I can relate to it being frustrating. I bought my '04 new.

I doubt you'd enjoy adding a quart of oil to the RX8 every 500 miles and suffering with 20+% less fuel economy than the G. The RX8 was my second choice and I'm extremely happy I didn't make that move.

 

Interesting post. It disappoints but doesn't surprise me.

 

Well, it seems I will be taking a similar route as some others here.

Story as it stands: Left the car with them over the weekend, they were able to replicate the noise a few times, basically each morning when the car was very cold. The tech called Infiniti and they recommended a couple diagnostic ideas. The tech, using chassis ears, isolated the sound as coming from the transmission. My service guy called and said they will be replacing the tranny under warranty and it should take care of the issue.

I remain skeptical that anything will really change considering experiences of other members but we will see. I asked the service guy if he's seen anything like this before and he says no. I suppose that is a better sign and it indeed might be an isolated case of issues instead of one affecting all 6MT Gs.
Then again, maybe not many people notice things like this or are bothered enough to take it in, maybe not many people drive their Gs in winter like we do.

In any case, I will have my car back next week probably, new tranny and all. I will let you guys know of any updates if they come, or I guess I'll post my impressions with the new parts.

 

and yet another one that changes out the transmission. As I stated before, this is the best way to get a new transmission out of the dealership...but that's about it. I've seen too many posts saying the noise still exists even after new tranmissions installed.

I'm not saying it's a cold air damper(apparently, it's not anywhere in the service manual) or anything of that nature, but I would try looking into other similar causes. An air duct maybe? An air path going to the interior cabin of the vehicle?

 

Yea, like I said, I'm skeptical this will really help much. I'm not going to stop them obviously, I get a whole new transmission and at the off chance it does take care of it, I'm golden. But I feel like it will continue to do so, but provided there aren't actually other symptoms other than short term noise, I guess I'll just deal with it / move south.

 

if the new tranny doesn't fix the noise, are you going to keep the dealership involved? Did you tell them you know a bunch of people with the issue, so if they can fix it they could get some decent business out of it? i'd drive to columbus for a weekend to get this taken care of if i was sure a dealer had a handle on the situation.

how internet-friendly is your dealership? i've known dealers in the past that will provide statements and information if they know this kind of conversation is going on online, but people are also nervous pointing a dealership a a forum for fear of warranty-voiding revelations.

 

I will play it by ear I guess. A local friend had his 05 Coupe tranny replaced with an 06 because of syncro issues, unrelated to our issues, but he reports no noises or anything else after the swap so hopefully I get the same results with a new tranny.

I will definitely tell the dealer if the sound isn't fixed after the swap, but if it's the exact same as before, I'm not sure where to go from there in terms of fixing it. I will likely keep them in the loop and see what they want to do as well. If it gets worse for whatever reason, obviously I'll take it back.

I mentioned that I was talking to other owners that have the issue, they maintain this is the first they've seen personally. I will ask them if they have done any other info hunting when I go to pick up my car next week. They are a nice group of guys both in service and tech and if they fix the issue, I have no hesitation in recommending them to do your transmission as well. I don't know how much money the actually make on warranty issues, but I don't see why they wouldn't fix it if you bring it to them.

As for internet friendly, I don't know to be honest, I haven;t ever needed something to this magnitude. They definitely made no effort to imply any of this was my fault so far. I dropped it off, they went to work and came back telling me they were taking care of the issue under warranty with no implications that it was my driving or etc that caused it.
I can ask them about providing a statement and for more business from our forum and see how they take it. I will post back as it comes. I will surely keep you in the loop based on my results.

 

awesome. the community very much appreciates the legwork you're putting into this.

did they give any indication of how long the repairs would take? are you in a loaner until the swap is complete or are they letting you drive it until everything comes in?

 

i guess i feel like i'd mind those less because they're not only known, but normal. rotaries burn oil. its not something mazda knows about and isn't addressing or something that exists and no one knows why. its just the inherent design of the engine. it says so on the manual even.

i'll never blow my apex seals on the G though, i suppose of course i'll never rev to 9000 either so there's a trade-off on everything.

i'm still happy with the G, just frustrated cause i was unaware of the issue before i bought it, and if i'd heard the noises during a test drive i would have walked away without a second thought.

 

Not a problem at all. I have gotten so much info from members here, it's my turn to help some others out, not like I'm doing much anyways, mostly sitting, waiting, and speculating...

They gave me a loaner G35x. Kinda liking the laziness involved in driving the thing. I haven't touched a set of car keys in a week, just click the button on the door, push a button to start, no shifting...heck I might as well take a nap in the back at this rate.
I'll be glad to get my baby back though. They said the transmission should arrive either tomorrow or Friday, should be done early next week at some point provided nothing goes wrong. So not a long haul by any means considering the work being done.
Let's hope this takes care of it, then you can come on by and get a new transmission too.

 

^ fingers crossed

i piggybacked on a thread on a Z forum too, hopefully we can get more info. i don't know the policy on linking between different forums here, so i won't link anything until i hear one way or another on that.

looks like there's a lot of Zs with the problem, which confuses me even more as to how this has just floated along this whole time.

 

Good to see you're up to speed on the issues with the RX8.

The funny thing is the "noise" we're hearing doesn't seem to lead to any specific problem. At least one would think we would identify the problem if it did.

 

has anyone looked into the air dampener flap? some one was talking about this thing, it may be the cause.

 

Here' my two cents;
I try to let the car warm up (idle) when it's cold, less that 40f or so. If I let it warm up for 15 minutes or so (I know, waste gas, etc., I just go back inside and work a bit more) the noise is drastically reduced once I'm actually moving. I'm thinking this almost rules out the wheel bearings, unless they're also heated by the engine radiating heat. The "rushing" noise is a perfect desription of what I hear, I originally had f'ed up turbo thoughts, but it's been checked, and is ok. The noise is pretty loud, so I wonder how it could come from any small valve being open. It does sound like some large vent is open, but there isn't anything that large up front. I'm currently putting my money on trans problems, or just getting worn out. I currently think I'm just going to drive it untill something drops off the car/ destroys itself, and then just get a better, built trans, so I can beat on the car with less worries of breaking stuff. I'll be able to tell for sure, if a new trans fixes things! I should start playing lotto, because sequential transmissions seem really cool. Who cares if they sound horrid... Good thread you all!

 

^ if you could tell me where it is i'd be glad to look into it, but i don't think it exists. i've scoured the service manual for it, and could find no mention at all of any such part.

i've got tomorrow off and my fiance doesn't, so i'll have plenty of time in the morning to get the car up on stands and see if it still makes the noise going 30 stationary. at this point i'm betting it does, and that will 100% rule out the air damper flap theory.