If one of more of the ports aren't opening, will we get a CEL? I bought my RX8 new and have put 12k on it. But I can't help feel that it should feel more powerful in the upper RPM range (6500 - 8500).

It's likely normal, but if I can rule out any ports not opening, that would ease my mind. Otherwise I could dyno it to be sure. Thanks.

I know that Steve threw a CEL when his SSV didn't open. The CEL wasn't for the SSV though, it was for other things. Show up to a couple of the local meets, next one is 1/16, and you might be able to convince Jon to take a look at it. We did get Steve up and running after fixing his SSV and running some ZoomZoom cleaner though it. Might be able to do the same for you. Your other option is a compression check by Mazda.

yeah running some seafoam would not hurt it at all....like saide above sme ppl got a cel for the ssv not opening but it was not directly for the ssv....try some seafoam and see if tht clears up anything!

So if any of the ports or SSV aren't working properly, we will get a CEL, correct?

Yea...I think it throws a CEL for being rich if I remember right.

Steve (Vyndictive) had a pending code for SSV once... but other codes emerged because the SSV was stuck closed but never showed the SSV code.
So we had to narrow down what was really causing all of them.
The biggest clue for me was the oil past the throttle body.

Depending on what is stuck...

A SSV failure should throw code P0661. This will occur after two drive cycles. Note that the monitored condition is the SSV not turning OFF.