Hi guys,

I just got a 2003 RX8. The car is so nice inside and a beauty to drive! It's 5 speed manual :D

But I can't take these issues anymore and signed up to get some advice

Issues:

1. When I park up after a while, the car is pretty hard to start. The battery seems to be draining. I think it may have something to do with issue 2 below. However I also think I may have fouled the spark plugs because she has gotten worse and worse at idling and I haven't driven her long distances, just moved from outside my house into the garage and tried to start it up many times and stalled and tried to start again...

2. Check engine light is on, last owner said the error code said something about dash cluster, everything on the cluster works so I don't know what's up. The alarm seems to be a cheap one and I think maybe they messed around with the wiring there?

3. The throttle body makes a buzzing sound when the car is turned off. It'll buzz all the time until I unplug and plug it back in.

4. When I turn the car off, it'll idle even when the key is out, it has a turbo timer and when I turn the turbo timer off, all the lights go off etc but the car keeps idling and dies slowly. The car is non-turbo by the way, so I don't know why it even has a turbo timer

Anyone have any idea what's going on? Thanks in advance :D

 

How many miles on your coils, wires and plugs? Maybe time for a compression test also.

Have the codes read and post them here.

It probably had a turbo ounce upon a time!

 

Thanks for the reply!

I was told to do a compression test, however it don't believe it's compression related as the car does not get easier to start when it is warm and nothing improves. It also has a misfire at idle.
The motor motor has 141,000km so like 87613 miles

Yeah I'll re-check the codes and post them when I can.

Nah the last owner said it was just part of the alarm. Car is factory 13b N/A, 5 speed manual

 

Alright just started her up again with freshly charged battery, starts up sweet but even with the foot flat the car wouldn't accelerate. The TCS was flashing too. I remembered something from the owners manual about turning the wheel left and right fully and it goes away, did that, still didn't accelerate, so I turned the car off, disconnected and reconnected battery and did the steering thing straight away and she revved up fine. Went for a drive, redlined all the gears and she drives great! Idles much better now too compared to before.

However it's been nearly an hour, the throttle body is still buzzing

 

The throttle body solenoid makes noise normally, so it's not clear if what you are describing is abnormal or not.

Sounds like you might need to clean your MAF and ESS, reset the ESS afterwards (search on 20 brake pedal stomp)

At some point when you can let the car sit overnight and pull the plugs the next morning, do that. Crank it over first with the throttle to the floor, then pull the plugs. Check the plugs for coolant residue.

Get an OBD2 reader, a bluetooth adapter is a good option so you can pair it to your smartphone or tablet, so you can read that code and figure out if that is behind your problems or not. It can also aid in troubleshooting quite a few problems.

 

Thank you RIWWP, just had a read through the "new and potential owners" guide, it was extremely helpful! Also found the brake pedal thing you mentioned in the misfiring guide, excellent stuff!

Will get on to cleaning the other bits and pieces when I can. The last owner has put a pod filter on it and it sits inside the factory airbox, are pod filters okay on these cars? Do I need to reset my ECU when you do something like that? I know some cars get bad MPG if you don't

This would be alright for the reader right? Bluetooth Advanced OBD2 Scan Tool | Trade Me
Hopefully I can get it and connect it to my samsung galaxy tab :D