Hi there,

I need to make a quick repair on my '04 RX-8 and am having a hard time finding parts locally. Could you recommend a couple of places to buy the following parts for reasonable prices?

Specifically, I need:

- ignition coils

- the NGK spark plugs

- new plug wires

Alternatively, if you have a spare set of these that I could buy from you and replace with an order, that would be great!

As for location, the closer to San Francisco the better, but anywhere in the Bay will do.

Thanks so much for your help!

Dayne

PS I read in a link about replacing the coils that it's good to do a PCM reset at the same time, but I can't find a post detailing how to do that. Any help on that would be appreciated as well!

 

All online has the best prices, but I do have a spare set of spark plug wire you can have, it's just sitting in my closet.

For spark plugs, kregan is fine. Coils - dealership, but go on finishlineperformance.com and print out their price and they sometimes will match it.

I do all my service in Hayward Mazda, some like it, some don't. The Mazda in Seramonte is good too.

Resetting the PCm is as easy as pulling your neg battery terminal. There is a DIY to do the reset, check in the DIY Threads.


What happened to your car?

 

Hi 8rotor8,

Thanks for the fast response!

I purchased my car just over 2 months ago with low miles, still only has around 27.5k on the car. I've been sure to rev the motor regularly and not do quick start-stop sequences, as written here on the forum and as the previous owner explained. Anyway, I was on my way back from the store, literally just toodling up the road at 25mph when the motor started sounding strange, I couldn't get any real throttle response, and then the car started to stink.

Fortunately this happened almost right in front of my house, so I rolled in and turned the car off immediately. 10 minutes later I tried it again and the motor started right away, then started making the weird throaty noise and started to stink again after about 15 seconds, so I turned it back off. I was also getting a blinking motor light. I had it towed to Royal Mazda in SF the morning. Once again, it started fine and the tow dude got it up on the flatbed under its ownpower, but he said he had to floor it and the motor hardly revved.

After saying that I would pay the $180 diagnosis fee, Royal Mazda checked the car and said that I need to replace the ignition coils, plugs and wires, for a grand total of $1,075, and only then will they know if the catalytic converter needs to be replaced as well.

My bad luck for buying an August '03 car, it's out of the full warranty and they won't cover the coils/plugs! So I'd like to do that part of the repair myself, and then have them check the cat. I'm a total Renesis newbie, so we'll see how that goes. . .

 

Your car should be under the extended warranty. Mazda extended warranty's for 04 to of models. It was bumped to 5Years, 60kmiles, go on to finishlineperformance.com, go under rx8 and service recalls/etc. Or call Hayward mazda and see if they can check your vin over the phone, but get the notice ready anyway. It doesn't hurt to ask anyway, and its strange how the dealer is quoting you spark plug wires without changing the sparks first... I would definantly get a second opinion on this.

 

The car does qualify for the extended warranty, but this extended warranty is only for the powertrain. And Mazda apparently doesn't consider ignition coils and plugs part of the powertrain. I have a hard time understanding this, since it's literally bolted into the block. . .

 

What's this "block" that you speak of?

 

The warranty say that the engine is covered... hmm... interesting. Well, take it to another dealer, I didn't even know that there was a Mazda Dealer in SF.

Nate, com'on now dude... it's right next to our cams....

there is also a bulletin for the ignition coils too:

http://www.finishlineperformance.com...16-07-1793.pdf

 

Well, looks like the force was on my side today! With the assistance of Mazda USA they decided to replace my coils and plugs for no charge!! It wasn't easy, but they pulled through for me in the end. That was very cool of them. Oh, and turns out the cat didn't need to be replaced. So my baby's back on the road!

 

Sweet, what did you end up doing? And now you'll have to come out to the meet in Union City this Friday for our help

 

The ignition coils, plugs and wires are all new and the car seems to be running fine again. Would love to join for a meet some time in 2008! Thanks for your help and have a great time over the holidays!

 

My g/f is having the EXACT same problem as you dayneger.... Her car was in the shop for the last month waiting for replacement cat converters to arrive as they were needing replacement too but under warranty (they told us we'd have to pay fort the coils/plugs which ended up costing $925.)

Well when they finally hoisted up the car, they found that the cats were aftermarket and obviously they aren't gonna replace. They wanted $2500 for those, obviously way too much.

Im wondering what you said or did to get them to cover your parts under warranty? I wouldn't mind that $925 back in my pocket this time of year.....

Also, anyone know where to get some replacement cats online?
Thanks for any help!

 

You have an aftermarket cat and the shop said it went bad? What one do you have?