New RX-8 owner with few problems
03-15-2012 | 09:37 AM
#1
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New RX-8 owner with few problems
Hey everyone,
I bought my 2007 231 RX8 at the start of Feb 2012 and am LOVING it! I remember the TV adverts when these cars first came out and I've now come to a point where I could buy one of these great cars. They're so much fun to drive, I'm now trying to get it down to a track day so that I really let it out
As much fun as it is.. I'm really surprised by a few things which I hope you can help me on!
Firstly- brakes. I've searched the forum and google regarding squealing brakes and the verdict seems to be that my lovely RX-8 is meant to sound like a squeaking garbage truck every time it comes to a stop when driving around town. When I test drove the car before buying it they were squealing and after driving for 30 seconds while left-foot-braking the sound disappeared as expected once the discs and pads a bit warmed up. It was a 4°c day when I bought it and the car had been sitting for a month so I wasn't surprised. I am however surprised that sound is there every single day!
Is there any actual fix for this? Metal shims, rubber-based goo on the back of the pads, cutting the pads to avoid dust build up - anything? No joke, it is like a garbage truck every time I brake - just annoying.
Secondly- economy. I love the car, it handles like a go-kart and the engine just wants to keep going! I drive it like it wants to be driven - when warm, happily shifting at around 5000 or 3000 when around town with the occasional blast to 8000-9000 when appropriate. I don't thrash it, but do enjoy it. At the moment I'm getting around 140-150 miles to a tank, so somewhere around 10MPG! Pretty rubbish economy, even taking into account all factors. The various threads on this seem to indicate that the MPG should be a bit better, but not great as I do mainly do city driving. I've not yet done a lot of motorway driving so can't really comment on 80-90MPG economy (except for that it feels great getting into 6th gear occasionally!).
Some threads were talking about disconnecting a faulty part - is it worth taking it to mazda to get a diagnostic done on the computer? Are there other ways of doing this diagnostic test at home? My old Vauxhall would flash error codes on the dash when a particular connector had some pins connected with a paperclip - great for home diagnosis.
I appreciate the responses.
Cheers,
Keegan
P.S If you wanna see the car, here's a photo.
I bought my 2007 231 RX8 at the start of Feb 2012 and am LOVING it! I remember the TV adverts when these cars first came out and I've now come to a point where I could buy one of these great cars. They're so much fun to drive, I'm now trying to get it down to a track day so that I really let it out
As much fun as it is.. I'm really surprised by a few things which I hope you can help me on!
Firstly- brakes. I've searched the forum and google regarding squealing brakes and the verdict seems to be that my lovely RX-8 is meant to sound like a squeaking garbage truck every time it comes to a stop when driving around town. When I test drove the car before buying it they were squealing and after driving for 30 seconds while left-foot-braking the sound disappeared as expected once the discs and pads a bit warmed up. It was a 4°c day when I bought it and the car had been sitting for a month so I wasn't surprised. I am however surprised that sound is there every single day!
Is there any actual fix for this? Metal shims, rubber-based goo on the back of the pads, cutting the pads to avoid dust build up - anything? No joke, it is like a garbage truck every time I brake - just annoying.
Secondly- economy. I love the car, it handles like a go-kart and the engine just wants to keep going! I drive it like it wants to be driven - when warm, happily shifting at around 5000 or 3000 when around town with the occasional blast to 8000-9000 when appropriate. I don't thrash it, but do enjoy it. At the moment I'm getting around 140-150 miles to a tank, so somewhere around 10MPG! Pretty rubbish economy, even taking into account all factors. The various threads on this seem to indicate that the MPG should be a bit better, but not great as I do mainly do city driving. I've not yet done a lot of motorway driving so can't really comment on 80-90MPG economy (except for that it feels great getting into 6th gear occasionally!).
Some threads were talking about disconnecting a faulty part - is it worth taking it to mazda to get a diagnostic done on the computer? Are there other ways of doing this diagnostic test at home? My old Vauxhall would flash error codes on the dash when a particular connector had some pins connected with a paperclip - great for home diagnosis.
I appreciate the responses.
Cheers,
Keegan
P.S If you wanna see the car, here's a photo.
03-15-2012 | 09:53 AM
#2
Hey everyone,
Firstly- brakes. I've searched the forum and google regarding squealing brakes and the verdict seems to be that my lovely RX-8 is meant to sound like a squeaking garbage truck every time it comes to a stop when driving around town. When I test drove the car before buying it they were squealing and after driving for 30 seconds while left-foot-braking the sound disappeared as expected once the discs and pads a bit warmed up. It was a 4°c day when I bought it and the car had been sitting for a month so I wasn't surprised. I am however surprised that sound is there every single day!
Is there any actual fix for this? Metal shims, rubber-based goo on the back of the pads, cutting the pads to avoid dust build up - anything? No joke, it is like a garbage truck every time I brake - just annoying.
Firstly- brakes. I've searched the forum and google regarding squealing brakes and the verdict seems to be that my lovely RX-8 is meant to sound like a squeaking garbage truck every time it comes to a stop when driving around town. When I test drove the car before buying it they were squealing and after driving for 30 seconds while left-foot-braking the sound disappeared as expected once the discs and pads a bit warmed up. It was a 4°c day when I bought it and the car had been sitting for a month so I wasn't surprised. I am however surprised that sound is there every single day!
Is there any actual fix for this? Metal shims, rubber-based goo on the back of the pads, cutting the pads to avoid dust build up - anything? No joke, it is like a garbage truck every time I brake - just annoying.
Secondly- economy. I love the car, it handles like a go-kart and the engine just wants to keep going! I drive it like it wants to be driven - when warm, happily shifting at around 5000 or 3000 when around town with the occasional blast to 8000-9000 when appropriate. I don't thrash it, but do enjoy it. At the moment I'm getting around 140-150 miles to a tank, so somewhere around 10MPG! Pretty rubbish economy, even taking into account all factors. The various threads on this seem to indicate that the MPG should be a bit better, but not great as I do mainly do city driving. I've not yet done a lot of motorway driving so can't really comment on 80-90MPG economy (except for that it feels great getting into 6th gear occasionally!).
Have u done all the required maintenance ?
Some threads were talking about disconnecting a faulty part - is it worth taking it to mazda to get a diagnostic done on the computer? Are there other ways of doing this diagnostic test at home? My old Vauxhall would flash error codes on the dash when a particular connector had some pins connected with a paperclip - great for home diagnosis.
I appreciate the responses.
Cheers,
Keegan
P.S If you wanna see the car, here's a photo.
I appreciate the responses.
Cheers,
Keegan
P.S If you wanna see the car, here's a photo.
03-15-2012 | 10:41 AM
#3
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1) What clips need lubrication?
2) Revving to 9k RPM once a week isn't going to cause 10mpg! The car has been serviced regularly by a Mazda dealer (FSH), what other maintenance would be required?
3) I don't know what's been done to the car prior to my owning it. How can I check what ECU firmware it's running, and what should/could it be running?
Cheers
2) Revving to 9k RPM once a week isn't going to cause 10mpg! The car has been serviced regularly by a Mazda dealer (FSH), what other maintenance would be required?
3) I don't know what's been done to the car prior to my owning it. How can I check what ECU firmware it's running, and what should/could it be running?
Cheers
03-15-2012 | 10:48 AM
#4
Dealers typically don't know much about this car, so that really isn't something to stand on, unless you need warranty work.
Did you read this thread? https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-forum-197/new-potential-owners-start-here-202454/ Includes a bit about what all to check for MPG issues.
Did you read this thread? https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-forum-197/new-potential-owners-start-here-202454/ Includes a bit about what all to check for MPG issues.
06-09-2012 | 03:41 AM
#6
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Alrighty... for anyone that cares, the squeaky wheel (I've pinned it down to the front left only) is still driving me mad, but I've managed to test the economy and am quite happy.
I took it out on the open road a few weeks ago and got 24MPG so I'm quite stoked. It was quite a bit of 90mph/4200rpm driving (6spd) but also a heap of 0-60mph country roads, stopping every 5-10 minutes at a sign and then doing it again. Feels great to go through all 6 gears! Unless you live in a big city you might not understand though
Also around down has improved to 14.5MPG, better than 12!
Got a CEL the other day though, not good, but reset it and it's not come back now and it's been weeks.
Cheers
I took it out on the open road a few weeks ago and got 24MPG so I'm quite stoked. It was quite a bit of 90mph/4200rpm driving (6spd) but also a heap of 0-60mph country roads, stopping every 5-10 minutes at a sign and then doing it again. Feels great to go through all 6 gears! Unless you live in a big city you might not understand though
Also around down has improved to 14.5MPG, better than 12!
Got a CEL the other day though, not good, but reset it and it's not come back now and it's been weeks.
Cheers
06-09-2012 | 09:50 AM
#7
Surf Hard, Drive Hard
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 7,840
Likes: 12
From: Indialantic, Florida
Next time instead of just clearing the CEL, get it read.
I'll bet it was a misfire code and bad things will result if you continue to ignore. It's good it hasn't come on since, but they come on for a reason.
I'll bet it was a misfire code and bad things will result if you continue to ignore. It's good it hasn't come on since, but they come on for a reason.
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