Absinthe

I stored the car towards the end of November of last year, and when I started it up for the first time today I had the following issues:

- Engine was idling at about 2500 RPMs.

- Loss of power, gas pedal would only get the engine to 3500 RPMs tops

- Sounded like the engine was working harder than it should of had to

- After 15 minutes of idling the engine was on the brink of stalling, bouncing between 500 and 2500 RPMs, at which point I shut it off, and haven't restarted it until I do more research.

- CEL is on, but I haven't been able to read the code yet.

Based on what I've read and after talking to a friend, it sounds like I may of had condensation in the gas tank which turned into water, and is diluting the gas. I just wanted to run this by everyone here before I did anything and also see what people recommended for treating the problem.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

dsire4u

iTrader: (5)

i really like to know what the problem will be.
Interesting issue.
Update us if you get new news

dsire4u

iTrader: (5)

but i don't think gas will turn into water

Absinthe

Also, my RX-8 is a 2004 MT, but only has about 15K Miles.

Thanks again for any help that can be offered!

EDZRIDE

iTrader: (1)

How much gas was in the tank when you put it into storage? Did you you keep a trickle charger on the battery or did it go totally flat?

Huey52

iTrader: (2)

If you didn't fill the tank, and add a stabilizer (like Sta-Bil) I would suspect condensation. Go fill the tank with premium and it should ultimately clear.

Absinthe

That's exactly what I just finished doing

I poured in some Sta-Bil last night, and let it sit for 14 hours or so. The engine had to crank for about 10-15 seconds before it fired up, but it's running great now. Thanks guys!

DeViLbOi

iTrader: (1)

You need to put the StaBil in before you let the car sit all winter. StaBil helps keep the gas from breaking down and becoming this water and gummy varnish stuff....it will not restore it once the damage is done.

shazy

Well it worked for him!

Absinthe

Yeah, next year I definitely won't make the same mistake again, and I'll put the Sta-bil in beforehand, but letting it sit overnight with Sta-bil in the tank definitely made a huge difference, and seemed to have completely cleared up the problem.

lafrad

After 2 tanks of gas run through, I would probably disconnect the battery overnight to clear any weirdness it might have learned during this tank. RUn it as dry as possible before your next fill up too.

Jethro Tull

iTrader: (6)

I store mine in winter, but I start it up and warm it to operating temps at week to ten-day intervals.

Before you store it, make sure the tank is full. It's the air space in a less-than-full tank that has the water vapor in it; it will condense and sink to the bottom of the tank. You probably just sucked the water into the engine and once it worked it's way through, it ran fine again. Adding the Sta-bil had nothing to do with it clearing up.

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

Water is ALL AROUND US.

So yes, you will have water in there.

but Water will NOT kill your engine, The gas might, if u had some 87 in there b4, couple of months later it might turn into something like 86 and if u floor your car, u might get a knock and bang!

Just drive it out easy, fill it up with Ulti u be fine.