potatochobit

not sure what this noise is
bad engine? bad catalytic converter? idle needs tune?

UnknownJinX

It's normal for the 8 to have small pops like that during idle occasionally. I don't recall mine popping that often, though.

Anything else funny? Was any maintenance done recently?

Ricky SE3P

iTrader: (10)

Missing like that at idle isnt always good, itll likely miss significantly more while driving. You need to service the car, new plugs and wires and coils (must all be quality stuff mind you, not some fleabay stuff for $0.37), and wouldnt hurt to run some Techron fuel system cleaner through the tank to get a little benefit from that as well.

potatochobit

the car had about 30,000 miles and I replaced all the ignition coils, wires and plugs with oem similar whatever that brand used to be
the engine was replaced under warranty shortly after that which is why I did the original tune up
probably failed due to that 5w30 crap the dealer and every lube shop kept insisting I use

anyway, the new engine has been in less than 10,000 miles and was causing a rough idle
so I let the car idle for 30mins as recommend and as you can see in the video it is running rich

now, this week the P0420 code came on the check engine light, failed catalytic converter
so again, that leads me to believe it may be running rich so I guess I will do a full tune up again

these bennett built ignition coils any good?
https://www.bennettbuiltperformance....ition-swap-kit

now, a bad cat would never cause the popping noises right?
that can only be if the car is running too rich and the gas is heating up in the cat

so I am "hoping" it is not something more serious like the dealership pinched the fuel injector o-rings or something during installation
I will have to do the tune up first

so questions:
should I reset the NVRAM? would that cause a rich idle or did the dealership probably already do that?

the P0420 code mean the cat is for sure dead or should I wait to replace that? and is there a cheap good hi-flow cat yet?

Loki

iTrader: (1)

Very unlikely it failed because of the choice of oil. What was the mode of failure? Nothing wrong with 5w30.

How about diagnosing instead of jumping to conclusions ? It could be as simple as a vacuum leak. Get OBD fuel trim, airflow rpm and afr data, it will tell you why the computer is injecting more fuel that it should. Pull the spark plugs and see which ones are not firing or running rich.

The cat is surely suspect, stop driving, take it down and inspect it. There is no cheap alternative that will survive rotary EGTs.

All in all it doesn't sound terrible. How does it drive

potatochobit

thanks for the reply, the dealer that installed the engine is looking at it this week
now, I have owned four rotary engines and on this RX8 I followed the maintenance schedule to the letter and used 5w20. My engine failed at 32,000 miles after 7 years.
it was a 2010 series II grand touring. you want to believe thin oil is good for your car, go ahead.

anyway, i dont approve of using mid-pipes except as a last resort but I know rotary cats run super hot so most aftermarket brands fail
but I found this mangaflow exhaust, the price is so low I could buy three of them
do you think this is counterfeit chinese product or a real magnaflow? it is possible they could just be on clearance
the same cat appears to be sold at autozone for over 700$

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2004-2011-M...53.m1438.l2649

Loki

iTrader: (1)

I also run thicker oil, what I'm saying is the cause of failure is probably not the oil. Spun bearings are much much rarer than ignition failure, which leads to cat failure, which you seem to have symptoms of. And dead cats kill engines.

Even if that's a real Magnaflow, that doesn't change the picture. Magnaflows die just as easily. OEM seems to hold up best, but if the ignition fails any cat will cook (that's often the first symptom in fact). HJS is another brand that's been found to hold up, but it's not cheap.

UnknownJinX

I don't know about thinner oil necessarily damaging the engine. My car now has 60+k miles on it, original engine, and it has always seen 5W-20 oil from the previous owners. I did Autocross on it, even, and did 2 UOA and nothing returned abnormal. You can find my reports in the UOA thread.

That said, I may bump it up if I live somewhere hotter.

Magnaflow will make you pass inspection, but it won't necessarily hold up if you like to drive the car hard.

New Yorker