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Mazda RX-8 Problems and Solutions
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Comments
but anyways has anyone added a sub and amp to the factory system because i thought about doing it but i wasn't sure if you could pull enough volts of the front speakers to actually get the sub to sound good?
Mazda refuses to put new rotors in on their expense, suggests to machine the old ones, which will make the problem just worse, because the thinner rotors will warp even easier.
Car is 80% driven by a gentle lady, so no explanation for the rotor problems.
If anyone has similar issues, or can give some advice: PLEASE POST
RXgirl
Thanks, Suzique
Feel free to play with the shifter paddles. Rotary engines like to rev.
Is the knocking normal? Will it always be there below 3000 RPM? Is this related to carbon build up? Can I put an additive in to fix the knocking? If I don't attempt to fix the knocking, i.e. drive below 3000RPM or gas additive, will I face an ever increasing knocking problem?
Thanks.
Second, I doubt what you are hearing is knocking. The RX-8 has an extremely sensitive and effective knock prevention system (much better than previous rotaries), using a microphone attached to the engine. If it detects knock (or pre-ignition) it immediatly retards the ignition and takes other drastic action. You will see the MIL light come on (check engine light). It keeps the engine in this "protect" mode for 20 sec. or so. If you have noticed a drastic power drop for 20 sec. or so then you are experiencing knock, otherwise there is something else you are hearing.
I suggest finding a dealer who knows their stuff to diagnose the sounds you are hearing. It may be normal or it may be something out of spec.
It's a crackling noise with a random pattern. Now I'm beginning to worry that it's a bearing.
One other symptom that I didn't connect until just now is a halting vibration that happens. After driving for twenty minutes or so, when full turning left or right from a dead stop there is a halting vibration coming from the rear wheels I think.
I originally thought this vibration was the Lim Slip Dif working. I can produce the halting in slow motion when I pull into my drive way by creeping into the parking space with the steering wheel cranked full to the left. The halting is like something braking and then releasing and it makes a little bit of a squeak noise.
OTOH the crackling noise that I first thought was knocking does seem to come from the engine area or front of the car. The halting vibration seems to come from the rear wheels, so I never put the two items together.
The halting vibration, when it occurs, seems to leave a clutch burning smell in the rear of the car. The smell has gotten less and less noticeable however and I have only noticed the smell after driving hard or after driving on a long trip.
Well I'll give the "halting vibration" a testing in the winter. DSC and Lim slip Diff should get a working out in the snow and ice, although I was hoping to keep the RX-8 out of the really bad stuff. Then again, Boston's Mayor Manino live's in my neighborhood, so snow removable receives prompt attention usually.
Thanks Pathstar
OK, then the vibration in the rear must be the LSD cutting in. I was driving this morning and hit a wet patch while in a traffic rotary uphill, turning, and accelerating. The backend started to slide, the DSC light flicked on, and she straighten right up instantly. There was absolutely no vibration. Lots of fun that was.
Then I was at a stop sign shortly after that DSC event, turning hard right and accelerating. The vibration as if from the inside rear was fair intense and no DSC light. Then I smelled a faint clutch burn.
You can turn the DSC back on manually, or it will automatically come back on the next time you start the car.
BTW, even turning the DSC off this way it isn't really all the way off, just being told to "relax" by the PCM.
Also, the above "self machining" produces a lot of metal "bits" in the transmission and diff. oil. It's a good idea to have the oil in them changed after about 20,000 mi. I like to use "Royal Purple" - it's synthetic so should reduce frictional losses and it works well with LSDs (no additional additive needed).
I'll try turning off the DSC to see if the clutch burn smell goes away completely.
At 20K miles I'll look up this conversation for the Royal Purple brand. Thanks.
While there have been RX-8s with problems, it's not common, and they are usually fixed and don't recurr.
Maybe I'm the exception - I hope not - but I've never gotten less than 18 mpg (mostly around-town driving), and a consistent 23 mpg on the highway. No brake squeal, no power lag, haven't needed to add oil yet (granted the car only has 1200 miles on it), nothing to gripe about (my other car is a Lexus ES & that car made me picky since they're bulletproof) but I can honestly say I've experienced no problems.
At various message boards I've seen it posted a number of times that the problems are more prevalent on 2003-2004 models. I'm no mechanical expert but I've read that there have been a number of modifications to the 2005s to improve gas mileage, reliability, etc. I tend to shift around 3500-4000 rpm and always use super unleaded gas.
OK, one gripe - I wish Mazda would have made the back seats fold down for easy access to the trunk. But - that's it, and I hope things improve for all those who have has problems because I'd hate to see Mazda discontinue production of the car - I love it! Velocity red, Grand Touring Package, rear spoiler, chrome wheels make me smile just to look at it.
Better luck with your cars everyone! Flip
By higher revs, I'm guessing this is the manual 6 speed, versus the auto.
It's not like I'm gonna race'm in the snow if I get the Avon all season, but I would not like to constantly be changing tires for the seasons.
We would never have to drive on very much snow if any so thats why the all season tires are under consideration. There's also a front wheel drive with traction control second car that's for the really bad days.
Am I the only one who feels like their dealer is flying by the seat of their pants with RX8?
I have wondered about my dealership at times. I guess the upside of using the dealership for oil changes is that they have coupons available for $15 bucks for an oil change.
Rather than kill the cold engine, risking a restart problem, I waited till the water temp started to rise. The radiator light went out within a minute. The coolant level is full. Also noticed, that the manual says to wait a bit after engine start before putting the car in gear.
Is the cold weather engine start doing extra special processing that waits on engine temp coming up to certain levels before completing the complete engine check sequence?
Several years ago I started putting dedicated snows on during the winter on spare wheels and would NOT go back to all season tires. I get max wet and dry grip in non-winter and max snow/ice grip in the winter.
When I was down to driving either an M5, S2000, or T100 pickup a few years back I decided to buy a well used Subaru Legacy AWD/ABS wagon. I put winter tread tires on it (Graspic ice-grip this time) and it is a MOUNTAIN GOAT going up the hills. The other cars (now an RX-8 rather than the M5) stay safe at home.
If you can't get cheap steel wheels for the snow tires, then get a winter beater. Even a cheap FWD car w/4 snows will be much better than an 8 on snows. AWD is just that much better.
Dennis
cut -----------------
BRAND
Bridgestone Bridgestone Michelin Michelin Pirelli Pirelli Yokohama Dunlop Dunlop Kumho Yokohama Avon Michelin
Potenza RE050A Potenza S-03 Pole Position Pilot Sport Pilot Sport PZero Nero PZero Rosso Asimmetrico ADVAN Neova AD07 Direzza DZ101 SP Sport 8090 ECSTA SPT AVS ES100 Tech M550 A/S Pilot HX MXM4
Blackwall Blackwall Blackwall Blackwall Blackwall Blackwall Blackwall Blackwall Blackwall Blackwall Blackwall Blackwall Blackwall
Size:225/45YR18 Size:225/45YR18 Size:225/45WR18 Size:225/45ZR18 Size:225/45WR18 Size:225/45YR18 Size:225/45WR18 Size:225/45WR18 Size:225/45WR18 Size:225/45YR18 Size:225/45WR18 Size:225/45WR18 Size:225/45VR18
PRICE $211.00 $223.00 $207.00 $232.00 $215.00 $212.00 $245.00 $129.00 $238.00 $99.00 $156.00 $136.00 $219.00
PERFORMANCE Max Performance Summer Max Performance Summer Max Performance Summer Max Performance Summer Max Performance Summer Max Performance Summer Max Performance Summer Ultra High Performance Summer Ultra High Performance Summer Ultra High Performance Summer Ultra High Performance Summer Ultra High Performance All-Season Grand Touring All-Season
CATEGORY
SPEED RATING YR YR WR ZR WR YR WR WR WR YR WR WR VR
TREADLIFE WARRANTY None None None None None None None None None None None None None
HANDLING RATING 9.4 9 8.9 8.9 8.6 8.5 N/A 8 N/A N/A 8.3 8.5 6.6
DRY TRACTION 9.4 9.2 9.1 9.1 8.9 8.8 N/A 8.5 N/A N/A 8.6 8.9 7.1
WET TRACTION 8.5 8.7 8.1 8.1 8.3 7.6 N/A 7.5 N/A N/A 7.8 8.9 5.8
SNOW TRACTION N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 7.8 4.4
RIDE COMFORT 8.4 7.8 7.7 7.7 8.1 7.3 N/A 8.5 N/A N/A 7.4 8.8 6.7
NOISE COMFORT 8.3 7.6 7.3 7.3 8 7.2 N/A 8.1 N/A N/A 7 8.8 6.4
WEAR 7.2 6.6 6.7 6.7 7.3 5 N/A 8 N/A N/A 6.6 8.8 6.2
TREADWEAR RATING 140 220 220 220 220 220 180 300 280 320 280 360 300
TRACTION RATING A AA AA AA AA AA AA A AA AA AA AA A
TEMPERATURE RATING A A A A A A A A A A A A A
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BRAND
Bridgestone Bridgestone Continental Dunlop Pirelli Avon Michelin
Blizzak LM-22 Blizzak LM-25 ContiWinterContact TS790 V Winter Sport M3 Winter 240 SnowSport Tech M550 A/S Pilot HX MXM4
Blackwall Blackwall Blackwall Blackwall Blackwall Blackwall Blackwall
Size:225/45VR18
Size:225/45VR18 Size:225/45VR18 Load Rating: XL Size:225/45VR18 Size:225/45VR18 Size:225/45WR18 Size:225/45VR18
Load Rating: XL Load Rating: XL
PRICE 223 198 198 178 198 136 219
PERFORMANCE Performance Winter Performance Winter Performance Winter Performance Winter Performance Winter Ultra High Performance All-Season Grand Touring All-Season
CATEGORY
SPEED RATING VR VR VR VR VR WR VR
TREADLIFE WARRANTY None None None None None None None
HANDLING RATING 7.8 N/A N/A 8.1 8 8.5 6.6
DRY TRACTION 8.1 N/A N/A 8.3 8.2 8.9 7.1
WET TRACTION 8.3 N/A N/A 8.7 8.4 8.9 5.8
SNOW TRACTION 8.9 N/A N/A 9.2 8.5 7.8 4.4
RIDE COMFORT 8.1 N/A N/A 8.5 8.2 8.8 6.7
NOISE COMFORT 7.6 N/A N/A 8.2 8 8.8 6.4
WEAR 7.8 N/A N/A 8.4 8.1 8.8 6.2
TREADWEAR RATING NONE NONE NONE NONE .ONE 360 300
TRACTION RATING NONE NONE NONE NONE N/A AA A
TEMPERATURE RATING NONE NONE NONE NONE N/A A A
As for the guy with the fuel door prob..... I had it to after I installed an aftermarket door. If not adjusted correctly the door causes the gas cap to open and thus the light. Believe it or not, mine was fixed by tightening the gas cap to the point where it is paralell to the ground. Havent had a prob since!....
Driving on city streets of Boston, it's the year round use, particularly related to the 140 vs 360 tread wear rating of of the performance vs all season tires and the price differential that I'm after. Boston streets do tear up tires quicker than normal.
I know a Boston driver who's G35 coupe goes through the performance tires like they were made of jello. He does the swap for winter tires and rims, swap for fall and spring with all season tires and then the swap for summer performance. His performance tires just seemed to melt away. The winter tires lost tread next fastest, but the all seasons didn't have any tread loss at all.
I was just wondering if anyone out there has used them before. Thanks
You looked at the user reviews of the tires to think you are getting a good tire - bad move. Right on the TireRack page are the TR TESTS on the track, so you were close but missed it.
If you look here and here you can compare the track numbers. The TR test "track" is really short and small, so the numbers do not tend to vary as much as the would if they did longer and better tests. Dry stopping from 50mph is 10' longer, slower slalom and lap times - much slower in the wet.
So compared to OEM tires the all season tires are what I would consider "much worse" wet and dry.
TR does not have any similar tests of dedicated snow tires VS all season (that I have seen), but Consumer Reports did a while back and found dedicate snow tires to be head and shoulders above any all season tires in snow and ice grip.
All season tires are a compromise - you give up both wet and dry handling VS high performance summer tires, yet do not net snow tire grip in the winter. If you can only afford 1 set of tires and have to drive in the snow, then you have to suffer the rest of the time. Otherwise, you are a LOT better off to get tires dedicated to the task at hand.
High performance (and winter) tires can wear pretty quickly. Like the old "Pink Pearl" erasers, soft rubber does a better job, but goes away quicker. Sure, you could put some 60k or 100k tread life tires on your car, but when you need to stop quick or turn quick those hard tires could cause you to be in a wreck where grippier rubber would save you.
Just in the dry braking from 50mph for OEM VS all season showed a 10' difference, if you need to stop to avoid hitting a chid that just ran in front of you the all season tires would take 10' longer to stop - and if the child was within that 10' area that makes a HUGE difference in what happens.
Dennis
1) I NEVER drive over 50mph except on the highway and mostly I'm just driving 35mph in the city. So the differences in the performance, winter, and all season are even closer.
2) Avon Tech's have slush and hydro planing channeling tread which is the main problem I fear. The performance summer tires completely failed on me while in slush at 35mph.
3) Nearing 50 years old, as I am, my reaction times would never even come close to the performance range numbers anyway. The recognition of the emergency braking or steering event in my brain, coupled with the twitch speed of my muscles pretty much nuetralizes any advantage that the performance summer or winter traction tires might give me.
Hell, I'm just happy to be on the road still alive, with a little bit of a smile on my face as I continue to delude myself with the fun of driving my RX-8 AT at 35 mph. Yeepee.
BTW, I just installed my Avon Tech's. They are much quieter and softer. I threw the summer performance tires down in the basement to rubber rot. Maybe I'll put them out on the street for the trash man next summer. I would have put them up on eBay, but the number of folks out there trying to bust me over the damn tire thing has scared me off online permanently. Good-bye all.
I was stuck in one of Boston's horrible city wide traffic jams. So much snow and sleet came down so fast that the windshield wipers jammed solid four times. I had to jump out in traffic to break the build-up from around the wipers.
The Avon Tech's handled the roads with packed snow without any slips or spins. On the deep slush no slip or spin. On hills with unpacked snow I had to turn off the DSC and spin my way up.
In my RX-8 AT I used the paddle shifter in 2nd gear to take off nice and slow. In the unpacked snow, when the car was bottoming out I just tried to keep plowing forward. One important note: YOU CAN NOT TURN THE DSC OFF UNLESS YOU TAKE YOUR FOOT OFF THE GAS FIRST, THEN TURN OFF DSC, THEN TAKE OFF. Turning off the DSC while the gas peddle is depressed leaves the DSC engaged.
Around Boston College's hills on Commonwealth Ave. the Avon's handled the after math of the storm on unplowed streets. Slush snow was banging the bottom of the car constantly. Not a single issue keeping control of the rear end or steering through neighborhoods.
In my book, Avon Tech 550 all season tires can handle the worst kind of New England winter weather in Boston.
It is now December. I spent a good part of September in and out of the Denver Mazda dealer and no joy - they claimed that it never got hot enough for my power loss to be replicated.... They did say the car was wimpy in automatic and that they thought it was ok in tip-troic mode....
My question tonight is simple - Did anyone actually get a cure or a fix for the loss of power?
Any ecommendations re where to buy tires for the RX8 in Denver/Colorado Springs?
My questions may be a little vague but any help at all would be greatly appreciated:
1) Reliability - seeing that I have owned a reliable Honda for the past year I would hope the RX8 would not be a complete let down. I understand the oil checking and what not but what about reported problems? Have some of these problems been fixed in the later 05 models? I do not want a car that will constantly need to be in the shop - thats the last thing I want on my mind while in college.
2) Performance - It seems to me that many of the problems many people speak of are due to cold weather and whatnot. In California the weather is more or less tame - will the car perform better in my sunny socal weather? I currently make an 8 min (approximately) drive to and back from school Mon-Fri. Is this short driving not recommended because the rx8 should have about 10 minutes to heat up before shut off so it will be less likely to flood? Remember this is SoCal weather so for the most part it will warm up faster.
ANY help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. The stylish/innovative "4-door" design combined with the rotary engine just pulled me in towards the rx8 and I have fallen in love. If the problems scare me away I may be more swayed towards the Acura RSX or something along those lines. I am working/worked hard for my money and do not want to be in loaner vehicles all the time...
On the maintenance issues, JUST MAKE SURE YOU GET A GROUP 2 2005 or later. Group 2 2005 RX-8 models have all the recall items fixed at the factor already.
California dreaming I am, as Boston is a frozen winter urban scene, but I can still drive to the neighborhood McDonalds for breakfast, LESS THAN A MILE AWAY, and by using the rev to 3000 RPM for 10 seconds shut off procedure, I've NEVER had a problem starting my RX-8. I don't have a garage, and the temps are 10-20 degrees F.
The RX-8 is reliable. You should be ok with your eight minute commute. As trispec said, be prepared to pay/use more fuel. If you want to play you have to pay. The car has lower torque than many are used to, so be sure to take a test drive to ensure you're good with that.
Be aware the RX-8 is one of the most integrated electronic vehicles on the market. Most things on the car are monitored/controlled by the PCM, the car's computer. So messing with it (mods.) gets complicated. Particularly, the audio system is difficult to "enhance", so be sure you get what you want from the dealer.
Interesting that you drive both an RX-8 and an S2000. These are two of the cars I am considering for my next car in addition to a MX-5. Could you comment on the pros and cons of an S2000 versus an RX-8 in your opinion? Any thoughts on this would help me with my decision.
Thanks for the input, I was dreading my question being passed up. Well, for starters my mpg would be about half as much as I get now meaning I would have to fill up about twice as much as I do now with 91/92 octane. No problem, you don't get a rotary engine for nothing Mods don't mean much, on my civic I didn't do much but with the rx8 I'd pretty much leave it stock, I wouldn't want to tamper with anything. If I wanted low end torque, I would purchase the saturn Ion Redline or Cobalt SS. Friday night red light drags are of no importance. So, for the most part, any rx8 purchased from a mazda dealer would have all of the recalls fixed? If I bought it from a different dealer and brought it to Mazda would they replace the parts no questions or claim "no wear" therefore no new parts. I guess that question is circumstantial on the dealership but what do you guys think...
My new Avon Tech 550 all seasons probably were spinning more than your Bizzaks, but I got over all the snow and sleet. On the packed stuff I had no slips or spins, but in my RX-8 AT I can start nice and slow in 2nd gear. Hardly any torque hitting the backend.