My dealer told me to bring my car in today, I am in group 1, and they said that they were going to flash it and that is all, then give it back to me. Does this sound right? I thought there wasn't info for group1 repairs yet?

I scheduled my 8 for service on Aug 1. I asked about recalss, he said "something was coming" but until he had parts and/or offiical repair notes, he couldn't tell me anything.

I went in for an oil change this morning. I have a grp 1 car. Started bs'ing w/the service reps about the recall and heat problems. I'm sorry but I have a hard time with the whole "reving at idle for extended periods of time" reason for this recall. What constitutes an extended period of time? 30 seconds? 5 minutes? Are there actually fools that will sit there and rev the hell out of their engine for minutes on end? I think the problem is plain and simple - heat build up while sitting in traffic, no rev bs involved.

So I mention the sitting in traffic theory to the service reps. One says Mazda is trying to get a handle on things and figure out exactly what is wrong...duh! So then I say I bet they've had some fires. One rep shakes his head no, the other says yes. lol You decide.

Service reps? Sorry but these guys don't have any more knowledge regarding the recall in question than you or me. When they find out via a service communication from Mazda, so will the rest of us. And haven't you read the last couple pages of this thread? It's very possible that the high-RPM idle condition commanded by the PCM is to burn excess fuel after the engine has been flooded. It's only speculation at this point, but it sounds reasonable to me.

I spoke with a service rep at a dealer in town, scheduled a maintenance and an inspection for another recall. He was aware of the heat-related recall that's upcoming.

However, he said that I would have to sign an "RO" in order to take the car back after the maintenance, because it wasnt recommended to drive the car (I told him id be driving it out of town).

Is this a normal procedure, and have dealers been told to do this? Also, I guess more importantly, would it be ill-advised to drive a very long distance before the recall? The grommets seem fine, but I was told theres a host of other issues

GAWD!! i try to post the information in a way i think people will understand but also have to watch my words for various reasons. but this speculation by some is out of hand and needs to stop. The info that has been posted by Gomez and myself is acurate. the issue stems from high idle not sitting in traffic. It is exactly the issue that the recall bulletin states- you know why? Because the Feds wont let them lie about recall information.

Everyone knows that the original battery in the RX8 is kinda weak, yes? Ok. Now many of the early cars had floods. When cranking out the flood some batteries were drained and need charging. If you charge it or jump it with a jump box ther eis no issue. However if you jump it with another car there is one. The PCM sends a trickle charge to the battery. When the battery is connected to another car the PCM can sense the extra volts/amps and thinks there is a problem in the charging system. The PCM is programmed to alert the owner adn what does it send the idle rpm up to 2500 or so. Ask Polak about his experience jump starting his car. Now the idea is that when most people are standing near their car and hear the engine revving high they would get in and try to get the idle to drop or shut the car off. However with thsoe folks who had dead batteries they figured to let it run as it would help charge the battery. Well it doesnt. With the combination of fuel in the cat and exhaust now burnign off PLUs the extra heat from the high rpm idle there can be enough heat build up under the car to warp the fuel tanks and cause a leak. Guess what these folks did rigth after allof this cranking and idling? they went straight out and to teh gas station to fill up! The re is your potential fire- extra hot cats leakign fuel tanks and the customer (or service person mind you) sitting at a gas station sending fuel down there.

That is the exact causal relationship they found that resulted in this Recall. Why are some 2005 cars in group 1? Because obviously some MY 2005 cars were built before the december shut down and those cars dont have the extra thermal blanket. What is the Flash for? Its almost certainly going to remove the self protection strategy from the PCM programming. This is the only part i am still waiting verification on. Any story about any other causes is purely incorrect specualtion

So the plant fire in Japan was caused by idling RX8's :eek:

J/K Thanks for setting everybody straight. Now get back to work ;)

well i would but he's sleeping. i suppose i could wash some dishes.....




for those that dont know i am currently playing Mr. Mom for my 8 month old son

Zoom44, you're my hero. Thanks for calming me down. This post had turned into a 20-something page game of Telephone. :)

So I don't have to go scanning back over all the pages, can I ask, what is the latest flash that we can get on our car? I just got my car serviced about 2 weeks ago, and I was the first person to mention anything about the "R" flash. Only the tech knew what I was talking about. F!!
Thanks in advance.

Well after spending the last few days reading through this whole tread... I must say I'll be intrested to see what they find under my car. I have never flooded the car to the point were I required towing, but I've had some hard starts, upto 7 seconds till it turned over... have yet to exceed 7 and require the no start procedure with the gas to the floor. The dealer has replaced my plugs once as the car did perform a hard start in the lot when it was going in for an oil change...

On a diffrent note, about 3-4 weeks ago, I had the Neutral Switch replaced, the one I had was toast, about an inch of bare wire hanging out of the sensor. Car through a CEL, so I took it in and that was the diagnostic.

I've spent plenty of time in stop and go traffic, especially 1.5 years ago when they were finishing construction on RT3 going outside Boston. I imagine stop and go pretty well simulates a "high idle", at least in one interpretation. I mean, you figure in stop and go there is little to know air flow... all the air around the car is hot and being heated by near by cars, and you keep reving the engineen, slipping the clutch to creep a few feet and then sitting on top of hot pavement with the A/C on to try and stay cool as the sun beats down on the car... And I suppose I could have gotten a black 8, but I think the Green is almost as hot.

I don't rev my 8 or push it real hard most of the time, but it does enjoy seeing 9k+ on the occasional fast start, and I've managed to put two track days on it at the end of last summer...

I suspect I have one of the highest milage and older cars out there... mine is an early build, 7/03... the Greens were the last of the first production run to get shot as I understand it... had to wait till early Sept. to actually take delivery, nothing like getting your baby you've been waiting for with only 3 miles on the clock!

I'm just shy of 49k, so I will be looking to take it in soon for my last 50k schedualled maintanance under the free maintanance program and the end of my warrenty... yea I'm putting together a list of concerns, rattles and other wise I would like looked at before the clock rolls past the 50k mark.

This latest adventure, though not the end of the world to me, does make me wish the warrenty was going to run a bit longer... not so much fun being at the leading edge of the high milage pack!

Thanks for all the great info zoom44, and I hope I didn't add the the speculation... not my intent, I have no desire to add to the confusion. Though I will say it is great to hear that my time in stop and go traffic is not likely to be an issue. I do know that after a few cold and rough starts in the winter, the car proceeded with it's normal high RPM idle slowly dropping over time as the car warmed up, but of course I was driving durring this time, so no high idle while stationary occured for any great lenght of time.

If they would replace my battery with this recall that would really be great!

Hey Zoom44 can you tell me if this sounds right "My dealer told me to bring my car in today, I am in group 1, and they said that they were going to flash it and that is all, then give it back to me." I posted this earlier, but would like to know before I go in today. Thanks for all your knowledge and for helping everyone here out.

they might flash you(is it Friday already;)) but they have no instructions to follow for group one cars. you're just going to have to go back again later.

thanks that is what I was thinking. These guys really are idiots where I am.

It wouldn't have mattered if you were stationary anyhow, because heat is not an issue immediately after a cold start. It takes quite some time to build up excessive heat after a cold start. This is what was initially confusing me about the issue, because I couldn't think of many situations in which the PCM would command a high idle speed for prolonged periods of time. Thanks zoom44 for providing the answer! :D

Now that is an intresting point... and geezzz now I guess I am adding to the speculation problem... but it would seem that from zoom44's messege, both sittuations (IE flooded 8 and 8 with dead battery) would almost without question be occuring on vehicals that are starting from a cold start. Granted in the dead battery case, I suppose, you might be tempted to leave the car idling to charge the battery for a few minutes... but most any jump starting directions I've ever read, always tell you not to idle a car but to drive the car for atleast 20 minutes to charge the battery... oh well. :p

Thanks for the intresting thoughts on the matter.

I will say its gotten hot under there atleast once at some point... cause the neutral switch my mechanic showed me, had definatly gotten more then toasty! ;)

The high-RPM idle commanded by the PCM after a cold start is relatively short-lived (only a minute or so at what I would consider a high idle speed). In the situation that zoom44 described (see quote below), the car would be idling at several thousand RPM for a prolonged period of time. This situation is much different than a typical cold start and would allow for excessive build-up of heat.

Some people just speed the engines up trying to make the a/c work better.
OD

What im not understanding with all the posts said here, is why my brand new "group 2" rx8 is still sitting on their lot and not being enjoyed. The guy said it couldnt leave the lot until it received a flash, but that was monday ( the 18th ) and the update was supposedly release on the 14th? Even in Canada, it cant possibly take 8 days to receive an update can it?!?! Even more worrysome, when I asked if it was an 04 or 05 build date, he had no clue and had to confirm it, he had no clue why I even cared. So whats the deal, am I probrably being lied to? Just when the hell am I going to be able to get my car!!! :) (Yes im an impatiant bastard... but hey... you pay almost 40K CDN for something then wait over a week to enjoy it! :) ).

Does anyone know of, or here have a, group 2 car thats been updated and released? I understand they are being sold again, but I havent heard of an update group2 car on the street in any of these posts.

Thanks for putting up my impatients... this is all new to me, and im excited to try the damned thing! ;)

many dealerships in the US have already doenthe work on the group 2 cars they had in inventory and are starting to move them again. the only reason not to have yours done is slowness on the part of that dealer or Mazda canada

Ya or if you're waiting on a Group 1. It could be worse Return42, you could have bought the car a week ago, not had it fixed yet, hell not even had it looked at yet. I don't even know when Mazda Corporate will decide to get off their rear ends and tell the dealers what to do with my car. Then I have to wait for parts to come in. Then i have to get it fixed.

At least you'll see yours this month!!!! Or this summer???!!!

zoom44,
Do you ( or anyone else ), know if Mazda Canada is normally slower then the US?

Crash,
I know your pain. The first car I was slated to buy was an 04 build, but thanks to what I read here I got it switched to an identical 05 build model. As an added bonus the odometre reading went from 14Km on it down to 4km :)

Ya I'm going to try to get them to switch mine this weekend I think. I just seriously doubt they will give me the same deal. As much as I love this car, I don't think it's worth it to me to pay over 4K more.

Good luck Crash. Let us know how it goes.