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Beyondvegas:

Did you deal with Mazda in Irvine, CA?
Did you have a Mazda mediator?
Your immediate response would be most welcome.  

I have a 2005 RX-8 with 41,000 miles and am having the same problem - the car wouldn't start Monday, I had it towed to the dealer & picked it up today.  Got it home, turned it off, tried to start it 5 minutes later and had to call Mazda roadside assistance to tow it back to the dealer for the second time in a week. I've only had the car 5 months, am paying the equivalent of a house note for a monthly payment because I had to roll over the remainder of the balance on my last car over into this note, so I'm hoping they can fix this problem.  But from what I'm reading on this thread, I'm not very hopeful.  Have other people had the experience of Mazda and/or the dealers being fair in their buyouts?  I didn't buy this car from a dealer so I think my only hope will be to get whatever I can from Mazda.  I love this car - it runs great when it runs, but if Mazda can't fix this rotary engine problem it needs to be pulled off the market.  I wish I had read this Car Forums site BEFORE I bought the car!!!  

I have a 2005 rx8 I bought in october with 12k miles, apparently there are several recalls the dealer never told me about, my car is sluggish, loses power has died at a stoplight, and vibrates... I took it to the dealer and they said they couldn't find anything wrong with it!!! they did say my motor mounts were deformed, but they could not do anything about them unless they were broke!!! I didn't get any paperwork to tell me what exactly tests were done, they said they would mail them to me. something is definately wrong, it doesn't do it all the time, but it is not good!! I live in arizona where the temperature gets to 110's for 3 solid months in the summer, i haven't had the car during this time yet.... I live 90 miles from the dealer....ANYONE IN LAS VEGAS DEALT WITH COURTESY IMPORTS ON THIS MATTER, I would like to hear about your experience...  

I see you are asking about 2004 RX-8's.  I have a 2005 RX-8 that I am having trouble with right now.  Started, stalled....won't start??? Happened last fall also while it was at the body shop. The shop called a Mazda dealer and were able to trouble shoot to get it started (they said it was flooded). Checked battery which is good.  Tried the trouble shooting method for a flooded enging as suggested in the manual but still won't start.  Have been checking the internet to find others with similar problems, I didn't realize there were so many, however most seem to be the 2004 models.  I've got a little over 20,000 miles on my car.  It is parked in the garage for the winter as I live in Michigan.  I started it up a couple months ago and let it run for a good 30 min... started no problem.
tracip    

I live in Atlanta and I am having the same problems with my 2004 rx8.
It is at Jim Ellis dealership getting a new engine this week.
I keep getting the run a round whenever I have to have it towed or take it to the dealership. Mazda is well aware of this problem and they don't care. I am ready to get mean!!!!!!      

You are not alone with stalling and flooding problems. I have a 2004 RX8 with 30,000 mi. It has been towed, yes, towed 4 times to the dealer after a non-start situation even after going thru the manuals engine flood starting procedures. Twice it was pulled from my garage. Top it off with at least half a dozen or more stalling episodes in busy traffic. Dealer corrections? Replace injectors, plugs, plug wires, starter, alternator, batteries, many hook-ups to diagnostic analyser, and sometimes just a "man, we don't know!" My next step is to convinced my wife that looks are deceiving. I want my Avalon back. Our son has a 2004 Mazda 3 with a normal 2.3 liter engine. Awesome car. He won't even consider trading me!  

I also have an 04 rx8  the problem with them flooding can be completly fixed by letting the car fully warm up everytime the car is started it will fix it      trust me      

I don’t know what else to do. Here is a copy of the letter that I sent to Mazda explaining the problem:



To Whom It May Concern:



I drive a 2004 Mazda RX-8 that my husband bought for me last year. My car idles and stalls at stoplights. I have taken it in and had it towed almost a dozen times in the last year. Each time, I am told it is fixed. At one point, a brand new engine was even installed. This is ridiculous and dangerous. I have a 10 month old that sits in a car seat in back and I am terrified that one day I will stall at an intersection and will be rear ended due to Mazda’s inability to make my car run.



I am running out of options here. Employees are polite, but no one is offering me a solution. Not one person seems to be concerned for my safety, let alone customer satisfaction. I went online and searched for information regarding this problem. Needless to say, I was floored by the staggering number of RX-8 owners writing of the same problem that I am dealing with.



How is it that Mazda has not stepped up and offered some sort of alternative? How is this legal????



I don’t want anything but to drive a vehicle that will consistently run.  

Well sorry to burst your bubble, but I have since I have owned this car, bought brand new in 2004, let it warm up aver 5 minutes befreo ever going anywhere.  Still doesn't work  

high, I am in Memphis and I have a 2004 r x 8 I bought new.  I just had the car towed in this morning from stalling on me last night and it was to late for them to tow in then.  The first time it happened it would not even crank.  This time I was driving and right in the middle of the intersection it stalled and then completely went out.  Last time I had oil changed I told them it would take until about 65 mph before it would hit 4th gear and then it would jump back to 2nd and jerk back into 4th again.  They put it on the computer nad claim the computer can't find a problem.  I don't know about you but I am paying way to much for this car to have these problems and almost get killed over it.  I love the car when it runs right.  

I am also a resident of NC and I purchased my 2004 Mazda RX-8 late 2003 when the call was originally introduced on the market.   For the first 30k-35k miles, dealing with the normal maintenance tasks, the car operated without a single major problem.  

In early 2006 one Saturday morning, I had to move my car to let a friend exit my driveway ...  After backing out of my driveway and pulling back in and shutting the car off, the car would not start later in the afternoon, even after following all the recommended tactics when engine floods.

We had the car towed into the dealership and they claimed it was fixed.  From that point forward is when I began noticing a severe change in the engine's performance, seemed more sluggish, as though the power output was no where close in comparison to the day I drove it off the lot.   I coughed it up and put it aside that it could be related to normal maintenance repairs that were coming due ...   But then it dawned on me, the car only has like 30k miles ... that couldn't be right ...

So I had my car taken into the shop again and we explained the situation, the experience we were having with the car and asked them to do their normal oil change, car overview stuff, and to please check the engine as that we felt there was something wrong ...   Hours later Mazda sent us on our merry way with an oil change which they claimed was all that was needed...  

Since that point the car has stalled on numerous occations, several times in very dangerous conditions ...   It seemed to happen at first in very extremely hot days during the summer of 2006.   We didn't seem to have the issue on cooler days so at first we adjusted our schedule around that and later on started to have the same problems regardless of climate.   Unfortunately due to my hectic work schedule I haven't been able to get the car to the dealership until today ....

After being at the dealership for just over 2 hours, the technician presented me with the news that my engine was totally shot and that it would need to be replaced.   At 52k, a new engine .... that's literally shocking because I am probably overboard to car care ...   Its kinda my life line to so many things if I dont have transportation ...

The icing on the cake was when the dealership claimed I would be responsible for covering my own loaner during the time my automobile was in the shop for service.   I dont think the dealership rep liked my tone after we finished explaining to them that we had called, brought the car in, and asked them to inspect the issues last year and they claimed all was well and to find that this has been a long-term plaguing problem to Rx-8s across the country ...  

Needless to say we have our loaner covered by the dealership, we're having our engine replaced for free, and as a bonus since the car will be in need of new tires in the future, the dealership is going to look into including those as a part of my grief ...

I'm not sure what legal action I have that I can partake upon with Mazda; however its deeply concerning that they're allowed this type of nonsense to continue for the length that it has.   Its things like this which make me really think long and hard about what do I do when the lease is up in 12 months?   Is it worthwhile to keep it, turn it in ?    Is it worth arguing with the dealership over who is going to be responsible for the negative equity in the car due to the Rx-8's past reputation?  

I see others have sued Mazda here, others have had them buy the automobile back ...   What was the duration of process?   How painful was it ???   What do others think I should do since its on a lease due up 7/2008 ?  

hello
I bought a 204 rx-8 on 4-11-07 for my daughter from Peachtree ford in atlanta
On 4-11-07 they drove it to her in orlando & on the next tuesday she had it in the shop for stalling out in i-4.
Classic Mazda said she must have used 83 octane, she must use 93.
Three days later it was taken back & on 5-4-07 they told me they are going to replace the enine. I have not even gotten a tag for it yet.
Does replacing the engine do anything? or better yet have you had better reslts since they reinserted a new one for you?  

My Mazda RX8 has flooded twice and had to be towed.  The Mazda dealership told me it had to be "dechoked", and they informed me that it will always happen if you start up the car and then drive only a very short distance, (ie to the mailbox), or just move the car a few yards and park it again, the next time you come to start it, it won't start.  They said always drive it around for at least a couple of minutes and get the revs up and your speed up to at least 35 miles, then let it idle a bit before switching off to absorb the surplus fuel in the injectors, and I haven't had a recurrence of the problem since adopting this routine, but it does mean you have to take the car round the block sometimes even if you just want to move it a couple of yards once you've turned off the engine, but it might help you if you try this technique, it helped me.       Now my problem is that parts of the trim are starting to fall off!   Anyone had the same issue??  Thanks  

I own Mazda RX8 since July 2004. The car has had flooding problems twice for which it needed to be towed each time.I never had starting problems in Am times. Now with little over 21k, has had stalling  problems twice. They changed Ignition coils last week. today it again had slow acceleration after have been on traffic light. it is really scary. last week  it happended to my  teenage daughter, who was alone on road. please repy if any one had replaced ignition coils, with what results.  

We had had problems on and off for the past year. We have an 04 with only 21,000 miles on it. We had all of the recall's performed as we received them and the dealer performed all of the maintenace since day one. This morning I was told that the engine needed to be replaced. New engine , rental car at no cost.

Recall canpaign 4206F is the one that needs to be performed..

llogan11 in Memphis...take it to Dobbs Mazda on Mendenhall. If its still under warranty, warranties have been extended for the drive train, they should repair it at no charge.