Still going ahead with Speed6, but a little panicked

[stillflat4]

OK, I did my due diligence before choosing the Speed6, but the guys over at the Saab board have been slightly getting on my case about this "no power" issue that seems to affect what,... 50% of you so far? Perhaps it's because another Saab/Subaru guy is going over to Mazda, and I know there's an official thread for issues, but I just wanted to do a quick poll to see how worried I should be?

I will only put 94 in it, and I do "spirited" driving, but I rarely do WOT, and I don't autocross or anything. Just curious where that leaves me? I'm sure with this engine going in a few new models, Mazda will get right on this, but I'm still a bit concerned...

 

[M6GR8]

First of all, like to clariy one point before I go on. I am an Aussie so the power rating is lower with 255HP instead of your 274HP.

Having said that, I would like to point out the widely rumoured outside of the Mazda boards that the issue of the power loss is affected by the ineffecient of the TMIC, and I can prove that to be wrong as I and many of the Aussie's Speed6 owner can verify that too. During our heat spell of 40c+ or your 100F+, I never experienced any powerloss as such. So this is more an issue of the tuning or as reported on other board by some owner who has their car checked and tested by Mazda tech, to be an oversensitive knock sensor. But in my mind, this is purely ecu tuning rather than hardware or design problem that being widely spreaded outside of the Mazda comunity.

 

[stillflat4]

Any idea where I'd find the latest reports on what, if anything, Mazda will do about it? I seem to recall reading in these forums somewhere that the fix will most likely come in the form of an ECU reprogram?

 

[M6GR8]

Just quickly I can locate this onehere which is on another board. But surely there should be more than one here on this board relates to powerloss.

Also one guy on the other board who had the powerloss problem, and his tech at the dealer had his car's fuel tank drained and refilled with the 93 gas. During all this everyone of us was sceptical about this remedy for the problem, yet miraculously his problem was gone.

 

[BlkZoomZoom]

We have sold 12, not one person has complained about any powerloss issue.

 

[stillflat4]

Also one guy on the other board who had the powerloss problem, and his tech at the dealer had his car's fuel tank drained and refilled with the 93 gas. During all this everyone of us was sceptical about this remedy for the problem, yet miraculously his problem was gone.

Thanks for the link. I think when I get my car the first thing I might do is get some octane booster and dump it in the tank, drive until almost empty, then fill it up with Sunoco 94. Octane booster won't harm anything, right? And I guess I'll make sure the car is completely warmed up before pushing it at all... Not that I'll be pushing it at the beginning at all of course...

The salesman warned me very specifically not to put anything less than 93 in it, but who knows if the dealer filled it with anything else?

 

[M6GR8]

But strangely some owners in Cal with only 91 gas available but never experienced any powerloss either. Yeah, I would only use the best possible fuel at all cost. In my case, the car is recommended with 95Ron ( your equavalent of 91Octane ) but I always fill up with 98 Ron ( 93Octane for you ).

 

[stillflat4]

But strangely some owners in Cal with only 91 gas available but never experienced any powerloss either. Yeah, I would only use the best possible fuel at all cost. In my case, the car is recommended with 95Ron ( your equavalent of 91Octane ) but I always fill up with 98 Ron ( 93Octane for you ).

Actually, reading to the end of the posts, I see that there might be some connection with build date? Cars 9/05-11/05? No one posted anything after those build dates having a problem. Either way, I'm not going to worry so much now. It looks like Mazda has this in hand.

 

[M6GR8]

Yes, it does seem to correlate a little. But I would like to see the stats with problem of powerloss and builtdate go side by side, but no one is keen to follow that up as i brougth it up over there

 

[seanw]

Of all the people who have posted on the powerloss that I have seen both here and on the other MS6 forum, I think 3 have duplicated it for the dealer. But, there are no guarantees, you could be one of the very unhappy unlucky ones. And, if so, who really knows what the rumored reflash will do.

I don't think anybody has really established any correlation with anything except 87 octane gas in the tank courtesy of the dealer. Octane booster apparently only boosts it 0.1 octane per treatment, so it will take a lot to even get up to 91! If it turns out the boneheads at the dealer put in 87, better to try and find some racing fuel. Instead it's best to make sure they don't do it in the first place or get them to drain it if they do.

Good luck with your final decision!

 

[Local Weather]

I've been driving mine for about 3600 miles now, since January. I have not experienced any powerloss whatsoever. This seems like a pretty rare issue.

 

[XPLORx4]

Power loss happened to me last night. Fuel level was low- I filled up 14.9 gallons. I'll blame it on the low fuel level for now...