I'll just blame Ford's Accountants for the alternator in my case. Everyone should be golden but it seems I was the only one so far with something mechanically wrong with the car.

 

Only a handful of cars reported in this thread so far have posted woes. I would have assume that out of the ~2.5 thousand RX8's in the province that would not be statistically significant, nor any different from any other car. I know it's frickin' annoying for those handful of people, but I wouldn't want people thinking it's an unreliable winter car. The rev-hunting at really low temps is a frequent quirk. FWIW, my '05 has been fine the last few frigid days in Ottawa.

 

I read this thread at around 8am and then went back to bed. Then I had a DREAM ABOUT my car cranking and not starting up the first time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But I waited 15 seconds, and the second time it started.

 

I think you need help.

 

I hope not. My 04 starts up in all kinds of conditions without issues. Only once did it take about 5 seconds to start.

 

Well... I'll join the club!

Went to turn it over this morning (New Brunswick, -25'ish... for the third day in a row)

and it was a little slow to crank, but nothing out of the ordinary...
It almost caught... almost caught... almost caught (of course, I didnt let off the starter) But... it didnt catch. So I took another vehicle to work for the day, and put the battery on charge in the heated garage.
Got home to a fully charged battery, and same thing... no go

Off to the dealership, to take advantage of the free towing and super extended bumper to bumper warranty!

(04, 30,000km's... first time ever flooded)

 

So far my RX-8 has always started in the winter. But when its below -20 celcius i sometimes get a few seconds of rough idling along with a flashing check engine. OBD2 reader says there is ingition misfire in rotor2. However, after these rough idling events, i get a strong burnt smell in the cabin. Anyone has a clue where it comes from?

 

haha...we do our best to share our knowledge to the brotherhood! Cheers to that!

Shitty deal Rev You said before your CAT might need replacing? Sounds kinda like what I had when my CAT was gone, but also my coils as well. Did you get it going?

 

Try resetting your e-shaft position sensor. With the car off turn the key to 'ON'. Your dash should light up but the car is still off. Pump the brake about 20 times fairly rapidly. Keep going until you see the oil pressure gauge go to half and then back down. May take a few turns from 'OFF' to 'ON' before it will work. After the the gauge goes to half and back down pull the key out of the ignition, start the car, and drive away. Let me know if that works...

 

how many Kms on your car? are you still on the original coils? whens the last time you did plugs and wires?

paquin, no offense, but every time you offer your idea for someones problem, you always have some crazy idea that would likely be the last thing someone would check...in my experience, the simplest explanation is usually the right one and always the best place to start as well. again, no offense. im not saying your wrong or stop posting advice, im just making an observation.

 

My car has 90 000 km and since i bought it only four months ago, I have no idea if the coils, wires and plugs have been replaced. However the plugs seemed fine to my untrained eye when I removed them to unflood the engine 2 months ago. Thats why I did not replace them as recommended in the Mazda shop manual.
Do you suggest I inspect the ignition coil and wires to make sure they are not half melted?

 

if you have a multimeter, you can check the spark plug wires. they should have no more than 4000 ohms of resistance according to the Factory Service Manual. my 8 had a little over 80 000km on it when i decided to change the wires because the end on one of them was a little iffy, but even they had only 2500 ohms on each of them. If you have flooded the car and you didnt replace the plugs, that could be the problem. once plugs are fould badly enough they are never the same and i would never reuse plugs after my car flooded unless they were really new, like less than 5000km new. but thats just me. better to spend a bit of money and be sure then get stuck somewhere. as for coils, you cant really check them to see how well they are working accept to just watch how good the spark is jumping with one of those spark testing do-hickies. thats a little tricky on our cars though. make sure if you are going to test the coils in this manner that you do use a spark tester instead of just holding the wire close to something to make the spark jump. if you catch the spark youself, it hurts like a you know what. and also, if you force it to jump to large of a gap it can burn the coil out so make sure to borrow a spark tester off someone or pick one up. they shouldnt be too expensive. good luck

Greg

 

Agree with Greg for most part. After my experience, I think anyone that buys a used 8 with over 50,000k on it, first thing change plugs, wires and coils and drive it the way it should be driven. My mistake (didn't research enough) cost me new wires and plugs from the dealer at over $600-700. They wanted $400+ for coils and install 3 months ago, *** dat and did it myself.

But as for testing the coils, take them out, look at the back/bottom of them. If you see an white marks (look kinda like bubbles stained on it) on the bottom, they are gone and replace the ones that have this. If I were you, just replace all 3, buy some after market wires (high quality) and plugs, put it back together and you will be laughing! GL!

 

If you're going to change coils.. might as well go BHR Yukon coils option.

 

I agree,

or buy a used 8, get a dealership to mis-diagnois a faulty engine, then give you a new battery, plugs, coils, and cat before a new engine.

You'll be laughing too.

 

I would say that footman, but the price has jumped HUGE on it!! An extra $130us so I'm not getting it right now, not sure if I will at that cost. I can get a lot of coils for that much.

HAHAH...in a perfect world my man!!

 

That's why I'm not an expert/mechanic. This worked for me when I had a misfire in cylinder 2. And it's a harmless non-time consuming shot in the dark, can't hurt anything. My advice for myself....buying a Truck for next winter...

 

Yeah.. the cat was replaced... though the issue was with the plugs. In any case.. went back the following day to try again.. started the car up.. she ran like **** again.. no CEL this time though. In anycase, figured I'd limp her back to the dealership.. moved it 10 feet.. and the issue corrected itself. The car is running better then ever now. Had Scarb Mazda check it in any case but everything looks OK... hell.. for some reason it didn't even log the misfire (flashing CEL)...

I dunno what to say... I just chalk it up to driving an RX series of car... was never frustrated or angry.. was just a shrug of the shoulders and "meh.. I'll try again tomorrow"

 

See? Aren't you glad I have a Cobb? :D

 

emm... the Cobb didn't actually do anything though?

In any case, thanks again for your help on Sat...

 

Man...that's all one seems to be able to do with the rx series lol. It's magic it's alive again, for no apparent reason! The CAT makes a big difference.

 

well.. I knew what I was getting bed with when I got this car... as a 7 owner I know that they are fully capable of shitting the bed for no apparent reason and then magically be clean the next day... and to tell ya the truth... I'd have it no other way.

 

I would...nice clean bed all the time works for me

 

... spoke too soon.. she muntinied again last night.. at least this time I have a solid CEL to prove it... blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

 

shitty!! and it's warmer today as well. Didn't you take it to Scar Mazda just to check it out?