Hey everyone, I'm hoping my experience here will be long lasting as I'm headed over to a dealer to ****** a clean title '04 RX8 79k mi for $8000 with warranty (I'm assuming it's for no more than 7 days) tomorrow. This is both exciting and very scary as I've read a mountain load of maintenance requirements and reliability issues with the '04--which, at the moment, is all I could afford so no "why don't you get an 09? because I can't. At this price for this car, I think it'll make a fine driver for my 3 mi daily trip to the train station and the weekly 8 mi trip into the city and less occasional 100 mi trip to visit the folks.

I know this is an RX8 forum, so I won't badger about the car's reliability and you fix it issues since that's a can of worms. However, what does the now 8 year 100k mi warranty extended to '04 RX8s entail? Is it for original owners only?

Secondly (and more importantly) I know this car will require a lot of attention. I currently have a girlfriend who requires mucho galore attention, so this should be a walk in the park, right? (correct me if I'm already wrong and slap me with the mighty hand of wisdom fellow brethren). I know oil should be checked every fill up--and I heard about this 5w20 vs 5w30 issue relating to premature engine rebuild, but I guess in terms of used cars I have to hope that the previous owner was good about doing what's right for the car. What else should I do on my own on a regular basis? I don't know what else to look for, and I'm hoping your expertise would help me keep this car running long before any rebuilds. SO PLEASE, get into the dirty details. I want this car to start everyday, every time and run everywhere every minute!

Thanks,
David

 

warranty goes with the car

just use 5w20 and check every other fill-ups.

you never know when the engine is gonna go. rather than worry about that just enjoy the car.

just dont shut it off when engine is cold.

 

So starting her up to move across the street because I see a great parking spot in front of the house not on street cleaning day and then immediately turning her off to go back to sleep would be a horrible idea. What happens, technically, if I shut it off when cold anyway? I like to know for future reference, in case I do fugg it up and need to fix it.

 

well if your starter, coils, and plugs are weak, the engine will become hard to start.
the ECU injects more gas when engine is cold, if you shut it off the extra gas might clog up the spark plugs.

 

AKA. Flooding the engine. Too much gas, not enough air= no combustion= no car turning on.

 

I'm assuming there's no plug to drain the excess gas. What would I do in such a situation? Does that in itself require a rebuild?

 

It requires a trip to the dealer to deflood or one of the many DIY deflood approaches users here have discovered.

 

There is a ton of information within these forum's walls. Take your time search around and you will find the answers to all your questions because honestly 99.9% of them have been asked already. Good luck!

 

Just let it warm up for 5 mins or so before shutting it off if you need to do that. The car dumps a lot of gas into the engine when its warming up so if you shut it off when its cold it might not start again because of all the gas in it (aka its flooded). There are a couple of things you can try to deflood your car that should hopefully work if your lucky......... otherwise you have to get it towed to the dealer.

 

Well it's not sounding all so bad afterall then. Check for oil on gas up and make sure the car is warm before shutdown. Is it possible for the engine to flood with too high a mixture of Seafoam to gasoline ratio? Say half a canister to a quarter tank? I tend to do that for used cars to make sure injectors are clean an off to a new start. I'm not sure if that would have any adverse effect on this engine.

 

You use seafoam to clean the carbon out (there is a detailed DIY on how to do this) but I don't think its a good idea to use it as a premix and numerous flooding can kill your cat fast.

 

This was a very simple, very effective answer to your original questions. There are a TON of threads on preventing flooding/deflooding your car. Read those so your original topic doesn't sidetrack too much.

I have an '04. I'm not going to lie when I say I've had a lot of problems, but proper maintenance is KEY. First thing I would do is check your ignition system (plugs, coils, wires). Change those if needed. If you don't know when they were last changed, change them. It's one of the best things you can do for your car to keep it running well.

Oil is a beat-up, insane issue. Read around. Conventional vs. synthetic, 5w20 vs. 5w30 vs EVERYTHING. Like I said, read the above quoted text and you will be fine. Enjoy and congrats. Oh, and that's a great price (if the car's in good condition).

 

People keep calling this a shameless plug, but since I'm not selling anything, just giving away information for free in terminology newbies understand....it's just a gift.


Read up on at least the first several posts in this thread. It answers alot of the basic questions, as well as some you might not have known you had.

https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-forum-197/new-potential-owners-start-here-202454/

 

^ Not shameless at all

One of the best threads on the board IMO

You did an excellent job in the construction of it. A+ man

 

^^Agree, your (RIWWP) patience with noobs has inspired me to try and help them once in a blue moon in addition to the crap i spew.

 

And, when you get done with the RIWWP thread, read the $100 thread in my sig. Especially for an older 8. There is a lot of really easy stuff you can do to make your life easier.

 

Thanks for all the info and links, I'm getting my read on.

Never L8 thanks for the honesty.

 

Not a problem, man. Enjoy and don't be afraid to ask questions. The reason new guys get kicked around is because most of their questions have already been answered. Owning an RX8 requires a ton of patience and attention, but it is completely worth it!

Let us know if you get the car...and I expect a picture! Good luck.

 

couldn't be more wrong...sorry. sure, it'll be a fun 3 and 8 miles, but you'll experience sub-15 mpg's on your 3 mile journeys. ask me how i know


it's really not that bad. check the oil regularly, change it regularly, don't turn off the engine until it warms up completely (aka flooding), and don't drive it hard until it warms up completely.

as far as oil type goes; search, but it has a lot do with weather (i.e., hot or cold climates).

 

dont worry about the what happens if it floods. just dont turn it off cold. simple. awesome thread RIWWP. your short trips should be a concern. under 5 miles everyday. be sure to give it lots of redline on the weekends. and congrats.

 

If your 8 did not come with the owner's manual, visit mazdausa.com and download the pdf version. Also download the "Quick Tips" booklet. That has specific instructions on what to do to prevent flooding on short trips...like moving it to the other side of the street.

Your 3 mile drive to the station is long enough for it to warm up without doing anything special.

Ken

 

One thing I heard that is supposed to help on the short trip side, not sure if it is the guide, is to blip the throttle up to 3K or so and then turn off the key.

The inerta will spin the engine will help toss out gas that is sitting around.

 

Wait for the needle to move. Once the needle on the water temp gauge moves, you're warm enough to shut down. Ive moved my car to different spots in the winter, blipped the throttle to 2K for a couple seconds until that needle moved, never flooded mine. Ever.

EDIT: I think once the water temp needle moves ( I know its a dummy gauge btw), the ECT is at 120-140ish, keep forgetting to watch my dashhawk in comparison to the OEM gauge lol. So that's where I got that information from fyi

 

Wait for the needle to reach its normal warm position, which is a couple of tics to the left of center. It usually gets there very quickly once it starts to move.

Again, the QT manual spells it all out.

The temperature gauge may not be linear or particularly well calibrated, but it is not a dummy. The oil pressure gauge is the one that's a dummy.

Ken