Car shuts off(Stalls) during Long Distance & Spirited Driving... PLEASE HELP!
11-30-2009, 02:16 PM
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Car shuts off(Stalls) during Long Distance & Spirited Driving... PLEASE HELP!
Hey guys I'm new to this website and just recently bought an RX8 last month. First thing I did when I got the car was get an oil change from a mazda dealer nearby and I also changed the engine mounts because the car had a rough Idle. Car had 106,000 when I bought it, yes a good amount of miles but I got a great deal on it and couldn't et it pass by. I noticed a few mazda dealer stickers on the door panel areas which read"modification"....so I'm guessing it has had its ECU reflashed for flooding issues and maybe some other recalls etc......
2 weeks ago I took my first long distance trip in the car(NY to Central Jersey)....as I was nearing the exit I suddenly noticed the Oil pressure meter go down to low,battery and Check engine light come on, and felt the car was about to stall but somehow i managed to save it by going into another gear. It was fine on the ride back until I came to a complete stop to pay tolls.......the car had completely stalled and shut off. I waited 2 minutes then tried to start it and it did just fine.
I have ONLY noticed this during long distance driving and also during spirited driving. Another day I was messing around with a friend who drives an RSX type S and as I was getting off the exit...car stalled at a traffic light which was pretty embarassing. Other then that I haven't had issues starting the car at all or anything like that.
I have done some research and think I should try changing my coils,wires,and spark plugs ?? What do you guys think!? Any advice would be much appreciated!!
Thanks !!
2 weeks ago I took my first long distance trip in the car(NY to Central Jersey)....as I was nearing the exit I suddenly noticed the Oil pressure meter go down to low,battery and Check engine light come on, and felt the car was about to stall but somehow i managed to save it by going into another gear. It was fine on the ride back until I came to a complete stop to pay tolls.......the car had completely stalled and shut off. I waited 2 minutes then tried to start it and it did just fine.
I have ONLY noticed this during long distance driving and also during spirited driving. Another day I was messing around with a friend who drives an RSX type S and as I was getting off the exit...car stalled at a traffic light which was pretty embarassing. Other then that I haven't had issues starting the car at all or anything like that.
I have done some research and think I should try changing my coils,wires,and spark plugs ?? What do you guys think!? Any advice would be much appreciated!!
Thanks !!
Last edited by CVale127; 11-30-2009 at 02:19 PM. Reason: added more details
11-30-2009, 05:08 PM
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Thanks guys. Deff gonna change them soon. Dealer near me wants to charge $454.76 for the coils,spark plugs, and spark plug wires but I've seen them online for $285 so ima deff buy those and put them in myself.
11-30-2009, 06:57 PM
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Actually haven't thought about that....Ima try checkin the spark plugs and coils to see what condition they are in before I replace them. If they are bad and I do replace them and still have that problem I'll deff look into the fuel pump. Thanks!
11-30-2009, 07:12 PM
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Yeah man, no prob. FP's only run about $150 from a few vendors here. BTW, you should do the plugs and coils your self and save a ton of money. Plugs run 80 bucks a set from RaceRoots.com, coils are $120.
11-30-2009, 08:06 PM
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I'm in Hicksville/Syosset.. haha the meets die down for winter and 8 owners go into hibernation.. but it should start up again next march or april, i'll hit you up then. there's a meet out in islandia, and a big meet out in queens.
11-30-2009, 10:46 PM
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haha sounds good....Nice 8 by the way. Your car looks very familiar man......were you selling a cf hood on craigslist awhile back by any chance ?? If it was you I talked to you lol...small world
12-01-2009, 05:38 PM
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K so I decided to check my plugs and coils since my car shutoff at a traffic light today while in neutral and cuz I had some extra time. Deff looks like I gotta change them and I'm pretty sure thats what is causing mar to stall when i come to a stop during a long distance drive or driving fast.
Here are some pics....
First two pics are of the leading plugs...2 pics after that are of the trailing plugs....and the Last pic is of one of the coils...didn't bother to take them all of cuz I figure they all look like that one.
Tell me what u guys think
Here are some pics....
First two pics are of the leading plugs...2 pics after that are of the trailing plugs....and the Last pic is of one of the coils...didn't bother to take them all of cuz I figure they all look like that one.
Tell me what u guys think
12-01-2009, 05:46 PM
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You'll be glad you did, I think! 
Those plugs look pretty bad...lots of black on there. They should be mostly brown. The markings on the coils don't seem to mean much, so don't look at the spots as definitive proof.
Did you replace wires too?
With evidence of the fuel not combusting well (black on plugs), it probably means the inside of chambers have lots of buildup as well. You may want to do a decarb procedure on your car with Seafoam or the Mazda Zoom Cleaner. Seafoam is much cheaper, and it seems to do the trick just as well as the Mazda stuff (if not better).
Someone else may want to chime in on the decarb also, but I would recommend it.
Those plugs look pretty bad...lots of black on there. They should be mostly brown. The markings on the coils don't seem to mean much, so don't look at the spots as definitive proof.
Did you replace wires too?
With evidence of the fuel not combusting well (black on plugs), it probably means the inside of chambers have lots of buildup as well. You may want to do a decarb procedure on your car with Seafoam or the Mazda Zoom Cleaner. Seafoam is much cheaper, and it seems to do the trick just as well as the Mazda stuff (if not better).
Someone else may want to chime in on the decarb also, but I would recommend it.
12-01-2009, 06:37 PM
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I'm actually going to order the spark plugs,coils, and wires now. Do you guys think I should perform a carbon removal procedure before I install the new plugs ??
12-02-2009, 01:02 PM
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The carbon removal process is one to take with caution. You have a quite a bit of miles on your car. If the engine is really gunked up with carbon, I wouldn't want one of those large bits getting dislodged and flying around in your combustion chamber.
I'm not saying it's completely not valid, but I would change your maintenance items first: New spark plugs, spark plug wires (Racing Beat, BHR's Magnecor, or Race Roots's Moroso plug wires are all good quality wires), and new ignition coils.
If you're still exhibiting issues after this, I would next check the fuel pump. I once drove from Los Angeles to San Francisco and has this issue arise. I just replaced it with a new pump and have not been able to duplicate that issue.
If all of these fail, you're going to want to take your car into your local rotary shop and have a compression test done. You could possibly have a bad engine - something that is not uncommon on these cars....especially with your mileage.
I'm not saying it's completely not valid, but I would change your maintenance items first: New spark plugs, spark plug wires (Racing Beat, BHR's Magnecor, or Race Roots's Moroso plug wires are all good quality wires), and new ignition coils.
If you're still exhibiting issues after this, I would next check the fuel pump. I once drove from Los Angeles to San Francisco and has this issue arise. I just replaced it with a new pump and have not been able to duplicate that issue.
If all of these fail, you're going to want to take your car into your local rotary shop and have a compression test done. You could possibly have a bad engine - something that is not uncommon on these cars....especially with your mileage.
12-02-2009, 02:27 PM
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:-0 bad engine..jeez your scaring me lol...hopefully thats not the case. I have dealer papers from where the car was bought as well as mazda dealer maintenance papers so it looks like the car was well kept. Wouldn't I be experiencing worse issues if I did have a bad engine ?
12-02-2009, 03:40 PM
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gotta prepare for the worst.. but get the compression check before you jump to conclusions. i'm gonna do mine soon too. If you end up needing to rebuild the engine, hit me up.
