rice_c

Sorry if this has already been posted, I couldn't find it. I have a 04 8, 6 spd with 105k miles. I drove about 50 miles today. Then after about an hour I went out to go to work and my 8 won't go above 3000 rpms. I've only had the car for 2k miles so I don't know a whole lot about it and where to look for the problem. Any help would be great as this is my only car.

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

do you have a cel ?

Probably in limp mode most commonly caused by a fault with the oil injection system

rice_c

My light has been on since I bought it, haven't had it looked at. The dealer told me they had it checked and it was the o2 sensor because of the Exotic Speed exhaust. I don't have a way to check the light without driving it 20 minutes. It's like it has a rev limiter on it, it will go up to 3k and then fall then go back up. I wonder if you can rent the cel reader from autozone. I will have to call after I get off work tonight. Can you tell me more about this "limp mode".

-Thanks for the help, Chad

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Could also be the coils, the last time my coils failed (third set in 96,000) and the result was what you are explaining. Typically coils don't fail in that fashion but the last set I had before my second motor went failed in this manner. The car just wouldn't rev beyond a certain point.

Coiled were replaced and everything was back to normal for a few months and then my engine lost compression.

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

I really think you will need to get the dealer to read the cel and fix whatever the problem is unless you are really keen to spend a heap of time (and money) learning how to fix your car.

Limp mode is when the ECU limits the engines revs (as you described) to prevent damage to the engine from whatever the fault is that you have .

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

you've driven your car with a Check Engien Light ON for 2,000 miles?!


The car sounds like it's in Limp mode due to some type of failure.
Where do you live? (city / state) Maybe there is a shop near you that could take a look at the car.
have you done any maintenance to the vehicle since you bought it? Did the prior owner provide you with a service history?

rice_c

Yes I have, Almost any time you put a aftermarket exhaust on a newer car it throughs a cel. The dealer read the code before I bought it and told me that was what was wrong. Maybe I'm too trusting...I live in Baldwin City, KS. The closest dealer to me is a Ford/Mazda shop that knows nothing about our cars. I'm going to have to call around and find someone that knows how to work on 8's. Normally I would have checked the cel out, but we just had a baby, and had a death in the family and I just haven't had time. If autozone lends out the readers I might do it just so I can get an idea of whats wrong, then go from there. The car is a 3 owner including me and had a clean carfax showing regular maintinance. I was told the oil was changed right before I got it, and I'm not sure about coils and plugs. So that will probably need to be done anyway. Thanks for the ideas guys.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Sorry to hear of your loss. You can go to Autozone and they will read it for free, no problem.

Have you ever seen the CEL blink?

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

if it's just a catback exhaust it shouldn't throw a CEL.
Does the car have the OEM catalytic converter?

AutoZone stopped loaning the testers here in CA due to some stupid new regulation but I think they still loan them out in your neck of the woods. Get it checked right away and then go to our Technical subforum and look at our CEL codes thread. (it has all the codes listed)

congrats on the baby!
sorry for the loss your family has endured.

These cars naturally burn oil in order to function properly so make sure you're checking your oil level at least every 1,000 miles or so.
Unless ALL your coils went out, I'm not sure you'd go into limp mode. You'd probably get a flashing CEL which usually indicates a misfire.
Spark plugs should be changed every 30k or so in this car so that might be part of your problem.

rice_c

Thanks. No it's stayed on since I got it. Is it safe to drive it that far to get it read?

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Driving with bad coils could damage your engine. When it happened to mine the dealer covered it under warranty so I'm not sure if it was one coil or all but i also did the wires and plugs at the same time just for good measure.

You can get all new coils, wires, and plugs for about $300.00 and do it yourself. It's a good idea to do anyway because if your engine is toast the dealer will require most of that to be done anyway so....

rice_c

It doesn't have a cat on it, that's why it had a cel. Or so I was told. Thanks, he has deffinately changed our lives for the good. Yeah I'm not driving it until I figure something out. I left it at home and had a friend give me a ride to work. Do you think it would be worth it to just order the coils and plugs now, or should I wait till I have the code read.

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

don't replace parts just for the sake of replacing parts.
you can test the coils if you have access to a multi meter: http://www.finishlineperformance.com...16-07-1793.pdf

get the code read and find out what's going on.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

I dunno, if you are not the original owner then I would want to know I am starting fresh and replace the plugs, coils, and wires. I also just realized you are over 100k so warranty is not an issue.

If you cannot check the coils yourself then it would be cheaper to just get new ones at $139.00 versus paying someone to check them. Then if that fixes it, move on to wires, plugs, etc. At least you know you will have some new parts. God only knows if and when they were last replaced. Remember, air, fuel, and fire first.

rice_c

Alright, I'm going to rent Autozones code reader tomorrow and go from there. Thanks again for all the help everyone. I'll post what the code was after I find out.

rice_c

Ok I finally got around to checking the codes. I went and started the car yesterday morning and there was no longer a problem. I checked the coils for burn marks and they all had them so I just went ahead and replaced them. I figured it need to be done anyway. But the codes are P2127-TPS/Pedal Position sensor/switch E circuit low input. And P0410 Secondary Air injection system Malfunction. Any help with where to start on this would be great.

Brettus

iTrader: (2)

this is more likely to be the 3000 rpm issue . Have a look at your accelerator position switch

rice_c

Could you point me in that direction lol Also I was reading that the other code I got could be the air pump? Does anyone know the steps I should take to find the exact problem with both of these codes? Thanks for all the help guys, I do as much of my own repairs as possible and it's sites like this that make a lot of it possible.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Don't worry about the air pump code right, you don't need the air pump for the car to run properly.

djfa

iTrader: (3)

wow how do you buy and rx8 with a CEL on and drive it for 2k miles... If it doesnt go over 3k rpm i would say its a clogged CAT but since you dont have one *or youre not sure you do* I would def check that out.

rice_c

I didn't have it checked because it has a full exotic speed exhaust with no cat. The dealer I bought it from checked it and told me it was the o2 sensor, which happens whenever ther isn't a cat on a new car... The car only had the 3k rpm problem for one time. Started it up the next day and there wasn't a problem. It's something to do with the tps pedal position sensor code that showed up.

Silverisk8

iTrader: (1)

i experienced this issue before, i shut the car off for at least 30 seconds and the rpms rev went normal, however i did get a dam CEL my first thought was misfire, bad coils but I just installed them knew , so i could only think about the MAF, went to autozone got a MAF cleaning can for $6 sprayed and the CEL went off till this day that issue hasn't came up allthough I did get the same code you did

Each RX8 is diferent so I'm just sharing my experience, could be something else but who knows

bmarrs

Hope you have better luck with your engine than a lot of us... I just had a DE-Carb done at the local Mazda shop and after it was done my car started running like ****!!!! and I got a check engine light... 2 weeks later my engine blew yesterday right after I left the Mazda shop .... !115000 miles... They quoted me $3800.00 for a Reman engine installed..... You should check and see if your RX8 had an engine replaced or if you still have the original enigine.... The '04-'08 had a warranty of 100,000 miles.. how convient for mazda...

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Well, anyone buying a used 8 should be well aware of the engine issues and the warranty limitations. If you are not then it is your own fault.

$3800.00 for dealer reman installed is pretty cheap actually. Decarbing with that many miles of no regular decarbing is stupid because carbon can chunk off into the engine and make matters worse.

Silverisk8

iTrader: (1)

BMARRS - dam that sucks man.... $3800 wow... well good news someone is selling a complete engine i believe it's 2006 somewhere in vegas, check the sale thread , i think he's only asking $2,000 obo you can try and get it for at least $1500 and maybe on additional parts such as gaskets etc and labor $800 -$1000 so you could save maybe $1000 even more

good luck