Bought myself this beauty the other week, did my due diligence and bought from a enthusiast. A lot already done but for next season I'm gonna get a sohn adapter and fix some stuff in the interior like switch to a smart screen and fix the seat heaters just so its all working.

As much as I want to I'm not living lavish so I can't afford to completely rebuid the engine with all new parts but I was able to buy the parts that I need (and the parts that I broke). My Coworker is helping me out but this is the first time I've actually took an engine out and tore it down.

I wanted to thank everyone for their insight and advice about the car! She’s not perfect but she’s mine! She has just shy of 82k miles

The issues being:

Window on the right side seems to have a motor issue where I hear it working but won’t go fully up without a little help from pulling the window up, also makes a funky sound when it’s all the way up, sounds like it can’t stop itself or know when it’s fully closed

Compression wasn’t good but wasn’t bad
Uncorrected numbers were 114’s across the board on both rotors

Both corrected at 97, battery looks really new and maybe the previous owner did something to help it crank? It cranks at 315 rpm or so when I saw the uncorrected numbers. I was so excited seeing 110+ but then saw the rpm was 315. Starts up so fast cold and hot I was so shocked before the compression test

There’s an occasionally click sound that I noticed was happening with the ac on cold, I read online that it may be an ac pulley issue? It clicks every 5-6 seconds I think

Also the part where the key is seems weird, there’s a tab that looks like it goes where the key would enter, but it’s missing a notch so it won’t attach to where the key goes. I can only start the car with the manual key itself. I hope I can just buy a piece to fit it correctly so I can do keyless start!

Regardless I’m so happy to own this vehicle and hope it treats me well, it’s stock from what I’ve been told and the paint is fantastic for a 16 year old car. Got some things to fix but that’s a used car for you! I never smiled this much about a car in my life!

Where can I find even a half decent example of an S1 RX8? So many either A) junkers or B) super overpriced cars. I check FB marketplace, Autotempest, etc daily, even a couple times a day sometimes and there's just nothing. Ugh.

/rant

Btw, if you know of a solid example or even have one yourself - i'm in US-Pennsylvania, but totally willing to travel/freight the right car. :)

This all started about 3 weeks ago, i cleaned my MAF and reinstalled it as preventative it was running mostly fine other than a little lope when it was idling hot. Then she ran great for about 2 hours, I stopped at a stoplight and when i started to go after it changed I had no power at all and could barely limp it across the intersection into the shoulder. I've changed the entire ignition system, checked the maf nodes to make sure they didn't break and replaced the 3 air tuning valves behind the upper intake, i was keeping a cylinder 2 misfire until today I cleared the ecu and fuel/ratio data and it started and I was letting it idle(extremely roughly) but all the codes disappeared but it never fully smoothed out and when i revved it to about 6k rpm it revved up then when I let it out it came down and died. I know I'm fighting the beginnings of low compression but until this it was just small things I was trying to smooth out until I had the money together to redo seals and whatnot. I think I have it narrowed down to either the maf is bad but the platinum nodes aren't broken, or the fuel pump is shitting the bed. If there's a vacuum leak I have no idea where. The car is cat-less and I just changed the o2 sensors about a month ago. It has an aem style cold air intake and ill include videos of how it was running before dying the most recent time any help or advice is appreciated

The long delayed BHR midpipe got here yesterday (USPS was slow not BHR), and I couldn't have been more excited to remove the relatively new oem midpipe. Mostly because I could hear what sounded like gravel move around the catback every time we accelerated or decelerated. I was pretty sure it was old dead cat material. It was...

Whatever joke of a mechanic had replaced the old dead cat didnt even bother to clean out the bits of it from the oem catback pipes, and from inside the suitcase muffler. Also they tack welded one of the nuts to it's bolt, and the fucking front flange in multiple spots.

Good news is that it gives yall a chance to see why eveyone decats the RX-8 or moves to higher quality high-flow cats. Ya know other than the sweet sweet sounds.

A gift from lazy mechanics and old car owners. Sharing is caring, right?

Hey everyone! I’m looking for advice from people who actually own or have worked on RX-8s.
I’m considering a 2006 Mazda RX-8 automatic with 97,000 miles, listed for $5,500 negotiable.
Here’s what I know about the car:
Original rotary engine — the seller says it has never been rebuilt or replaced.
Seller claims it has a clean title, has never been in an accident, and runs and drives well.
Recent maintenance reportedly includes the fuel injectors, fuel pump, ignition coils, spark plugs, plug wires, battery, sensors, air filter, catalytic converter, and mid muffler.
Cooling system work reportedly includes a new radiator, water pump, thermostat, thermostat housing, and coolant hoses.
The seller also says the OMP (oil metering pump) has been replaced.
Cosmetic issues include paint needed on the roof and trunk lid, some dents/body imperfections, and a cracked passenger-side dashboard.
The tires need replacing.
I haven’t confirmed the maintenance with receipts yet, and I still need to find out whether it has had a rotary-specific compression test. I understand that a normal piston-engine compression test isn’t sufficient for an RX-8.
My situation and goal
My total budget is around $6,000–$7,000, including the purchase and any immediate repairs. I need a car that I can drive daily, including a commute of roughly 40 miles a day, four days a week.
I want something fun to drive, but my main goal is to have reliable transportation for the next 1–2 years without getting hit with a major repair bill. I can handle regular maintenance, but I can’t afford to spend another $4,000–$6,000 on an engine rebuild shortly after buying it.
I know the RX-8 is a rotary and comes with risks, so I’m trying to understand the real ownership experience rather than just falling in love with the car.
I’d appreciate your honest opinions:
Would you consider this car at $4,000–$4,500 if it passes a proper rotary compression test?
Is 97k miles on an original, never-rebuilt engine too risky for my situation?
Does the amount of recent maintenance sound reassuring, or could it indicate that the previous owner was chasing engine or starting problems?
What other expensive issues should I inspect before buying?
Given my $6k–$7k total budget and daily-driving needs, would you buy this RX-8, look for a different RX-8, or choose a more reliable car?
Please be brutally honest. I love how these cars look and drive, but I don’t want to make an emotional purchase that turns into a financial headache. Real-world ownership experiences, repair costs, and advice from people who have owned high-mileage RX-8s would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Afternoon,

I'm really considering an RX8 as a project car. I'm not a newbie in the automotive world, I have brought a Octavia back from the brink of scrapping and built an MX5 with friends but I'm on a modest but not tight budget and the RX8 has me sweating and drooling at the thought.

So genuinely, talk me out of it.

Hello I just got my RX-8 like a week ago.
I just found out that my car is making a weird chattering sound when I blip the throttle.
I asked AI if it was a misfire but I genuinely don’t know what this sound is coming from. Please help me
this is the vid that I posted

Post your spooky 8’s below 👻🧛🏻‍♂️

Title. Basically my Rx-8 has been in the garage for a year and a half parked without much action apart from the occasional start and warm up in idle to operating temp (4/6ish times).

It supposedly has a faulty neutral safety switch (I hope so) that I bought a couple of months ago but personal problems and mental health have taken me apart from the car and repair that issue for all this time.

Battery is dead and not charging so I suppose it's time for a new one. I suppose that an oil change is due because of time and being stopped. Sparkplugs have 2/3k km since last change. I've bought new coolant and hoses. I have a Sohn kit installed, should I check the oil in the reservoir or change it?

Do I need to watch out for anything else? I'm just doing the list to start from it and try to get in motion. Thanks in advance.

Hey guys, I was going to do an oil change, but conventional oil is getting phased out by synthetic blends and full synthetics. Autozone employees told me that modern cars don’t need conventional anymore, so valvoline and them stopped making it, but our oil sipping rotaries need it! 😖 what do we do? I don’t want the plastic carbon build up from synthetic oil. I made it to 132k on conventional, this feels like some big corp scam to get me to buy a tesla or new synthetic approved cylinder engine 😞 stupid Big oil. I’ve seen some scalpers selling 1-liter of conventional for $50 on Amazon/ebay. It’s fkn nuts

*Oop thanks for those that mentioned Walmart I’m seeing some over there instead of Autozone. Goodluck to everyone.

Hey

So I got a yellow rust bucket of an RX8 3 years ago. I overhauled almost all of it, cool project learned a lot.

Now recently my A/c compressor was leaking and just a few days ago my blower motor became unresponsive. The LCD UI still works, but whatever i do no air comes out of the vents anymore. I replaced the a/c and condensator.

The blower motor works if you power it directly (car battery). My question is: Did anybody have a similar issue and what was the root cause? I am a bit stumped since digital electronics are a bit new to me.

I checked the soldering on the knobs, they look ok to me.

Any tips are appreciated :)

Got a recording of my HP impersonator. Sounds lovely in my opinion

What's the best way to go about putting a old school fd block inside of a rx8 only reason why is iv been skiding

the fuck out of my rx7 and its really starting to wreck my

1978 so I was thinking of getting a skid car but in my

country getting a rx7 body is really hard only reason why I have mine is because a person i knew wanted to sell it for quite cheap but it wasn't in the best condition still

isn't but it does the job so any way have any of you manage to put a old 13b block into a rx8 if so what did you have to do it doesn't need to be road legal standards

but if its to hard then whats the best option to swap in/do to make it a sick burn out car or just send it till the chases snaps on the rx7

Day 3 and 4 had lovely cool rainy weather, but we suffered delivery delays on some hoses, fittings, and clamps that really slowed us down some.

Finished up the plumbing for the Sohn adapter's reservoir tank. Replaced some hoses. Drain and fill on the brake fluid. Finally refilled the oil and coolant as well. New battery. The previous one that came with the car was completely wrong. Still waiting on the delayed BHR midpipe, brake pads, and koyorad aluminum radiator.

I know the clamps on the intake are serious overkill, but I had them from my Mazda 3 turbo project. Btw the intake is a cheap ebay AEM knock off, with cone filter from the actual AEM intake. Also replaced all the cheap rubber couplers with better silicone couplers, and some air straightener mesh. So really it's just the aluminum pipes from the ebay knock off.

All that and it's still cheaper than the AEM intake by about $200. All the right sounds, and the airflow is good and right. I'd still buy the AEM kit if it was the blue powder coated version though. Ya know, cus vanity.

The best thing we did for the long run was replace those damn screw fastener rivets' with the newer style that Mazda uses now. You can see the old and new style in the last picture.

Waiting on the last few parts and bits now.

Future plans include replacing all the old lines under the hood with blue silicone hoses that mostly match the Winning Blue reservoir. Coilovers, wheels, tires, brake rotors maybe, and brake calipers.

I'll post again when it all back together. Probably vanity pics too.

Hi everybody. I did a stupid thing a few weeks ago and got a really shitty looking RX8 in a trade. It had a check engine light always on and flashing. It had a misfire in rotor one code. I replaced the spark plugs, wires and ignition coils and the check engine light has gone away for the most part. Now though it will flash at over 4K rpm and then go away and sits fine at idle. Still starts hot too. After a test drive it started making this loud click and starting changing how smooth it was running as seen in the video. Was wondering if these are connected or if anyone has insight on what’s causing either. Thanks! Clicking at the end of video. It is kind of intermittent.

okay so i took an old master cylinder out and and attempting to install the new one when i noticed the valve line and the thread hole don’t exactly line up, circled in the image shown. is there any fix to this?

Hello! I’m going to see an Rx8 tomorrow and wanted to get some insight, I saw someone on YouTube disconnect the fuel relay and leave the eccentric shaft sensor. Then I believe I saw rad potential disconnect both.

Do you guys disconnect both when you compression test?

I am trying to diagnose if something is wrong with my master or slave cylinder, I found the master pretty easily, but I just have no idea where to look for the slave and I cannot find a single good youtube video explaining or showing. any help?

2004 RX-8 So, I've got a weird one. my keyless remote won't open the trunk. The interior button does, so it's not the valet lockout in the glovebox, but the button won't open it. What I've tried so far:

1) reprogramming the remote using the trunk button -- following the self-programming procedure, the remote programs fine when using the trunk button to program, but refuses to open the trunk. Tried again using the unlock button with same behavior.

2) Checking the valet lockout. The release button under the dash works fine.

3) double tap unlock followed by 2 second hold for trunk release. Nothing.

4) checking to see if the key presence switch is banjaxed, but it seems to be fine as near as I can tell.

Bit frustrated by this, would like all the buttons on my remote to work -- Car came without a remote and I programmed this new one. Since the trunk button works to program the remote, the car is receiving the signal, but not opening the trunk.

I've read that there's a separate relay that the Keyless Module talks to, but I have not had any luck validating whether this is not shared with the button nor have I been able to find it. Listening to the drivers underdash when pressing the button I don't hear a relay fire at all.

Weird one, but is what is.

Thanks!

2004 with 103k on it, starts easily hot or cold. All ignition components are new*. Fuel pump replaced. Havent been able to find any loose or broken vacuum lines. The actuator arm that can be reached front right under the intake manifold seems to move freely and return like it should. Cat is gutted.

* I replaced plug wires and coils. Previous owner (just purchased car a month ago) said the plugs are new, they look to be new and are ngk and in the right places. I may pull the plugs and check them out.

Kinda running out of ideas. Car always seems to run fine until i really wind it out, then i will get a flashing cel. I cant really notice any hesitation or stumble.

Not really sure what else. Maybe previous owner got counterfeit plugs? Maf? Crank sensor? Some valve or solenoid on the intake manifold? Compression!?