Chop's 04, Rx-8

So quick where I'm at with my car, There is a question at the end.

Just retired from the USCG and wanted a project car. Ended up with my 2004 MT 6 port RX8 from a junk yard/car lot dealer. Best guess is it went there as a repo with 130000 miles and set for 5 years. When I pulled the engine apart the rotor housing had surface failure, priced out the rebuild and bought a Mazda rebuilt engine from a Mazda dealership. Started second try

Things I have completed over the past couple of months.

Changed gas used 93, Put in oil and coolent, Driven 30 miles or so. Changed oil.
Idles smoothly, peppy revs, feels strong. Total 40 miles driven over several short trips. Drives nice with a new rear strut, spins back tires. Other then the coolent level light no obvious indications of issues.

Installed new these have 40 miles on them.
NGK spark plugs, auto zone wires and coils.(I know cheep coils may be the issue, my assumptions is they are good. Only 40 miles on them.)
Water thermostat.(old one did not open in a pan of boiling water)
Fuel pump
Stock Clutch kit
Starter
Air intake o-rings.
Panlong Bluetooth obdll scanner. Torque lite on phone, so far both working, gives water temperature and codes. Have double checked codes with wired obdll unit.

Cleaned
APV, ESS, MAF and Throttle body, valve opens smoothly.
cabin air filters( had a mouse nest on them)
Note: I did pull the apv apart and cleaned it, marked the white cog before disassembly. I beleave i got it back together the way it came apart.

Checked
Air filter,
SSV looked cleaned but honestly it could have been a mess and I didn't know what I was looking at.
Rechecked fuel injector wire connectors to insure they were in the right spots against the manual diagrams, had help from a USCG electrician.
Pulled cat off, it is a straight pipe no stuffing in the cat, rest looks stock.

Codes
Had a Interment P0103 pending misfire cylinder1. Cleaned MAF which helped. Just cleaned it again following second oil change and installing new fuel pump Code has not reappeared following several short drives of varying degrees of pedal stomping - zoomzoom-
Coolent level light.

Completed brake stomp.. lots.
Ecu accelerater pedal reset process page.

After lots of searching I am asking for help with is, why I hit a rev limiter or fuel cut off at 7000-7500 rpm. Both parked or driving. With engine temp 180 degrees plus. Engine pulls strong, feels like you are going into the power band and things are going to get exciting and at 7000-7500 rpm car stops pulling and will not go over this mark. It feels normal at all ranges under 7k.

I called a mazda dealership, they said it was a computer issues and didn't want to work on my car.

Could a versatuner or equivalent be able to fix this?
Any suggestions on a way forward to get 9k rpms?

MincVinyl

I would definitely double check your plugs/coils and wiring. If you plan on sticking with the rx8 and getting versatune or mazdaedit might be worth it to get an LS coil kit.

Even if any of the intake valves have issues I believe the engine should still climb to 9k, it just would be down on power.

Are you running the original fuel injectors on this new engine?

Did you install the engine? I doubt a dealer would change the rev limit, but it could make sense for break-in purposes....although most people keep it under 4k for normal break-in.

CaymanRotary

Sounds like an SSV issue. Does it stall at 7k but then rev higher? Or does it die completely at 7k?

mazdaverx7

iTrader: (6)

Just wanted to add that you may have wanted to wait to break the engine in a little before running it to redline. 500 miles is my minimum on a new engine and I drive it at varying speeds. Just trying to help so that the engine can break in properly and live a longer life.

Either way, it sounds like you done some great work and I'd love to see pictures of the car!

Chop's 04, Rx-8

Frist, Thank you for the responses =). A friend and I put the engine in.

With how I got it, I have no history on if someone changed the rev limiter for some reason. When it was last driven I would assume they were losing compression.

It does not look like this car was a automatic turned manual. I did not change or pull the fuel injectors. If they are dirty. Would it be at a constant rpm range when a fuel shortage happened? For the ssv it will not go past 7000rpm at all. When I looked at the ssv there was patina coloring visible but no carbon bluid up on it. It moved smoothly by hand. After reviewing the troubleshooting posts, I have no secondary signs to follow such as rough idle or codes or loss of power and so on. To help narrow down the search.

I was hoping new coils would at least get the car operating properly. I will check them when I can.

Chop's 04, Rx-8

Some pics for fun

Looking happy up there.

This worked great, hose was not connected, staged pic.

All ready to go in.

Sigh.

MincVinyl

More importantly the irons are what you care about. Housings+ seals are just general wear items that should be replaced so don't feel too bad about those. Rotors should also be replaced at around 100k miles, which usually comes down to how much play is in the apex seal slot.

CaymanRotary

Toasted really bad wow...