Mazda to recall EVERY RX8? because of oil consumption, battery

[MikeMike]

MONTEREY, Calif. -- After suffering a black eye from disclosing that it won't count RX-8 owners' opinions in its internal customer-satisfaction scores, Mazda says it may have to replace the engines in many of its flagship sports cars.

The voluntary recall of all 2004 and 2005 vehicles, and some 2006s, is expected to be announced this week or next. It involves damage to the catalyst resulting from oil leaks in the RX-8's rotary engine.

Any engine that does not pass a vacuum test must be replaced, said Robert Davis, head of product development and quality at Mazda North American Operations.

Engines prone to failing the test are mostly in hot climates and use synthetic oils.

Mazda also will check each RX-8's battery and starter, which tend to fail in cold climates.

"We're going to give these cars the white-glove treatment," Davis said. "We would rather replace the engine than have the dealer crack them open."

Davis would not disclose the projected failure rate of the engines or the cost to replace them.

Mazda has a remanufacturing center in North Carolina that will rebuild faulty engines and return them to service.

The recall comes after a video Webcast by two dealers who attended the July 11-13 National Dealer Advisory Council meetings in Newport Beach, Calif., was leaked on the Internet.

In the video, dealers said problems with the RX-8 were unfairly lowering Mazda customer-satisfaction scores.

Mazda informed the dealers that RX-8 owners would continue to be surveyed, but that the responses would not factor into dealer customer-satisfaction scores.

Mazda has issued service bulletins on such trouble spots as squeaky brakes and engine flooding.

no source yet. but thats a huge issue, with their flagship vehicle.

 

[Shawn]

"We're going to give these cars the white-glove treatment," Davis said. "We would rather replace the engine than have the dealer crack them open."

That's probably because the dealer would fvck them up.

 

[91TTZ]

The rotary engine, while neat, is an inferior design. It gets horrible gas mileage, and has bad emissions. Also, they're not reliable. The engines in the 3rd gen RX-7s had an average lifespan of around 60k miles.

 

[ballmode]

The NA versions tend to do well, the turboed are bad.

They need to use a mustang V8 from ford and put it in the RX-8 or make something similar

 

[Horus]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ
The rotary engine, while neat, is an inferior design. It gets horrible gas mileage, and has bad emissions. Also, they're not reliable. The engines in the 3rd gen RX-7s had an average lifespan of around 60k miles.

Not nessesarily an inferior design...just not really a PRACTICAL one for a daily driver. They chug oil and gas and don't really last a long time. Then again, when you have a hunk of metal spinning at 9K RPM it fails a little easier than a piston moving at 4K RPM.

 

[91TTZ]

Originally posted by: Horus

Originally posted by: 91TTZ
The rotary engine, while neat, is an inferior design. It gets horrible gas mileage, and has bad emissions. Also, they're not reliable. The engines in the 3rd gen RX-7s had an average lifespan of around 60k miles.

Not nessesarily an inferior design...just not really a PRACTICAL one for a daily driver. They chug oil and gas and don't really last a long time. Then again, when you have a hunk of metal spinning at 9K RPM it fails a little easier than a piston moving at 4K RPM.

That's a common misconception about rotary engines, due to the fact that not many people know how they work.

The rotor is NOT spinning at 9k RPM. The output shaft spins at 3x rotor speed, so when you rev it to "9,000" rpm, your rotor is only spinning at 3,000 rpm.

The parts in the piston engine, on the other hand, are in fact reciprocating at the displayed speed.

 

[NFS4]

Re-poach

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=38&threadid=1915777&enterthread=y

 

[OS]

there is a thread on this already

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: Horus

Not nessesarily an inferior design...just not really a PRACTICAL one for a daily driver. They chug oil and gas and don't really last a long time. Then again, when you have a hunk of metal spinning at 9K RPM it fails a little easier than a piston moving at 4K RPM.

My MR2 gets up to 8k RPM stock, and is reliable beyond belief.

Making a seal between moving parts that has to be (1)lubricated and (2)take the pressure of an explosion, is very difficult. Pistons solve that, rotors do a much poorer job.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: ballmode
The NA versions tend to do well, the turboed are bad.

They need to use a mustang V8 from ford and put it in the RX-8 or make something similar

it'd need to be aluminum block and OHV to fit and keep the right weight, methinks.

 

[MikeMike]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Re-poach

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=38&threadid=1915777&enterthread=y

im to stoned to worry about searching.

 

[bctbct]

This sounds expensive. This a record amount per vehicle?

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: 91TTZ

Originally posted by: Horus

Originally posted by: 91TTZ
The rotary engine, while neat, is an inferior design. It gets horrible gas mileage, and has bad emissions. Also, they're not reliable. The engines in the 3rd gen RX-7s had an average lifespan of around 60k miles.

Not nessesarily an inferior design...just not really a PRACTICAL one for a daily driver. They chug oil and gas and don't really last a long time. Then again, when you have a hunk of metal spinning at 9K RPM it fails a little easier than a piston moving at 4K RPM.

That's a common misconception about rotary engines, due to the fact that not many people know how they work.

The rotor is NOT spinning at 9k RPM. The output shaft spins at 3x rotor speed, so when you rev it to "9,000" rpm, your rotor is only spinning at 3,000 rpm.

The parts in the piston engine, on the other hand, are in fact reciprocating at the displayed speed.

Darn you for beating me to this!

ZV

 

[Kaieye]

Remember, Mazda won the 24 hrs. of LeMan many years ago with the wankel engine. No other Japanese auto manufacturer made it to the top podium with a piston engine I believed.

zoom zoom zoom!