Zodiac MX8 and MX8 Elite Suction Cleaners

The MX8 is Zodiac's tracked suction cleaner for in-ground pools. It runs on your pump's suction through a skimmer or a 1½-inch vacuum line, on 39 feet of Twist-Lock hose. Water pulled through a turbine engine inside drives a pair of tracks. Zodiac rates it for concrete, tile, vinyl and fiberglass, and its comparison table gives it a 15-inch cleaning footprint.

The MX8 Elite, MX8EL, is the same cleaner with cyclonic scrubbing turbines and brushes underneath. Zodiac says the brushes spin and stay in contact with the pool surface to loosen stuck-on debris. Both share one owner's manual, and both product pages give one year of warranty. Zodiac's site still lists both, but Fluidra's 2026 trade catalog lists the plain MX8 as discontinued.

The MX6 and MX6 Elite are the compact versions, with a 10-inch footprint and 32 feet of hose. It's a very different machine from Zodiac's Baracuda G3, a one-moving-part diaphragm cleaner. Like any suction cleaner, it sends debris to your pump basket and filter, which the cleaner type comparison covers.

MX8 or MX8 Elite

The difference is scrubbing:

• MX8: turbines underneath that Zodiac says create down force for climbing and stability and direct debris into the cleaner's mouth.
• MX8 Elite: those turbines are cyclonic scrubbing turbines, carrying four replaceable brushes that touch the pool floor to agitate small stuck-on debris.

Zodiac sells the scrubbing turbines, R0714300, as an easy upgrade for the MX8, so a plain MX8 isn't locked out of scrubbing later.

Before you connect it

1. Turn off the pump.
2. Vacuum the pool by hand, and make sure the filter and pump basket are clean.
3. Close the main drain line.
4. Aim the returns down.

Zodiac's safety rules: the suction fittings you connect to should be certified to a safety standard such as IAPMO SPS 4, and wall vacuum fittings should have a safety vac lock. On a vinyl pool, don't install it on a liner that's brittle or has stones, wrinkles, roots or corroded metal against its underside until it's repaired; Zodiac says it isn't responsible for liner damage.

Connecting it

The hose: push and twist each connector until it clicks. Zodiac says each cuff has three connection positions, and any of them seals.

On a dedicated suction line: twist the male end of the hose into the large end of the extended 45° elbow, connect the elbow to the safety vac wall fitting, which is sold separately, and angle the elbow up toward the surface.

On a skimmer: Zodiac says the FlowKeeper valve must always be used when the pool has only one skimmer. With more than one, use the skimmer closest to the pump. Take out the skimmer basket, fit the valve cuff, FlowKeeper valve and 45° elbow together with the FlowKeeper's arrow pointing down, twist the hose into the elbow, and put the assembly into the skimmer's suction port. Zodiac says the parts and their order depend on your skimmer.

The length: connect enough sections to reach the farthest point of the pool from the skimmer or suction line and take off any extra. Then add the leader hose, the one with the float, at the cleaner end. Zodiac says the extra length lets the cleaner still reach the far point if a loop forms.

The cleaner: put the flow regulator valve on the leader hose. Submerge the hose until no bubbles come out, then do the same with the cleaner. Push the valve onto the cleaner, let it sink, and turn the pump on.

Checking the flow

Zodiac's flow check is how fast the wheels turn:

1. With the pump on, bring the cleaner up and hold it fully underwater, just below the surface.
2. Find the yellow wheel speed indicator on the rear right wheel.
3. Time 10 turns. If the wheels change direction while you count, wait and start again.

• 20 to 25 seconds: optimal flow, no change needed.
• 26 to 50 seconds: too slow, so increase the flow.
• 10 to 19 seconds: too fast, so decrease the flow, or the cleaner could be damaged.

To adjust, use the valves at the equipment pad or turn the FlowKeeper valve up or down at the skimmer.

Two debris modes

The MX8 and MX8 Elite leave the factory in small-debris mode, for small, heavy debris such as sand, silt and small stones. Large-debris mode is for leaves.

Turn the pump off and disconnect the hose first.

• For large debris: hold the yellow inlet adapter with a finger in its hole, lift its rear edge and pull it out of the vacuum inlet.
• Back to small debris: put the adapter back in the inlet and push down until both its front and rear edges click into place.

Zodiac recommends switching back to small-debris mode once the large-debris cleaning is done.

Clearing the engine

Disconnect the hose and turn the pump off first.

1. Push the latch release button on top of the cleaner.
2. Rotate the top back until it clicks into the upright position.
3. Look into the engine and pull out any debris.
4. If something's stuck, slowly push the engine paddles forward or back to move it where you can reach it. Let the tracks move freely, because they turn with the paddles.
5. Close the top and make sure the latch clicks.

The tune-up kit

The R0796200 kit replaces the parts that do the driving: the engine, two drive shafts, two bearings, both direction control devices and both tracks. From Zodiac's instructions:

1. Take off the worn tracks and open the top with the yellow latch release button.
2. Remove the eight screws holding the engine housing, keep them, and lift the housing off, nudging the paddles clear.
3. Pull out the engine and drive shafts, holding both shafts and pulling firmly upward.
4. Remove one screw from each side body panel, and take off both panels. Then remove one screw and the direction control device from each.
5. Fit the new direction control devices by letter: the one marked A goes in the side body marked A, and B in B.
6. Press the new bearings onto the engine with the blue plastic piece facing away from it, and push in the drive shafts.
7. Seat the engine, refit the housing with its eight screws, and close the top until the latch clicks.
8. Fit the new tracks, raised inner edge in the groove of the two bottom wheels, then pulled gently up over the smaller black wheel.

The kit's instructions say the work must be done by a qualified professional with enough experience in pool equipment, and that improper installation voids the warranty.

Routine care and storage

• Empty the pump basket regularly, more often when there's more debris. Zodiac's Cyclonic Leaf Catcher, CLC500, listed on both product pages, traps debris before it reaches the skimmer, pump or filter.
• Disconnect the cleaner before cleaning or backwashing the filter, and let the system run at least five minutes before reconnecting.
• Take it out before adding chemicals or shocking, and wait at least four hours after super chlorination before putting it back.
• Replace the Elite's brushes every season or when they're visibly worn.
• Keep it out of direct sun, and store it on its side or back so the turbines and brushes aren't damaged.
• Never coil the hose, even briefly. Zodiac says it can develop a memory that affects how the cleaner moves.
• Before winter, drain all the water out, since freeze damage isn't covered by the warranty. Take all connectors and adapters out of the suction line or skimmer, and take the hose apart and lay it flat.

What the troubleshooting table says

• Doesn't move, or moves slowly: close the main drain; check the wheel speed; check for worn teeth inside the tracks; backwash the filter and empty the pump basket; check for debris in the engine; switch to large-debris mode; and make sure the flow regulator valve moves freely. If the pump basket's water level drops, or you see bubbles in the basket or at the returns, there's air in the system: check the hose connections, tighten the fittings at the pump and check the pump basket o-ring.
• Doesn't cover the whole pool: check the hose length and the wheel speed, aim the returns down or add a return diverter, straighten a kinked or coiled hose in the sun, put the float about 9 inches from the cleaner, and watch that each track reverses direction now and then over five minutes.
• Stuck at steps: check that each track reverses, that the swivel on top turns freely, and the wheel speed and hose length.
• Won't climb walls: check the wheel speed and the float. Zodiac adds that algae on the pool surface makes it slippery and hurts traction.
• Riding on its side: check the float is about 9 inches from the cleaner.

If a track never reverses, Zodiac says to contact a dealer or service center.

Buying one

Both versions carry one year, with no labor, and Zodiac's warranty covers only the first retail purchaser and isn't transferable, so a secondhand MX8 comes with none. The warranty also excludes wear items, naming tires and track tires.

Choose the Elite if you want scrubbing from the start. A plain MX8 can have the scrubbing turbines added later, and Zodiac's MX8 page lists them as an accessory. But Fluidra's 2026 catalog lists the plain MX8 as discontinued, so a new one may be old stock; the Elite is the version Fluidra hasn't marked that way.

Where Zodiac's documents disagree

• Debris size. Zodiac's comparison table gives both as cleaners for small to medium debris. The owner's manual has a large-debris mode for leaves, and the MX8 sell sheet claims the largest debris inlet.
• How little flow it needs. The 2013 MX8 sell sheet says as little as 20 GPM. The current MX8 page says it needs 30% less flow, without saying less than what, and gives no figure.
• Whether it's still made. Fluidra's 2026 product catalog lists its in-ground Zodiac suction cleaners as the MX6 Elite, G3 PRO and TR2D, with neither MX8 among them, and its discontinued products section lists the plain MX8 with a parts page of its own. It doesn't mark the MX8 Elite discontinued, and still prints the Elite's parts and the MX8/MX8 Elite tune-up kit. Zodiac's site lists both cleaners as current products, not in its product archive.
• Where it's sold. The 2015 MX8 Elite sell sheet calls it a Trade Series exclusive, and its current page doesn't say.
• Which cleaners the scrubbing turbines fit. Both product pages label R0714300 for the MX6 Elite and MX8 Elite, and the catalog lists it on those two cleaners' parts pages. Zodiac's scrubbing kit page calls it an upgrade for the MX8. The turbine instructions also cover a kit numbered R0730100.
• Who works on it. The owner's manual has you opening the cleaner to clear the engine and changing the brushes yourself. The tune-up kit and scrubbing turbine instructions both say the product must be serviced by a qualified professional.
• The engine's name. Zodiac's tune-up kit page lists a Flex Power Turbine; the kit instructions and parts list call the same part the engine.