I recently had a problem where i went into a corner and the steering wheel was very hard to turn. Took it to main dealer (Car still under warranty) who told me it needed a new front anti roll bar. This was changed, took car home, same problem again, so took it back to dealer. He told me that the steering software needed re loading, which they did and gave me the car back. This time I only got half a mile from the dealer and same problem. Took it back again to be told it needed a new steering rack which they ordered. 2 days later it arrived right part number, but wrong rack, so re ordered. correct one arrived next day so was fitted, but problem not resolved. Now told it needs a new steering angle sensor, but parts not held in UK have to order from Mazda in Japan , could take up to a month to arrive, so already been without car for over 2 weeks and not convinced this will be the final fix.
Has anyone out there had similar problems.
Oh I have also had to have new ignition coils 1 week after buying the car and I have had flooding problems.

Went to collect car - supposed to be ready - told that mysteriously right rear suspension spring had broken, all by itself, waiting again for parts. Good job this is all under Mazda warranty.

My wife's 8 is working fine with no problems at all.

Have at last collected my car with most of steering components replaced. Went on a 200 mile trip car was great until about 10 miles from home and yes, the steering started to play up again with the power steering switching itself off intermittently! Back to the dealer!!

Now occasionally can't turn right. Can force it with some effort then it's ok for another few miles. Have taken it back to dealer, they have replaced everything except the harness. Told em to fix it or give me my money back. Had an MX5 for years with no problems at all similar with a mazda 6 and 3 sport. Dealer has said that the only car they do have problems with is the RX8.

Hads it back all working, lasted 3 days problem came back again. taken it back to dealer, told them to keep it and give me my money back!

Got rid of both RX8's too many problems.

Gone back to MX5 much more reliable and fun

 

Its a common problem... the Power Steering connectors under the air intake box gets tarnished and requires cleaning.
This can be caused by the coolant reservoir's overflow hose directed straight at it, some install a longer hose so it "bypasses" the connectors.
Simply disconnected both connectors and clean them with contact cleaner.

Here is a thread you can read through.
It even shows you the location of these connectors and also other solutions to the problem like soldering the wires:
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...power+steering

 

+1... if you clean the connectors up it should fix the problem... sound like your dealer isnt showing any compassion for your car, i know that when i do take my car in for other people to look at it, which is hardly ever, i want that person to treat my car as if it is royalty... this guy isnt giving you the light of day... just throwing out parts until he finds the issue

 

This is the problem with "modern" dealerships and the throw away environment we have in any consumer culture: Its easier just to replace it with a new one than try to fix the old one. . . .

In some cases that isn't a problem to replace with new, but you're talking about dealer mark-up and labor charges.

For instance, this could have been (not saying it would have totally fixed it, but now we'll never know) a $4 fix. A wire brush to clean the connectors and then longer hoses for the coolant tank to make sure it doesn't happen again.

/rant

 

If the dealer mech had looked into his mazda tech data base he would have seen this as a possible reason for the steering fault. I can't imagine what made him think it was the "anti-roll" bar

 

i cleaned up the connector on mine and the problem eventually came back. ended up just using a brand new connector and never had a problem since!

 

anyone located in socal that can do a powersteering wire fix/solder/upgrade for me? it would be greatly appreciated and i wouldnt mind throwing a little donation ur way hehe.

 

Is anybody having this problem but no lights at all for and if you do get a light what one comes on because i don't see any lights coming on in my dash and I have the same problem. My steering is randomly tough but mostly when i fist start my 8 then becomes a little less. It is still steer-able but safely. I would have to say turning tight is the worste part so far. I do have my ABS and traction control light on frequently but that's another issue with the third brake light which is not working right which i'm planning on fixing soon. Other than that there is no light on my dash unless one of the light illuminated already is used in conjunction with my power steering. Is there anybody that has any more info about this problem? I plan on trying this tomorrow I will post hopefully with some success after.

 

yeah its your connector as described above.

 

What did he think happened to the sway bar

For ***** sake..it's a heavy piece of steel tubing....

You would break the bracket or the end-link long before you did anything to the bar ...or the aluminum suspension bits This is the lamest thing I've heard in a long time

 

No Pain = No gain.

 

Wow.......I really hope his entire issue wasn't as a result of dirty connectors! That would really be quite a shame, but as we all know. It does seem to be it about 90% of the time.
Extend that over flow hose as suggested after a real good cleaning of the pins in the connectors!

 

so i took my lower intake tray out cleaned the terminals up, put them back together greased all the joints I could find in the suspension and steering components and checked on my cb joints to see if the boots were cracked and/or leaking nothing it didn't help. I will disconnect my battery and see if a cam reset will work but i doubt it the next thing could be the bearings under the steering wheel maybe they need to be replaced. This sucks :-(