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Mazda RX-8 Accessories and Modifications
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Comments
When the engine is cold I don't hear the noise.
I own a Group 2 2005 RX-8 AT "sports pakg". I bought from Mazda Gallery, Boston (good folks I still believe) brand new. The plastic wrappers with still on it and there were only 6 miles on it when I test drove it. I believe I was the first customer to drive her.
There are 17K miles on her after a little more than a year driving her mostly here in Boston and New England.
This would help in protecting the transmission in making shifts, for example, from 4th to 5th gear without accidently trying to put the stick between 3rd and 5th gears which is hard on the gear box. Each time this happens it is one less time the idler gears will function properly and permit a shift into 5h gear without rebuilding the transmission.
I hope my question is clear enough to permit a reply.
Of course if this could be the noise it would never be admitted by the designers because nit picky owners would then want it replaced with a properly designed one instead of just accepting the nature of the cars gas rich exhaust. New converters are expensive.
Just a thought that occurred to me after I remembered putting spark plugs in exhaust tail pipes when I was younger, in the 1950's, so popping sounds and flame would come out of the exhaust when accelerating. The good old days when every thing was fun and kids knew more about cars than mechanics.
I guess my problems with the noise are:
1) Why do folks with RX-8 MT's never hear it. The engine is the same. Is the AT PCM messing with the fuel mixture alot more because of the shift timing calculations? I hear more popping before and after the auto tranny shifts, like it trying to correct the fuel mixture constantly.
2) It would seem like the fuel popping in the exhaust would burn the system up faster.
3) My RX-8 AT just turned over 20K. I can definitely smell sulfur stink when I start the car in the morning and then back out. Isn't the sulfur stink smell a sign that the CAT is not working?
4) I get great power response on hard take offs, easily going all the way to redline. I've logged actual gas millage at 14-16MPG in the city and 23-25MPH on the highway. Oil consumption is steady at 1 quart per every 1200-1500 miles.
5) My 2005 Group 2 RX-8 AT has had no recalls until this recent vacuum test recall. I live in Boston metro area so hot weather wear and tear is not an issue really.
6) So should I even care?
First, the RX-8 is set up to inject extra fuel (the idea is unburnt fuel) into the exhaust to keep the cat hot. I have heard the noise on a manual RX-8, it's just often drowned out by the transmission on the manual (it whines a bit and the syncros sound like a turbo spooling up at times).
The sulphur smell is caused by the sulphur in the fuel you're using. It's not really an indication of a dead cat. converter. I found I could minimize the smell by using the 10% ethanol fuel in the past. I suspect the ethanol fuel may have had less sulphur in it, but not because of the ethanol, just because it was made at a different refinery. I think shortly all fuel will have ethanol in it, and hopefully less sulphur as well due to changes in govt. regs. The fuels with higher sulphur content may be a cause of destruction of O2 sensors.
It sounds like your RX-8 is pretty healthy. Near perfect oil comsumption, normal fuel consumption. Keep your fingers crossed.
I'll watch out for some ethanol. I haven't used anything less than 93 Octane for months now, but the sulfur stink is very minor at this point.
I still love my RX-8 AT. Just got to remember to relax and enjoy. Thanks once again.
Just for info. and not related to this, the car also operates in "open loop" mode. Here it just uses the fuel values from a table in memory. This is usually used under open throttle conditions, though modern cars are starting to use "closed loop" mode there too - a wonderful turn of events. Inexpensive car computers (called a PCM in the RX-8) are getting powerful!
Thanks
Thanks a bunch!
Nergal
Thanks.
This is just an update on a couple of things. I have got used to the whistling sound that comes from the new "cold air" I had installed on my wifes car. Techs at my dealership really dont know what is causing the sound but they thought it may be a natural aspect of the air going through the cold air duct and connecting tubing. It sounds like a turbo spooling up but there is no turbo. Kind of neat without the problems of a turbo or supercharger.
The "popcorn" sound I heared for the first time yesterday while my wife was driving in 6th gear through a winding road with sharp turns. I now have another idea about the cause and source of the popping sound. She had just filled her car with 93 octane gas at an off brand gas station named "Kangaroo" before driving through the twisting road.
The popping sound could be detonation of a cheap gas and air mixture that was really not high octane as shown on the pump. Combined this with her slowing down and then speeding up without changing gears (lugging the motor), as she negotiated the winding road. The next day I put 16oz of octane booster in the tank and and then had her drive through the twisting turns again but this time in 5th gear so as to not lug the engine. Well the popping sound did not do it again, so it could have been a combination of cheap gas and luging the motor. I will let up know if it starts pinging again.
The best I can tell the only really big problen with the roatry engine is that Mazda requires the use of light 5W-20 oil in this very hot runing engine in the USA to meet the government's MPG for thier fleet of cars. But through out the rest of the world Mazda requires the use of 5W 0r 10W-30 oil to properly protect the engine. The USA engines are failing before 20,000 miles where the RX 8's are not failing through through out the rest of the world while running a heaver oil.
I am getting tired so .........Later
Just out of curiosity, how high does your oil temperature get once the engine is fully warmed up?
Unfortunately, even though we are not subject to US government regulations Mazda Canada has adopted the 5W-30 standard for oil up here. I will be talking to the techs about it when I take mine in for it's first service and see what they say.
Thank you M.Murphy
Be sure to apply antiseize to the plug threads (the copper type is fine for this application). This will make it a lot easier to get them out should you leave them in there for a long time.
Tighten the plugs until you feel the crush washer just start to crush. A torque wrench is the preferred method, but I don't think you can get one in there.
This forum is probably like other forums in that I can not put links in my response to other web site forums where RX-8 oil required is 5W-30 weight oil. However, you can very easily "Google" for Mazda RX8 Club UK (United Kingdom), for example, and read their web strings and you will see that the oil used in the UK and throughout Europe is 5W-30.
The United Kingdom RX8 Club forum not only covers just England but all of Europe. You can continue your search for other countries and find that as I have reported the oil used through all the world except in the USA is 5W-30 weight oil and not the 5W-20 weight water Mazda requires us to use.
With respect to you needing stronger evidence, only you can prove it to your self if you want to find out.......good luck in either easily finding the evidence that is out or in trying to cause confusion about the issue because you might be a USA Mazda Dealer.
I followed the links in your (old) post, read the PIE info, and have a question regarding the PIE aux-in adapter. After installing the aux-in (these are RCA jacks?), where are they? I.e., where would you connect your MP3 player?
Jim
2005 AT "The Blue Angel"
You pull the radio, plug the PIE into the back of the radio, you plug the PIE to AUX adapter into the PIE and than ends in two female RCA connectors. You plug either an RCA to RCA cable into these or an RCA (male) to mini stereo plug into these. Neither is supplied with the PIE but both are available through the places I linked, Radio Shack, etc. You then plug the male mini stereo plug into your MP3 player, sat radio, ipod, etc. It is just audio in only, you can't control the ipod or anything with it.
To switch between the in-dash CD and the "changer" just hit the CD button.
Dennis