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

MikeMike

Lifer
Feb 6, 2000
45,885
66
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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

Lifer
Apr 20, 2003
32,236
53
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"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

Lifer
Jan 31, 2005
14,374
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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

Lifer
Aug 17, 2005
10,246
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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

Platinum Member
Dec 27, 2003
2,838
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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

Lifer
Jan 31, 2005
14,374
1
0
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.
 

jagec

Lifer
Apr 30, 2004
24,442
6
81
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

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,389
8,547
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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.
 

Zenmervolt

Elite member
Oct 22, 2000
24,514
36
91
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! :p

ZV
 

Kaieye

Platinum Member
Oct 9, 1999
2,275
0
0
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!