I have an 04 rx8 manual with 56k on it and on my way back to the office on the highway today it started lunging back and forth....and then the check engine came on and started blinking. I made it to my exit and it basically went into a kind of safe mode where there was barely any acceleration. I thought I may have ran out of oil but that isn't the case. When I got to a parking lot i stepped on the accelerator and you could head like a poof sound coming out of the exhaust and then it stalled. It smelled like coolant out the tailpipes and under the hood. It had stalled earlier in the day too which has never happened before. It was 100 degrees here today which I'm sure played a part. I let it sit for ten minutes and then started it back up. No check engine light and it ran ok back to the office. Is the engine on it's way out?

 

How's your catalytic converter?

Ever replaced your plugs/coils?

 

Check plugs, coils, wires, and cat. Hopefully it is just one of those....but since you are still under the warranty, maybe it would be better if your engine did die.

I had a very similar problem and it was the plugs and/or coils, I just replaced them all at the same time and no problems since.

 

I have an 04 auto, sounds like the same problem
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/loss-power-ruff-idle-wiring-short-180170/
I'm hopeing its only the cat

 

Well I drove it all the way home from work last night and didn't have any problems with it. I added some oil and some coolant before I left work just to make sure everything was topped off. Could it be that it just overheated? Would that cause the check engine light to come on and the loss of power or is it something else?

 

If it happens again, take it to the dealer for evaluation.

 

it will happen again. when my engine acted retarded on me, it ran fine for a couple weeks then it did it again, so I would definitely go ahead and check those plugs and coils to head off the problem. Good luck with it.

 

Make sure to check your cat too, mine failed and caused a major loss in power for me

 

I'm guessing a new CAT is not under the engine/powertrain warranty?

How much do they charge? I've heard up to $3000

IS there no way to simply clean the cat?

 

Its free, it IS covered under the engine/powertrain warranty, so you have 8 years/100k miles

 

The CAT is covered under warranty.

 

Out of warranty though I think Mazda charges around $2k for one.

 

Just gut the cat if you're out of warranty.

 

The cat would be covered under Mazda warranty. However, he is from Canada and wouldn't receive the US mandated 8/80 emissions warranty.

daddyg, if you are out of warranty, look here for someone selling their used cat. Or, buy a high flow cat from one of the vendors.

 

Specified major emission control components are covered for the first 8 years or 80,000 miles of vehicle use.

According to federal law, an emission control or emission related
part, or a specified major emission control component, that fails
because of a defect in materials or workmanship, must be repaired or
replaced by the vehicle manufacturer free of charge as long as the
vehicle has not exceeded the warranty time or mileage limitations for
the failed part.

There are three specified major emission control components,
covered for the first 8 years or 80,000 miles of vehicle use on 1995
and newer vehicles:

* Catalytic converters.

* The electronic emissions control unit or computer (ECU).

* The onboard emissions diagnostic device or computer (OBD).

 

Yeah... but does that apply to the Canucks who lives in Moose Country?

 

This is for BC. LINK

Motor Vehicle Emissions Control Warranty Regulation, B.C. Reg. 116/96

(a) for specified major emission control components, not less than 8 years or the period within which the warranted vehicle is driven 80 000 miles (128 748 km), whichever is shorter,

I would think the rest of Canada would follow the same guidelines.

 

When a ceramic cat "dies", it usually means the coating on the ceramic is gone, then the high temp starts melting the ceramic material so nah there is "nothing" to clean there.

a stock CAT cost like 1700 bux.

You can always check your local junk yard to see if there is any CAT there tho. they usually sell it for cheap.

 

That makes sense. My car only has 35K miles on it, mostly highway driving. Would it be possible my symptoms (sluggish and low RPM's, hard starts) would be a faulty CAT?

 

its more like your engine.

 

So to bring this post around to what happened....could it just be a sticky thermostat that would cause this to happen instead of the engine or the cat going bad?

 

The stock thermostat can go bad, but it rarely happens. and when it happens, you will be able to tell right away.

 

well it did it again and now it's getting towed to the dealership to see what's up with it. had the same thing with the lunging and check engine light and stalling and barely made it to work. i'll keep you posted.

 

Mine did the same thing last week, and come to find out, 3 coils went bad, which caused 3 plugs to go bad which fried the Rear O2 Sensor. I orderd the parts and put them on this past tuesday, runs good as new.

 

are the coils covered under the extended 60k powertrain warranty? My car is still covered under that until next month so I was just curious in case that is the problem.