My car within this year started to have rough idles at stop lights I have a 04 AT with 86,000 miles. It would stall here and there but not much until last week. Now every time I would drive somewhere it would at least stall once or twice. So I go and buy seafoam hoping it will fix some of the problems but now it is worst stalling every time I come to a stop. I got no smoke after I added seafoam which made me concerned. I followed the directions on how to add the carbon cleaner 1/3 to the gas tank, 1/3 to the oil crankcase and 1/3 in the brake booster(maybe should have used the nipples on the lower intake manifold) and the car is not wanting to stay running unless I give it gas. :cussing: I am frustrated about the whole thing and even if we still have the 100,000 mile engine warranty it does not help that I have basic bolt on mods that might void the warranty. For example headers, high flow cat, catback exhaust, light weight pulleys, cold air intake, JET chip and Nology wires. Does anyone think Mazda will void my engine warranty with these upgrades? Classic problems that with my car that screams new engine but not confident that Mazda will give me one. Oh my engine light came on before the seafoam as I was driving to the Mazda dealership which made me turn away until I could get codes. Wish I just drove in and had them look at it. Is anyone in the same boat as me? Hope someone out there can solve my problems........

when was the last time you changed the coils plugs and wires?

the brake booster? :uhh:

idk i was asking the same question in my head

when was the last time you changed the coils plugs and wires?

I changed the coils last November and the plugs months ago and the Nology wires I have had for a couple years and seem fine.

get the codes read could possibly be either a dirty or a bad MAF sensor

the brake booster? :uhh:

Vacuum line that leads into the upper intake manifold:eyetwitch

get the codes read could possibly be either a dirty or a bad MAF sensor

Wanted to get the codes but did the seafoam first; I used MAF cleaner a couple weeks ago.....

thats about all i can think of with those symptoms take it to a local autoparts store and get the codes read idk what to tell you but judging that its an 04 AT i fear the worst

I need a new engine guess I am going to try my best to plead my case with Mazda. If I don't get a engine keep an eye out for my total part out of my RX8:puke:

do you have your oem parts?

do you have your oem parts?

Nope! :(

damm, good luck but get those codes read before you take it to a dealer

yeah...you should have just used it through the nipples...only thing I can think of at the moment is to let the engine idle, give it a bit of gas if you need to. Then let it run low on gas then refill the tank.

If I don't give my car gas when at a stop it will stall so I will just have to throw it in neutral and quickly give it gas while I slowly stop at the same time! Hopefully over time all of it will pass and it go back to the way it was stalling one or two times on each trip:icon_no2:

I changed the coils last November and the plugs months ago and the Nology wires I have had for a couple years and seem fine.

change out that nology wire and you should be fine...

^lol I was going to say check your plugs?

nology wires are bad.

Check the intake for any leaks, like the nipple under the TB.

Get some Racing Beat wires.

I'm not sure what's funnier; the fact that I never had any problem at all with the OE ignition system, or that everybody here thinks swapping it out is the immediate solution to every known RX-8 problem :lol2:

as for the warranty the dealer will have to proove thats what caused the problem otherwise they still have to switch your engine for you ... call mna if they dont but make sure you read your codes BEFORE you go to the dealer and keep proof of the code read so if they give you some bs as to how your intake caused the fail you can pull the receipt and show em you already knew what the problem was and you know the intake couldnt have caused it showing them they cant walk over you and they will shit in their pants at this point and become the best dealer in the world and take care of you oh if you wanna make it more dramatic tell em your calling mna ... oh at least remove the chips and stuff before you take her in ph yeah and those are some really crappy wires id change them asap

Went to Autozone and had the code P0171 only; never had this code before but the probable causes are similar to ones I have had before. I have my car at the Mazda dealership now hopefully the repairs won't be too steep or they tell me we are giving you a new engine! Yeah right.......crossing my fingers

A code P0171 may mean that one or more of the following has happened:

•The MAF (Mass Air Flow) Sensor is dirty or faulty. Note: The use of "oiled" air filters may cause the MAF to become dirty if the filter is over-oiled. There is also an issue with some vehicles where the MAF sensors leak the silicone potting material used to protect the circuitry.
•There could be a vacuum leak downstream of the MAF sensor.

Possible solutions include:

•In the vast majority of cases, simply cleaning the MAF sensor does the trick. Consult your service manual for it's location if you need help. I find it's best to take it off and spray it with
a MAF cleaner. Make sure you are careful not to damage the MAF sensor, and make sure it's dry before reinstalling
•Inspect all vacuum and PCV hoses, replace if necessary

im gonna say you have a bad motor. its a typical result in seafoaming.

your motor is low compression but still running because there is so much carbon, it fills in the cracks or wear of the housings, but when you seafoam you take all that away and leave a clean, uneven surface.

Dump some ATF in the intake nipple or the bottom spark plug hole and you should see it idle better. If thats the case, keep looking for a motor anyway, that one is on its way out

system too lean bank 1

Also you need to get rid of your Nology Hotwires. I found out first hand on a dyno that the Nology Hotwires are no good and a big waste of money. After changing my nology spark plug wires to a set of Moroso Spark Plug Wires, i made 10 rwhp without any other tuning.

Hopefully Mazda will be giving you a new engine, if you have all your service records and if your aftermarket parts do not void your warranty.

Well after adding the seafoam as directed I saw no smoke at all and the car does not want to stay on unless I give it gas once I let off it shuts off. Before the seafoam my car would run but stall once and a while at stops. Right now my car is at the shop I am going to see what they can do if the work will be too expensive or they won't give me a new motor I will change out my spark plug wires and add some ATF to the lower intake ports and see how that works. By the way what is ATF?

Well after adding the seafoam as directed I saw no smoke at all and the car does not want to stay on unless I give it gas once I let off it shuts off. Before the seafoam my car would run but stall once and a while at stops. Right now my car is at the shop I am going to see what they can do if the work will be too expensive or they won't give me a new motor I will change out my spark plug wires and add some ATF to the lower intake ports and see how that works. By the way what is ATF?

automatic transmission fluid

its very thick and will seal any minor leaks inside

good luck!

You did it wrong, way wrong.

Failed.

Might be a stupid question, but how did you add it to the gas tank?
Never heard of doing that!

automatic transmission fluid

its very thick and will seal any minor leaks inside

good luck!

Hmmmm.....sounds scary:uhh:I think I have done enough damage I will let Mazda figure out what my fate is if anything I will change out my spark plug wires.

Might be a stupid question, but how did you add it to the gas tank?

Seafoam can be added to your gas tank, oil crank case and intake manifold it is 100% pure petroleum and they say it is perfectly safe in all areas. Some RX8 on the forum has used it in their gas tank and lower intake manifold ports and said it worked out great but not for me. I think my engine is done for....

The directions on seafoam to say to do exactly what you did.

1/3 in the gas tank (with a full tank of gas)
1/3 in the crank case/oil
1/3 in the brake booster with the car running so it gets sucked into the engine.

However, this is for piston engines. You should have added this to the maintenance ports on the lower intake manifold. Adding through the brake booster just pooled seafoam on top of your SSV.

However, despite doing this incorrectly for the rotary engine, I don't think this is the root of your problem.

Let us know that the dealer comes up with.

Well the Mazda dealership said that they are not willing to work on my car because of all the aftermarket parts on my car and they can't find the root of the problem. I called Mazda themselves and they told me I can't get a new engine because of my aftermarket parts they voided my warranty. One of the District Managers looked at my car and refused our extended warranty on the engine. Funny thing is I asked them if they can use the Mazda decarb through the ports on the lower intake manifold they said that they can't because it is a chemical? Whatever they think I don't know anything about my RX8 I pretty much got the point they don't want to bother with my car. Anyways I will do the decarb myself and make a few changes and hopefully get my car up and running myself...

Will they do a compression test at least?

I mean, if your motor is shot, than you know you shouldn't put time into looking at fixing the motor itself.

I'll take a guess. Some of this has been recommended already. Keep in mind I'm no technician. If you haven't experienced any power loss and your only problem is stalling while stopped... I would look for a vacuum leak somewhere. Make sure everything on the intake is snug. Check where you fed the seafoam in from. It's possible you could have damaged you MAF when you cleaned it? I would clear everything from memory while you're at it. As many have stated the nology wires can be a problem. Check all of the plug and coil connections. Try different wires if you can. Also, you could have bad gas. Have you emptied that tank yet and refilled it?

Sorry these are all just guesses but it sounds like a vacuum issue. Try searching the forum for stalling issues to see if you can find any other good advice from people who've had the same problem. Good Luck!

-you should have gone back to stock before going to the dealership

-They cant void your warranty without proof that your mods caused the damage, toughen up and dont let them push you around, its been mentioned in this post previously what you can do.

im gonna say you have a bad motor. its a typical result in seafoaming.

your motor is low compression but still running because there is so much carbon, it fills in the cracks or wear of the housings, but when you seafoam you take all that away and leave a clean, uneven surface.

Dump some ATF in the intake nipple or the bottom spark plug hole and you should see it idle better. If thats the case, keep looking for a motor anyway, that one is on its way out

This is really good advide...I wish I has it when my car was having issues.

Well my car is driving a whole lot better now but once my car gets warm then my car will stall at stops. On cold starts my car will idle high and a little rough at times and when my engine gets warm it wants to cut off and eventually if I don't give it a little gas it will stall. I took apart my whole intake back to my throttle body and made sure everything was good(MAF sensor also) and they are now and I reset my ECU. I think the seafoam made my car drive better but caused it to now stall at every stop I make when my car is warm. What could be the cause? All I will do now is drive it and hope it works it self out if not I will look at getting my third set of spark plugs and get my stock spark plug wires back or get the Moroso spark plug wires and see what it does. I will also use the Mazda Zoom Zoom cleaner(decarb) on my lower intake manifold ports and see how it comes out(did not see smoke out of my exhaust with the seafoam) if it still does not want to run without stalling I guess I have no choice but to part out with my RX8....

as for the warranty the dealer will have to proove thats what caused the problem otherwise they still have to switch your engine for you ... call mna if they dont but make sure you read your codes BEFORE you go to the dealer and keep proof of the code read so if they give you some bs as to how your intake caused the fail you can pull the receipt and show em you already knew what the problem was and you know the intake couldnt have caused it showing them they cant walk over you and they will shit in their pants at this point and become the best dealer in the world and take care of you oh if you wanna make it more dramatic tell em your calling mna ... oh at least remove the chips and stuff before you take her in ph yeah and those are some really crappy wires id change them asap


what does MNA stand for and how would one go about contacting them?

Mazda North America 1-800-222-5500

Well my progress so far is I have new ignition coils and spark plug wires installed and just got in my new spark plugs. I also checked all contections on my intake making sure I am not losing vacuum; sent out my ECU to get the chip taken out so it will be back to stock and got the Mazda Zoom cleaner which I will apply once all parts are installed. I took off my SR Motorsports underdrive pulleys also making my engine only having cold air intake, headers, high flow cat and catback exhaust for my performance upgrades left. Will it be ok if I use the cleaner with the new plugs or should I use the old ones; then after the decarb install the new plugs? When I used the seafoam I saw no smoke and I guess it is because I had it go in the upper intake and not the lower intake ports like the Mazda zoom cleaner specifies. Hope all the changes so far will help but won't know until Monday/Tuesday when my ECU comes in......

I'm just throwing this out there... what about the fuel pump? Being an '04 model, it could be on it's way out maybe???

I think you have a vacuum leak. I suspect you may have damaged the brake booster or its hose when adding the seafoam- brake booster diaphragms are not intended to stand up to chemicals like that. You should be able to test it by disconnecting the hose from the brake booster and plugging the hose so the engine can't suck through it, and going for a drive. Be aware that you will need to increase your pedal pressure to stop but the brakes will still work.

Fuel pumps don't generally cause idle problems... they cause WOT problems unless they are completely dead.

Definitely get a compression test. It will tell you if the motor is bad or not.

Correct, the instructions on the bottle are for piston engines. Even then, you really only want to run a piston engine with seafoam in the crankcase for 100-200 miles maximum, if using it in the crankcase at all.

Maybe the brake booster diaphragms on rotary engines are different, but many people have been feeding seafoam into piston engines for upper engine cleaning for years, and that's often the preferred method of ingestion.

Looking for opinions on Mazdamatrix cables. I bought a set and haven't yet installed, but they seem solid.

Well I just got my ECU in today so I can fire up my car after the changes and it idle normal until it got warm then I started to stall on me again. So I did the Mazda Zoom cleaner and got lots of smoke even from my motor! For some reason I did not get smoke the first time I did the runs but after I put in the oil through the ports smoke start to come out big time! Guess I needed the oil to break things up. My temp on my car stayed the same but my oil temp gauge went up to 240 degrees. Has anyone had smoke come from their engine also? It did it in the beginning but slowly went away but not totally sure it was dark outside. The good thing is my car stayed running after the cleaner both times even with the secondary air injection pump connector being off so hopefully my car is fixed. I might take it for a spin tonight but if anything tomorrow and see if all is good to go.......

good luck man.....hope it stays running

Your engine is done

Any updates?