I Have A 04 Rx8 6spd With 50,800 Miles, Just Out Of Warranty.

1. My Engine Light Came On And I Had No Power Above Mid Rpms.

2. Took My Car To The Dealer And They Called Me Telling Me It Was My Intake And That Carbon Deposits Were Interfering With The Butterfly In The Intake Not Allowing It To Open, Setting Off The Engine Light. They Said If The Intake Doesnt Open Completely Above 4800 Rpms Then The Light Would Come On.
I Asked If It Could Be Cleaned And He Said You Can Take A Injector Out And Try To Clean It But It Most Likely It Will Not Reach The Area Due To Where It Is And Probaly Wont Help For Long.

3. They Said The Tech Support Said They Had This Occur With Rx8's With Higher Mileage Still In Warranty.

4. I Called A Mazda Rep And Explained The Problem , Then They Called The Same Service Manager And Told Him To Call His District Supervisor To See If He Would Help With The Cost.

5. Who Wants To Pay 3200. Every 50,000 Miles To Keep A Car Running Well. I Could Unerstand If It Was A Clutch Or Something That Is Supposed To Wear.


Sorry This Is So Long, Anyone Have This Problem Or Ideas, Now Im Thinking Of Buying A Mustang Because Of The Several Problems I Have Had In The Past Also. Thanks Roger

 

yep - carbon up in the intake manifold. thats bad. it should be replaced not cleaned. the labor time to clean it would kill you. they would be nice if they would cover the part and you cover labor or somesuch deal.

where do you live? what gas do you use?

 

I Would Be More Than Happy To Cover Labor.
West Virginia
Exxon Premium 93 Octane

 

strange- have they done a compression check? that district rep should authorise them to warranty the part and you cover labor. should but might not.

 

What butterfly valve are we talking about here?

 

For info, is it the SSV or APV that's blocked by carbon deposits?
I would assume it's the APV because of its position.

How do you drive?

Fabrice

 

No Compression Check Was Performed.
Also The Serv Manager Said They Opened And Closed The Butterfly From The Outside Of The Intake Manifold And It Was Grinding.

 

Yes - but did he say SSV or APV or VDI....

 

I Drive For Work, Home Health P.t.
I Drive A Lot And I Drive Somewhat Aggressive Through The Hills, Im Not Too Hard On It But Im Not Easy On It Either, I Like To Open It Up And Hear The Deep Sound Of The K&n Air Filter.

 

Not Sure Which Valve, They Said It Was Difficlut To Get To. Does Not Say On The Service Report Either, Just Says The Intake Needs Replaced

 

I thought letting the car redline every so often would prevent this sort of thing?

 

It's the SSV then, as the actuation of the APV is electrical.
I don't undertsand how they can say it's carbon deposit up that intake runner, and not just anything else causing that grinding.

On top of that, for our sport proto we use an engine coming from a accident damaged car, which spilled battery acid all over the engine. The SSV was seriously grinding too but the mechanic managed to get it back in order with WD40 and time (a new one was 2500 Eur ex. VAT). So I'd be really surprised they can't do anything about it, if they really want to. It seems that dealers these days can only do one thing : replacing parts. They can't fix anything anymore. No welding or machining equipment in dealers workshops.

Fabrice

 

Intake manifold courtesy of New Zealand club. See the SSV?

 

^^^ Yes, it's the valve actuated by the vacuum actuator, on the left of the picture, close to a pigtail sensor (the SSV switch feeding back the open position to the PCM).

The "tubes" sticking out at the bottom are the APV.
And the top vacuum actuated valve is the VDI.

 

Yep - that's it. Why could they not fix this? Maybe they want the part back in Japan to analyze.

Let us know the final outcome motorog

 

Thanks For Your Replies, About The Response Above About The Wd 40, Did Yoiur Mechanic Take It Apart And Spray The Valve And Continued Working It Until It Freed Up And Moved Easily Or Did He Do This From The Outside Of The Engine?
I Will Return With The Outcome Hopefully In A Few Days
Thanks Again Roger.

Ps The Above Statement, I Do Take My Car To Redline At Least A Couple Times A Day.

 

I'll ask the team owner tomorrow. I'm meeting him at the dyno in Le Mans for final calibration.

Cheers,

F

 

but is this because the car wasnt redlined enough that this happened to the intake?

 

So if we dont red line our 8 every other day at 50,K miles I'm going to have to pay $3,K for a new intake? Great one more thing to add to the list of BS and when people do red line there 8's they say it sounds like:"Marbles in a blinder" So now I'm like... God I dont know about this car. I think I'm having second thoughts guys or should I just hang in there?

 

Was the K&N Filter an issue when you brought it in (or replaced w/ stock)?

 

He's past warrenty. You need to read before you post.

 

Hang a little longer - I'm at 48K and do not have these symptoms. I also cruise above 3500 RPM so the SSV is always open.

 

I should have worded it better... I read the entire thread and saw that it just exceeded the warranty coverage. I wanted to see if the Mazda reps still tried to attribute the aftermarket filter as a cause or contributor to the problem (carbon deposits and related issues).
But since someone in Mazda conceded that other 8's may have been experiencing a similar problem, maybe not.

 

mine got stuck open at about 20k miles. Its so frikkin expensive because you have to remove the intake manifold to replace the valve - and to do that you HAVE TO PULL THE ENGINE... that is an extremely bad oversight made in the engineering group.

I saw mine on the table, it was cruddy but looked more to be a corrosion issue then a carbon issue IMO.

 

So, what can we do to keep the IM clean? And why is there carbon in the intake to begin with?