Hey guys,

Bought a used RX-8 this weekend down in Calgary. It passed an inspection by a Mazda dealer down there just fine.

Two small things I'm worried about.
1) Temp gauge shows 2-3 small ticks to the left or right on both the water/oil temp. Even after highway driving on a +4C day it remained this way. Every other car I have owned the temp gauges have been centered unless cold starting.

2) Exhaust smell is much higher than normal when starting, I have to roll the windows down to smell this. It does have an OEM air intake and a Greddy exhaust, could any of these be contributing?

thanks for the input!

1) normal

2) it's the greddy exhaust

well my temp gauge sits about 2 ticks to the left of center(which is normal operating temp) for the oil pressure gauge it is just a dummy gauge if there is any pressure at all it's going to b 2 ticks to the right of center with zero pressure it will b off all the way to the left....

when the car first starts it runs rich until the 02 sensors can get a reading at about 600 degrees so it will smell rich and the exhaust is helping it breathe some so it will in turn let the unburned fuel out....everything sounds normal to me!

wicked thanks for the quick response guys

no prob

the temp gauge is a 'dummy gauge', it pretty much goes to the exact same spot after the car is warmed up. Not very accurate at all so in other words: it's normal.

failing cats smell before they log a cel.