very unpleasant. I give Mazda lots of credit for continuing to work on the rotary engine, but I think over the life of the 2004 model at least, it was going to strand most of us at some point in time, particularly as the batteries naturally age.

The good news is that mine goes in for remediation work this Thursday. I'll be very happy to get the new equipment.

MidLife8

The poll is going to be skewed since you can't vote twice. Of course, the smartiepants who hadn't YET had the flood situation were all too happy to share their good fortune and to laugh at the rest who were not so fortunate already. I can imagine that some of those former naysayers would have to change their votes once the flaw catches up with them. Then all those hollow guffaws would come back to haunt them. Also, as the population of RX-8s is aging and the newer ones are set up with better batteries and starters and Flashes, I expect the older ones to fail sooner or later.

Mendossa

That wasn't me, I was still getting ready for work at that hour

The car is actually on the North shore of Montreal and the flatbed is on it's way as we speak... I'm waiting for a callback from Repentigny Mazda (where it's headed) to talk about the sparks-pcm-battery-starter service bulletin and ask when I could get my 8 back.

So far I've been to Mazda Gareau everytime (on Papineau) and even though they're small, I've had good service. Especially when you consider that I scratched a car in their parking lot (long story) and they were pretty cool about it (cost me 100$ tho)

Mendossa

I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE IT!

The previous owner flooded it once, so I'm not covered by Mazda. They want to charge me 280$ for 4 spark plugs!!!

280!!!!

tuj

I don't understand why this is so hard. There's only a few things you have to do to avoid flooding.

-get the newest flash, which you should already have

-get the uprated battery and starter via the 'silent recall' by complaining to your dealer. My dealer just offered it to me; I didn't have to say anything.

-always warm the car up before you shut it off

-if you can't warm the car up, rev the engine to 3k and cut the ignition. The extra revolutions of the engine with no fuel being injected will help to clear the engine. Owners of RX-7's of all vintages have been doing this for years.

I can understand the frustration caused by your car flooding. It sucks to be stranded. My 8 has stranded me once when the main belt broke. But the rotary engine is not like a piston engine and you can't expect to treat it the same. Would you treat a 2-stroke engine like a 4-stroke?

The vast majority of people who have had trouble with flooding didn't do the three things listed above. Yes, I agree that Mazda should have had the uprated battery and started from the beginning, and tuned the initial flash a little better. But that being said, the flooding issue is not that big of a deal, provided you can remember how to turn the car off.

Its like people today don't understand that some machines need proper treatment. Not everything has become a 1-button stupid-proof wonder. You bought a sports car, not a Camry, so don't treat it like one.

Racer X-8

That's it, I'm trading it in on a Mazda6, all because of what you just said, tuj!

lol, dude, put ur flamesuit on!!!

I didn't flood mine yet either. The vast overwhelming majority of floods are from shutting it down cold.

This lame battery thing has me worried though. I'm gonna try like hell for them to give me the freebie battery, starter & plugs. Who knows though, until that happens, I might flood her from lack of juice, and I will be pissed if that happens.

I've read of other floods that are reportedly not from a cold shutdown too, I tend to believe them. This problem is too darned finnicky.

Even a cold shutdown is no reason to be left for dead, heck, I almost did that at least once myself, and I'm real fussy about that. Stories like allowing someone to drive it are a good example. It's no excuse for the car to leave people flooded.

tuj

Well the alternative for Mazda to prevent the flooding would be to have a turbo-timer like device that keeps the car running after you take the key out if you attempt to shut it down cold. That would probably be a great idea, the problem is that you can imagine all of the bewildered owners wondering why their car won't turn off! The other thing they could do is make the car rev itself to 3k and cut out when you turn off the ignition. Of course, I think the car should include a seperate oil reserve and a better dipstick location, but I guess we can't have everything.

My understanding is that the reports of floods after non-cold shutdown were largely eliminated with the flashes after K. I've been driving mine since Aug 04 and have never flooded, and my driving includes many short trips.

I remember shortly after the car hit the states there was a thread where the poster was complaining that his engine blew up. Then he said how he had driven the car for 6k without ever checking or changing the oil. And he thought it was Mazda's fault! Anyway, I feel genuinely bad for anyone who has flooded and NOT shutdown the car cold.

MX6_2_RX8

And we will try to feel sorry for you when you flood yours when you have to move it for some reason or another and can't warm it up. - Life Happens. Reving it to 3K does not work every time, believe me. I was in the new battery, plugs, starter & flash group and had to move the car because of a snowstorm. Moved it, reved it, flooded it. I let it idle now if I have to move it but can't drive it.

Racer X-8

Reminds me of when I just took her 1 mile to fill her up at the nearest gas station. Of course, after 1 measly mile, the temp gage hardly budged yet. Had to sit there for ~ 5 minutes before I could shut her down to fill her up, revving her 'n' stuff, people were looking over at me like I was a fruitcake. (I NEVER fill up a car with the engine idling - I've seen the videos...)

MEGAREDS

Ah, the flood-once spiel. I know it well. My dealer offered me the "accomodation" of fixing the car for free after saying initially I was going to have to pay for the repair. To retell the story yet again (sorry to the long-time subscribers, just skip this post), I was furious, and was subsequently assured by MNA -- in writing -- that all flooding would be covered under the terms of my warranty. Of course, this was after I sent them a photo of my car on the flatbed, and started posting the photo online, in early '04. I don't know if it had any effect, but I'd like to think I made a point.

I recognize that the MNA letter, addressed to me, was not an annoucement of Mazda policy. They have no obligation to treat every customer the same way. In internet speak, "YMMV." But, were I you, I would complain persistantly and politely, as well as in writing to MNA if necessary. I suspect your problem will likely go away, as mine did.

Hundreds of people with bills in hand for flooding repairs would be some lawyer's dream. . . Tuj makes a point about taking care of machinery the right way, but I disagree with him in thinking it doesn't border on consumer fraud or a violation of the implied warranty of fitness to sell an automobile in the 21st Centrury without a giant window sticker saying, "WARNING, THIS CAR MAY STRAND YOU IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE AND SHUT THE KEY OFF TOO SOON."

Huhwha

I guess I'm part of the goon squad. I flooded mine when I moved it and didn't let it warm up. My fault. Called Mazda Roadside Assistance. They had a guy to my house in less than an hour. I said let me try one more time before you load it up. You guessed, it finally started! I thanked the guy and sent him on his way. I didn't want to go to that dealer anyway - they really suck.

I've had all the flashes, new battery, starter, plugs. It still doesn't overcome stupidity. Lesson learned.

ezgoin

I have flooded my RX8 twice, both times it had to be towed to the dealership. After the second time they told me that they would not repair it for free again, warranty or not. They claim that I should know better. Well, the next time I'm in the market for a new car I will know better then to buy an RX8!