I've got 32K on mine. I drive the **** out of my car at least once a week. On my way to work I run a stretch of highway at well over triple digit speed for about 10 miles. It's a blast. I did the same thing in triple digit heat last weekend at NOPI in St. Louis all weekend. It was also 80%-90% humidity all weekend.

I have never had a stalling problem, hesitation or anything to speak of. My car did flood once but it was my fault and I got it to start on my own.

I'm sure that Mazda did their homework on this engine. It is very common to have isolated issues with a handful of cars and by handful I mean 1000-2000 engines ESPECIALLY when the tolerances are as strict as they are with a rotary engine.

To compare this to a similar issue, Ford has a problem with what is referred to by them as "cold piston slap" where the clearance inside the combustion chamber changes when the engine is cold. For the first few minutes until the engine is warmed up there is a light tapping sound. This eventually goes away. Ford says that it was an error in the machining process.

They have now issued a fix for the problem. Not a recall. There may just be a few engines that were not machined correctly and now they have a large handful of problem vehicles.

 

we are talking about less than 200 engiens right now. really closer to 100.

in fact running the **** out of it may make this issue NOT occur. the at cars in hot high traffic areas are doing alot of not running hard low speed low rpm stop and go stuff. thats why one of the recommendations has been to use the manual shift mode more. it still seems to be related to carbon build up.

 

Maddog - U NEED TO CHILL

I told the guy to "get a compression check"

that his engine might be in danger.

I did not say that his engine was blown.

Did I?


Oh yea.....and WHEN your engine starts to act up. Do yourself a favor. Dont even worry about it for a second.

It's just the octane.

Ya right.

Rob in Vegas

 

Yeah to tell you truth when I installed my intercooler the pinging noise that everyone is talking about stopped. I havent heard that noise since the install.

 

This is also my first time here. I also, live in Las Vegas. I also, am waiting on an engine replacement. This is my story.

On June 21, 1005, I took my 2004 RX-8 in (Magic Mazda in LV) for a Mazda recommended computer update and to have an engine moise checked out. The next day, the dealer called and informed me that Mazda had recommended engine repalcement and it would take a couple of weeks. Here we are, many weeks later and still no replacement engine.

I have requested an evualuation (lemon law site) of the circumstances I have encountered with the RX-8. I am waiting for their reply. I have the name and address of an attorney in Las Vegas that does this kind of work. If it becomes necessary, I will contact him. It all comes down to "if and when" Mazda will resolve the problem. My RX-8 has been down five weeks. In three weeks, the registration comes due. If there is no resolution by then, I will pursue the matter, leagally, with Mazda USA!

It is unfortunate that this situation exists as I really think that the RX-8 is probably the finest vehicles in its price range and is certainly one of the best looking cars on the road today! Let's just hope that Mazda will make this right for ALL of us experiencing this problem.

Also Bummed
Also in Las Vegas
Also need a new engine

John B.

 

I think this thread keeps people well informed to an issue that obviously needs to be addressed. It also enables the doom-sayers to automatically assume every Renesis is bad. So far the evidence points to this being an isolated issue which Mazda is proactively diagnosing and fixing. Putting this into perspective, if Zoom is right that it's a few hundred cars that's probably less than one-tenth of one percent (.1%) of total production. While it's unfortunate that some people are having to go through the process of having engines replaced, everybody else needs to keep perspective before having anxiety attacks.

The sky is not falling.

 

I sued mazda usa and got 4500 bucks from them for my car being down...... 1-800-lemonlaw hooked it up 4 me.

 

Elaborate please :D

 

I do have that rattling sound in my car and I use 93 octane, but I don't have the power loss issue. Going to call the mazda dealer in the morning to see what this could be.

 

Well, I have to take back what I said about my octane experience. After filling up with Chevron 92 I entered a freeway under WOT and my 8 knocked in 2nd gear around 4/5kRPM. The air temperature was 97F. I bet this has something to do with the last ECU flash (N, i think) because my 8 ran flawless using the M flash under similar circumstances.
I'm going to fill up again today w/92 and see if she still knocks. Maybe I can get a new engine too.

 

Not to be a "doom's day guy" again here.....

BUT

to all the people here that say that the "engine problem" is just a SMALL issue that is only affecting a SMALL percentage of the 8'x......I say....COME ON!

Do you guys really think that this issue is only going to affect less than %1 of the 8's that are out there?

really?

So, did Las Vegas just get some really bad luck and SOMEHOW the majority of the 8's that were shipped to Vegas for sale just SOMEHOW all managed to get the defective engines?

Is that really possible? really?

OR could it be that MOST, if not ALL, of the engines that Mazda produced HAVE THE DEFECT and that the extreme heat that we have here in Vegas just caused the problem to show up sooner?

Now there is a "rumor" of a complete ENGINE RECALL by Mazda which is something that I reported here 3 weeks ago and got trashed for.

Not trying to be negetive guys, just realistic.

There is a problem with this engine.

A BIG one.

How Mazda missed this during stress testing is beyond me.

We will see how they try and fix.


25 days without my car and counting.

Rob in Vegas.

 

the problem rob is that

A. it is not just in Vegas
B. We dont even know if they all have the same issue.

for instance the AT issue is generally considered to be an extension of carbon lock. but in texas at one dealer there have been engines replaced for carbon lock, low oiling and coolant leak. see? the coolant leak is caused by a bad casting. the low oiling is cause dby bad MOPs and the Carbon Lock is caused by driving around at low rpm and low speed alot. where is the problem with the engine? at most you can say the side ports excerbate carbon build up issues.

 

The reason is because it only effects a small percentage of the engines produced. It is not a systemic issue. At most, probably a couple of dozen engines were tested during devlopment. If the problem effects even 1%, there would be a very low probability of detecting it during development. For example, if 1% of the engines produced were actually defective, and there were 50 engines tested, there is a 60% chance that it wouldn't be detected by the development testing. If 0.1% are defective then there's only a 5% chance of catching it.

Believe me, the statisticians at Mazda are invloved with the development testing. They test enough units to prove that they don't have systemic problems, while keeping the number of test units down. Its a calculated risk that some small scale problems will get by undetected. But, even a small scale problem could warrant a recall.

 

A friend of mine has a automatic RX-8 and it is getting a new engine along with the thermal blanket, Magic Mazda told her there are 40 plus cars waiting for new engines. Mazda is paying her lease payments for 3 months.

Magic Mazda is located on W. Sahara in Las Vegas, 702-221-8000.

 

I swear, whomever the service guy at that dealership is must really hate Mazda. Or at least the RX-8.

Take your car in for a new engine -- hear about all their other crappy RX-8s they've supposedly have waiting for engines.
Take your car in for a recall -- hear about all the other crappy RX-8s they have waiting for engines.
Take your car in for a cat problem -- hear about all the other crappy RX-8s they have waiting for engines.
Take your car in for an oil change -- hear about all the other crappy RX-8s have they waiting for engines.

And, yes, you're not the first person to post about what Magic Mazda purportedly has on the lots.

 

But, I love the RX-8!!!!!

 

I guess the good news is there will be 40 happy people at one time in Vegas once they get their 8 back.

That will hopefully balance out how unhappy I am in Vegas because my wallet acts as a vacuum for money. The vacuum hose is actually shaped like my wife's hand.

weird.

 

That just doesnt make any sense! Why would all those cars in that area need new engines? Something fishy is going on over there!

 

this has been a nightmare. i took my car in 2 weeks ago because it was acting up on the highway, and the people at magic told me it would be 3-4 weeks before i got my car back. they said that something was causing the engines to sieze up, but they weren't sure what it was. as of july 20, i had about 30 cars in front of mine. last thurs they called to tell me that all the problems have been taken care of (fuel tank recall, broken visor), and that the strange noise i was complaining about is due to using the wrong gas. after i told them i've been using premium the entire time, and something is still causing a significant loss to power in the engine when it gets too hot, they said they will have to hold my car for a few more days. i spoke to them today and they're going to replace my engine. the wait at the moment is another 2-3 weeks, so in the meantime i get to drive a ford taurus as an 'upgrade'. also, the people at the corporate mazda number are telling me they'll 'review my case' to see if i can get some sort of compensation on my lease. it's already been 2 weeks without it, if i have to wait another 2-3 weeks there shouldn't even be a question as to whether or not i have to pay my lease. i heard that there were at least 4 automatics that had their engines sieze on people while they were driving them in town. i have a manual, and it really seemed like my car was about to die a couple of times lately on the highway as well. whatever it is, they better get this taken care of quickly!

 

Vegas is hard on ya, it can break you. But business is so good here.

 

business is definitely VERY good here, but i think the heat isn't so good on our cars. if this engine problem is really more of a local thing, i bet the crazy heat we were getting there for a few weeks is to blame...

 

I think the 120' heat we had this year had a major effect on this.

 

Question them if your new engine will have this new MOP installed on it:

https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...4&postcount=37

 

I agree, I was in vegas last week and you cant walk withing 5 mins, before going into a casino to catch some a/c
I did see a gray ti gray pulling out of the ventian on weds. I think the plates ended in 40 or something.

 

merging this with the "engine replacement bad news" thread