Hi, I have an 04 Rx8 MT. I just recently replaced the Clutch slave cylinder, master cylinder, and the shutter valve vacuum solenoid and the clutch pedal. I got her back together and she won't start from a stop inside the car. I can bump start it, but then it dies sometimes at a stoplight. Now here's where it gets weird. The car died and we had the hood popped looking at the fuses. When we went to remove the starter and ignition relays to check if they went bad the top of the relay broke off so the relay internals are exposed. Long story short, if the key is in the on position I can put my finger on the top of the starter relay and the car fires right up and drives excellent. I even replaced the relay and it's the same ordeal. I am so confused, someone please help me!

 

My traction control light and the light that says my tires are spinning comes on sometimes when it's running via relay. Code reader says it's throwing a code that says something along the lines of steering column having no center. The car had no problems except for the clutch before replaced.

 

You do need to turn the wheel all the way to the left then right then center to reset the steering angle sensor. After a few cycles of ignition, the TCS light should disappear. This is normal phenomenon after pulling the battery.

 

Look at the wiring under the relay to see if it OK. You can fairly easily remove the fuse board from the box by pushing on the tabs. Make sure you disconnect the battery first though 😎

 

I'm no electrician, but all of the wires under the relay look fine.

 

Your only explanation of your symptoms would be a poor connection or a break in the wiring in the relay plug or the wires that move when you push on the relay.

 

Ive narrowed it down to the clutch safety sensor. When the clutch is fully depressed the sensor isn't being pushed all the way down. If I hold the sensor in and push the clutch in she fires right up. Any suggestions?

 

the switch might have been pushed in too far when you installed the master. Pull the pin on the switch out as far as you can carefully. It should make a click when it comes out a bit more. It should work after that. Either that or you broke the switch.

what happened to the push on the relay thing? Just a coincidence?

 

I adjusted the switch and all is well. I'm guessing the relay starting the vehicle was just bypassing the clutch needing to be depressed. Thank you all for the help.