I have bro but they're not really helpful. i really need to just take it to someone who's worked on them before and is familiar w/ the engine and can help me tune the thing up

If you get them to pull the codes tell us what they are and we can get you the info on them.

ive been to autozone but they arent very helpful. i would really like to have someone who's worked on Rotary engines and would know how to tune the thing up and why it's idling a lil rough

Also, if you all know of anyone that is selling performance parts, rims, ect. i'm interested.

i'll go ahead and stop by today to see if they can pull the codes then and hit you all back up

Most likely you need new coils, plugs and wires.

But Pull your codes first.

After that I'd recommend getting a compression test at a dealer.

Autozone Is great for pulling codes! BUT Shady is right you probably will need new coils, plugs, wires.


BUT!!! I think we need more Houston people willing to meet! If someone is willing to help you and pull the codes for you... Do it! Then Both of you come out to the next meet, then next time I can help.

I know there are like 30 Rx-8s in Houston and I have met 5 of them. (-1 now due to crash) Houston owners are lame!!

/rant!

anyways let me know if you ever need help.

great. thanks for the advice. i'll check on the codes tonight and see what's up. There's a lot that i would like to do to this car but it's not easy as it's my daily driver and i put many miles on it commuting from dallas to houston all the time, hence the reason why i would like to know someone that enjoys and knows how to work on these vehicles that won't cost me an arm and a leg

The only club that actively works on 8s in Texas is the SARX club.

I know! I am trying to change that! I work on mine enough, for the whole city... :mdrmed:

I am always putting in work on mine.

has anyone, or still might have, this problem, and has anyone gone and done the recall for the vibration when the car is idling? I noticed that there was a recall re: this, here on the list of recalls

I think you might be referring to the passenger side motor mount. You wont have a CEL for a busted engine mount.

Someone needs to have a meet that isn't in the Northeast Houston version of bumfuck egypt. I have like 3 weeks off from school. Set something up.

Houston Owner #31 - need all the help I can find
 

Hey all - if anyone is still checking this thread it seemed like the best first place to start. I'm a new owner of a 2004 (after doing some more reading I'm starting to think just a few years later would have my anxiety down significantly), bought with 60k miles, just another month or so left on the powertrain 8 yr/80k warranty...so far I'm hopeful there's no major problems despite my shady purchase experience. So let me bore you with all the gory details... :Eyecrazy: j/k, I'll keep this as brief as possible and mostly to the point...

So I wanted to wait just 2-3 more years to start looking for something close to my dream car than the 2000 Ford Ranger that has served me so practically well for the last 10 years. I had heard only a bit about the 8 - mostly the horror stories - and while that little bit intrigued me, I was comfortably assured that over the next 2 years, I would have plenty of time to mull, fill in the significant gaps in my performance car knowledge, compare all the drool-inducers I passed on the road...etc...

Instead, some meth-head (trust me, I have evidence to support that conclusion) forced my hand by letting me wake up to find the truck gone one morning...what a pain in the a$$ that whole side has been. So with more limited finances than I had hoped, yet a still bull-head, I embarked on a 2-week journey to keep working, read up on the cars, and test drive to find a reasonable 2004-2007 model of something I would enjoy driving. Started looking at 300Zs...but didn't see that any w/o 120k+ miles could be in my price range. Drove a few RX8s instead, and fell absolutely in love. Read as little as I could find time for, everything I read further deepened my infatuation, and I settled on one that drove beautifully, only 60k miles, no idle issues, and thus appeared the safest gamble available.

Within 1 week of leaving the lot, power steering was out and CEL was on. :wtf: Learned much on here over 2-3 days on the power steering issues while car was at the mechanic. Estimate at the mechanic - $1600 for a new rack and $600 for a gas cap/filler neck (CEL was vacuum leak). $10 gas cap, 1 hour (yeah, fine, I'm a little slow - STFU, I'm just methodical!!! :pfanndina) of cleaning connections later and problems solved x1000 next miles. In that time, though, I have noticed some minor ignition hesitation (best description I can think of), mildly roughening idle, and bottoming out of back wheels w/ more than 1 passenger. Gonna try to do coils, plugs and wires today for the first 2 Qs. Same mechanic tells me springs/shocks look fine...I looked myself and, indeed, there are springs and shocks. I don't find myself more qualified to know what more to look for in these parts...

So I have thus far learned...
1) I need a new mechanic. I want to do as much as possible, particularly in maintenance, myself. But I'm pretty new to car maintenance and don't have a garage. Changed a lot of oil, many plugs and wires, but last time I replaced brakes was 15 yrs ago and never much more than that. So I'm choosing to post here to say a) thanks for the Mazmax rec I found, and any other recs? I'd look forward to finding another owner to work with too. I'm in the Heights.
2) I shoulda read the "New/potential owners READ this" sticky BEFORE anything. But I don't have any regrets yet...
3) I'm also hoping to do some of the initial mods - engine temp gauge would be nice, the first AutoZone I talked to knew nothing of such possibilities...I've since found a guy at a nearby AZ w/ a Mitsubishi who seems to know what he's doing, but other 8 owners that know their way around would get much appreciation (in the form of beer) from this newbie.
4) I LOVE THIS CAR!!!! I hope to keep this a love/love relationship, without any hate component...she seems high maintenance. But WTF, I don't have a g/f anyway...

Thanks for any initial thoughts, if anyone is still reading this thread. If not...I'll start bugging Gulf owners elsewhere on the site...

There are a couple members here who can help troubleshoot. Autozone is not the place for modding advice

Can someone hook me up with the cliff notes to that novel?

The RX Club has meetings around or inside the loop each month. We have anywhere from 5 to 10 RX-8's a meeting and usually about 30 or so rotary enthusiasts at every meet.

Next meeting: https://www.rx8club.com/gulf-rx-8-fo...-grill-239090/

Location is on I-10 near Downtown/Heights.

hey guys! I am new the Houston area and wanted to know of a shop or someone that could check out the steering on my rx8 (:

Power steering problem?

yea...I had it checked out already and they cleaned some stuff out but now its back...I feel like Im fighting in order to steer and its aggravating me!

CEL on? Any codes to speak of?

no codes other than the one for my purge solenoid

what does CEL mean? Im terrible with acronyms lol!

There are several things you need to check and service. I don't feel like going into detail, you can drive it to San Antonio and I will fix it for a donation.

Why would a CEL be on for the power steering?

thats no fun! I want to get my hands dirty and learn some stuff lol!

hmmm lets talk about this via private messaging (: