I did a weekend at Summit Point (Shenandoah Circuit). On the 2nd day, 3rd heat, while several laps in, I got a Check Engine Light... no noises, no unusual instrument readings, no handing differences, but I pitted immediately and stopped for the day. When I got it checked today, the dealer said I'd had a misfire. He told me to keep an eye on it - if it happens again, they'll want to do more in-depth testing. He told me they couldn't repeat the exact conditions though ... the exchange was interesting:

Dealer: "We really can't duplicate the exact conditions..."

Me: "Really? Why is that?"

Dealer: "Well, the system says you were at 7,500 RPM, doing about 82 miles per hour?" :eek:

Me: *BLUSH* "Um, er, yeah, I was squirreling around a bit." *Cough* :o

Dealer: "Yeah, I guess you were!" :D


So... has anybody else had a similar CEL? (Not necessarily at that speed.)

So... has anybody else had a similar CEL? (Not necessarily at that speed.)

Yes, http://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php?p=560822&postcount=45
Dealer changed plugs, that all.

How much gas did you have? I now bring extra gas to the track so I never start a run under 1/4 tank.

I had CEL's come on at the track twice with the code "Random Misfire."
It was traced back to burnt-out coil packs.

One of them was so burnt it actually fused to the harness and they had to replace the whole harness.

Big brother's watching you, I guess. At least the dealer was cool about it.

Where ya been, Paul?

I had CEL's come on at the track twice with the code "Random Misfire."
It was traced back to burnt-out coil packs.

One of them was so burnt it actually fused to the harness and they had to replace the whole harness.
Ouch! Question - were they burned out because of heavy use, or because of high heat? The dealer already did the heat-related recall on my 8. Maybe that's a good reason for popping the hood immediately after getting off the track.

BTW, what device did you use to check the CEL code? One guy at the track had one of those devices for checking it, but apparently it couldn't understand RX-8's.

Big brother's watching you, I guess. At least the dealer was cool about it.

Where ya been, Paul?
Well, at least I wasn't doing 82 on public streets... well, not THIS time anyway. ;)

I've been spending most of my on-line time buying stuff for my new townhouse. And, being summer, "Das Kidlet" keeps dragging my ass outside for nature hikes, bike rides, etc. :D

Yes, http://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php?p=560822&postcount=45
Dealer changed plugs, that all.

How much gas did you have? I now bring extra gas to the track so I never start a run under 1/4 tank.
Your problem sounds a little different. I didn't have any performance problems with mine, and when the CEL came on, it didn't go off even after I turned the car off & back on again. The dealer had to reset it.

Ouch! Question - were they burned out because of heavy use, or because of high heat? The dealer already did the heat-related recall on my 8. Maybe that's a good reason for popping the hood immediately after getting off the track.

BTW, what device did you use to check the CEL code? One guy at the track had one of those devices for checking it, but apparently it couldn't understand RX-8's.

First time it happened, I kinda freaked out and took it to the dealership. They read the code and cleared it.
I did some research on the site and found some posts about people getting a "Random Misfire" code and it being traced back to the coil packs.
So, I had the dealership test them and they found they were bad.

It happened again at another track day, and that time I new exactly what it was.

There were both last summer.

As for what caused it, I think it was mostly high-heat as my car threw it's first code while I was idling in the paddock. Saved me some hassle when the code showed I was going 0km/h and the car had been running for 2 mins when it happened. But, the unmodded CanZoomer 1.1 I had on the car giving the coil packs that little extra bit of stress which is probably what put them over the edge.