Make sure to monitor temps when it's hot. 70F won't be much of a problem

A better picture of this "shield" might help. The grille behind the number plate is stock.

 

IF the shield is a piece of steel you cannot easily bend, it is your front bumper.

If the under tray is out, the foam is really easy. Do it before you put the new tray in.

 

Yeah i know the grill behind the number plate is stock, but on the inner side of the grill, there is plastic shield which blocks all the air that might come from the front grill.


As far as 70F ambient temperature is concerned, i agree with you and took your advice seriously.and today my electrician set the fans to blow on full speed at 206F and trip on 197F. We tested the car idling and with AC on for one hour.

On idle, temperature quickly dropped( within 1 minute, as fans were at full speed) to 197F.

And with AC on while idling, my electrician also set the fans to blow at full speed so temps even further drop to 177F and that made me really happy.But i will keep you posted about more temp results when weather gets warmer

 

Its a piece of plastic on the inner side of the Grill which is blocking air.

And yes, you are right about foaming, but i have no idea how much foaming to do from sides and from below as there is no under tray and side uplifts to properly measure the foaming and to where should i fix the foaming from below because of no under tray

I can see the radiator from right side when wheel is turned, so you have the idea now how much of a part(under tray) im missing.if i do that now, i will be foaming all the empty areas from radiator to tires and that will be messy

 

I would not worry about what you can see from the wheel well That is an exist path. That is good.

The front is the issue. Send a picture of the piece inside the grill.

The gaps you are going after should not be larger than an inch in size. They are mostly cracks and pass throughs.

If you can take a picture, from the front, I will circle stuff.

 

Alright, will post pic soon

 

Installed cooling fan kit from rx8performance , it works great, fans on at 85 degree Celsius and off at 81 degree celsius, tested it for one hour at idle, car is way more cooler now.. Next up, foaming the radiator and engine under tray

 

Hi , can anyone guide me how to wash the engine under the engine bay? can i throw water with force ( as most service stations do) in the engine OR should i totally avoid the water?

 

UPDATE : Installed total new Ignition ( plugs, wires and coils). Did the perfect Foaming of radiator while installing new engine under tray.

Problems that were solved : No rough idle, Missing gone, Great acceleration, CAT temps now go maximum to 1500F when driven hard, Good mileage, Car never seen 194F after foaming and cooling kit mod at 95F Atmospheric temperature.


Will update more when Atmospheric temp reaches 107f

 

It's amazing how you stay below 194F in 95F ambient temps with just foam around the fan with stock radiator, thermostat and water pump. It never goes over 194F even when driven hard? What about when stuck in traffic? Those are great temps man!

 

Wooh Hooh...

Did you take pictures when you had it apart?

 

Yes, it never goes above 194F when driven hard and stuck in traffic at 95F ambient temps, because my after market cooling fan kit turn fans on at full speed around 190F and turn them off at 177F. Foaming the radiator with sides helped a bit but i think the engine under tray helped a lot to pass air directly to radiator.


Here is the link for the cooling fan kit

http://www.rx8performance.com/produc...an-control-kit

 

I am still under process of foaming and i will take a complete pic when its done.

I need your suggestion on something. I just installed brand new Stock coils , NGK plugs and NGK wires. On highway , when i rev a little hard, i saw blinking CEL for few seconds and then it disappeared. I quickly scanned the code from my OBD2 and it was a misfire from cylinder 1. Blinking CEL has not come back for two days now. My electrician checked the coils and plugs and they are giving perfect current. He suggested that maybe we can change the wire from cylinder 1 if the code comes back again. O2 sensors are working fine and CAT temps seems to be in the normal 1200 to 1600F range.

What do you think about it? any other problem going on?

Car starts instantly when hot and cold so no hard start problems, No sluggish performance, great acceleration. I just don't understand why i faced a blinking CEL after new ignition

 

Don't know.

Maybe bad gas? Or, one of the cables is not connected all the way?

Did you reset the fuel trims after the ignition change? If not, the old trims could be way off. At higher RPM, the ECU is "open loop" meaning that it is no longer monitoring anything, just using stored fuel trims. Those trims may be based on the old ignition.

 

this probably goes without saying, but make sure you have a belly pan/undertray. I drove in 86F heat on the highway last summer without mine, and watched the temp needle slowly climb. Had to slow down multiple times to let it cool off.

 

I don't get the logic behind the fan kit. If you live in a hot climate, chances are, you'll have the AC on. AC on forces the fans to go on high speed, regardless of the coolant temp. So how come your temps stay below 194F with the cooling kit? Even if you turn on the fans at 50F, if the fans don't spin fast enough, the coolant temp will eventually rise to the manufacture spec 212F for your ambient temp. Even the thermostat doesn't fully open until 203F. It tries to maintain a 200F coolant temp. So how does it stay at 194F when driven hard? You have a stock radiator, stock thermostat (which fully opens at 203F) and a stock water pump. I'm having a really hard time believing this.

I don't know why you get a blinking CEL. Probably bad fuel like 04Green said. Your Cat temps are normal

 

That's why i said in the earlier post that i will update when ambient temp reaches here at 107f and when my AC is on. But during the two days testing with full AC on at 90-95F ambient temps , the car actually never seen 195F even when i red lined many times. That's strange but what can i say, maybe the cooling fan kits are working great and maybe my radiator is shedding heat quite quickly after side foaming, who know? maybe my car likes to stay cool


Also even in hot climates, i dont wanna run the AC at night times so that's also the reason to blow the fans at full speed at low temps.

BTW Chris from BHR Suggested me to use these cooling fan kit. I know i am not experienced enough as compared to you guys but as there is no mazda dealership here and no rotary engine available so i will try to test everything to keep my engine running cool and for long life through your advises. Will update soon after 105F ambient temps

 

Already installed belly pan/undertray.. BTW If you are seeing your temps climb that way then there is something seriously wrong. I drove 200 Miles without any heating issue and temps stayed under 195 F

 

Hmm, maybe bad gas, but i use premium.. anyways i reset the fuel trims today. Thumping Brake pedal thing didn't work on my 8 as i never seen oil pressure guage move so i took the secondary option. Removed the negative terminal of the battery for 10 minutes while pumped the brake as hard as i can so that KAM reset process can expedite. Also put out the home fuse switch from internal fuse box and put it back in after couple of minutes. I think that would take care of NVRAM and KAM reset.

So far, no CEL Code , but will keep you posted

 

Got P0139 code. so time to change the rear O2 sensor as CAT temps are normal.

Am i right on the diagnosis? will also check any exhaust leaks

 

Yeah it'd either be the sensor, sensor wiring, or an exhaust leak. If you haven't touched the exhaust system for some time, it'd be less likely to be a leak. However, since you had your cat in for a while (I seem to remember this being the case; correct me if I'm wrong), it also doesn't seem like the O2 sensor should be faulty, but it definitely could be.

 

I performed the CAT cleaning because it was plugged. After cleaning it was shinny new, so maybe while fixing it to the bolts, there is some loose ends. I'll check it out today..Never had this code before. Also my rear 02 sensor took major hit from below while passing over a creepy speed breaker. Sensor looked chewed, Maybe that is the case. But i will check both issues and will replace rear 02 sensor today and also exhaust leak inspection from a reputed Exhaust mechanic.

 

It could be a little of both, then.

 

Did complete exhaust checkup inch by inch. No small or big leakage found. CAT seemed fine too. so i think replacing the sensor is the only thing left

 

Also, i know this is the wrong thread to put this info here but i want to keep all my issues to one thread. Every time when i put my car into first gear from neutral, it makes a donk/thump sound.
But when i depress the clutch for few seconds and then shift into first then the sound is gone.


Shifting to all gears is normal and easy. can some one explain this and is this a normal behavior?