I drove through water!
 

So about 3 days ago I was making a late night Taco Bell run and no surprise South Florida had gotten heavy rain all day. I only needed to go down 1 side road before I was on the main road and in the clear. It was dark and I didn’t see the standing water but the next thing I know I’m going through roughly 8 inches of water so I slow down and come out on the other side and am sitting at the stoplight everything is running fine. As I take off and ,see a right turn the car starts to sputter and the check engine light comes on so I pull over and turn the car off. After sitting on the side of the road for around 10 minutes I turned the key and it started again. It idled very rough but I made it back home and the idle was better but the CEL was in for high MAF circuit input. Next day I cleared the Code and it stayed off, I drove around and nothing happened, when I punch it however it hits a brick wall which I’ve heard others say was caused by the MAF. I’m going out today after class to clean it out, is there anything else I should be watching for ? Thanks for the help!

Check your air filter and intake track. I'll bet you sucked a bit of water in.

Engine Power Loss
• chokes as revs increase
o O2 sensor failure (too rich)
o MAF failure
o MAF disconnected
o e-shaft sensor fouled
o accessory belt fraying
• high end power loss (hard fuel cut)
o Rev limit reached
• high end power loss (jerky and stumbling)
o Ignition failure
o fuel pressure loss
o e-shaft sensor fouled
• high end power loss (smooth)
o Catalytic converter clog
o air filter clog
• low end power loss (smooth)
o Engine compression loss
• low end power loss (stumbles)
o Ignition failure
o front O2 sensor failure
• revs slowly but smoothly
o O2 sensor failure (too lean)
o catalytic converter clog
o air filter clog
• sudden power drop at a specific rpm
o Intake valving actuation problem
• trouble getting to redline
o Ignition failure
o front O2 sensor failure
o catalytic converter clog
o air filter clog
o e-shaft sensor fouled
o fuel pressure loss
o MAF failure


Could be MAF failure, I had similar power issue when my MAF failed. Replacing the MAF solved my issue completely.

But your ESS is low underneath the car and could have been fouled by dirty water and/or mud. Both the MAF and ESS are easy to clean. Try that first before replacing them. DIY threads on this are in the forum.

Also how many miles on your O2 sensor ? RX8Club maintenance schedule recommendeds you replace the O2 sensor around 90k miles.

Hopefully you didnt suck much water into your intake. Check this as NotAPreppie suggests. Always do a proper diagnosis ,and do the simple and free things first before spending big money replacing things.

Thanks for the help
 

Okay awesome I’ll be sure to check all that out, my MAF has 73k miles on it so it needs serviced kinda soon anyway.

Just make sure you use MAF cleaner and not brake cleaner or any other harsh solvents. I've spoken to people who have used the latter and ended up buying new MAF sensors as a result.

ditto NotAPreppie. MAF cleaner is readily available at Walmart and any auto parts stores.

Thanks again for the help guys, i went out and cleaned out the MAF and regardless of water it was much needed. After cleaning I drove to the gas station and it ran great. After fueling up however it wasn’t starting. It turned over several times but wouldn’t start. My ignition coils have been going bad and im pretty sure this is the cause of the problem as the car has struggled with hot starts but passed a compression test. I did get it to start however and have not had the problem since but it is still time to swap out the coils.

You could have flooded the car. There are threads on how to deflood RX8s. Here is one.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-...lumber-182410/

Bad coils can kill a rotary engine and cat. Don't delay on those coils if needed.. And always change coils, wires and plugs at the same time.

You have a number of options for coils:
- The Cheapest option: BWD/Intermotor coils from auto parts stores like Advance Auto. 4 coils, 4 plugs, and 4 wires can be had for around $190-220 total based on whatever promotion is running at the time, shipped to your door for free. They are considered to be the first coil revision and you should expect to need to replace them around 20,000 miles, 30,000 miles max. They often come with a "lifetime warranty" by the auto parts store, which could potentially be leveraged for perpetually new coils.

- The Best Upgrade: The BHR ignition coil upgrade can be had for around $500, which eliminates the need to continue replacing coils periodically, as well as deliverying a significantly stronger spark for minor mileage and power gains. It is a proven kit with top notch customer service supporting it. It includes the wires, you still need to add plugs ($80)

- The For-Sure OEM: Mazmart sells all 4 coils of the latest OEM coil revision (C) for around $250, (just the coils, you still need to add plugs and wires) Supported by top notch customer service. They will likely last longer than 30,000 miles, but we don't have much solid data on how long the latest coil revision will last.

- The Most Expensive option: Buying from a dealer will run you around $300+ for the coils, $500+ for coils, wires and plugs, and if you have them do the install, expect to get a bill for anywhere from $700 to $1,800. You may not get the latest coil revision. Yes, you are getting shafted if you take this option, so bring lube.

- The Highest Risk option: Ebay coils continue to pop up as counterfeit, mislabeled, dead on arrival, and have zero post-purchase support largely. They are the "cheapest" listed price, but when you add that $92 or whatever to the price of anything in the list above from having to do it over again, you can see that they are no longer the cheapest option. Do it right the first time. "Motor King" coils are popping up at an attractive price on Ebay, but are being proven as ineffective, to the point of being unable to get the engine fired. "Mazda" branded coils on ebay are almost always counterfeit. Check the seller's name though, since some of our vendors sell legitimate coils there. The price will be $200+ though. Anything sold as "Mazda OEM" under ~$26 per coil should really be considered as suspect and probably counterfeit.

Be wary of "LSx D585 coil upgrades", as not all D585 coils are created the same, and the standard generic D585 coil is not properly designed internally for the RX-8's ignition needs. They generally "work", but there are anomalies and performance issues that have to be solved, if they can be solved. Definitely NOT a plug and play option, even if it is advertised as "plug and play"

GB: SakeBomb Garage IGN-1A Ignition Coil Kit
________________________________________

Yeah I’ve heard they can make a nasty mess if put off. I’ll be sure to replace all of them most likely tomorrow or Wednesday, thanks for the help!

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.rx8...2748ee0010.png
This kit I found on EBay but they are not EBay brand they are NGK which I know are pretty popular. Any advice on how reliable this might be? I appreciate the guide on deflooding the motor I’ll take a look at that for sure!

If these are truly NGK and NAPA/Echlin , and not a knock-off, they are ok. I don't know if these are up to OEM (C) coils (the latest). Might be equivalent to first revision coils, which are fine.

This is more budget friendly. I personally chose to go with BHR coils and wires, but they do cost much more initially. I haven't had to change coils in seven years.

Hey if these come with good warranty, go for it.

P.S. my quick research on these coils and wires shows manufacturer's warranties on both (3 yrs/36,000 miles on the coils; and Lifetime on the wires), and they are designated for the RX8, so I think you are safe here. You would want to change these coils out by 20-30k miles anyway.

Okay awesome thanks for the help!

All better!
 

:mdrmed:Hey everyone just wanted to give an update, I just drove my car home from my friends garage where I replaced the ignition coils with ENA ignition coils, NGK spark plugs and NGK wires. I also used more MAF cleaner to clean the MAF and cleaned the throttle body with throttle body cleaner. The car is running amazing and I can’t thank everyone enough for their help through the process and I hope this thread can help out some others :boink:

Ps. This fixed my troubled hot starts I’ve mentioned on some other threads so the rotary gods have spared my compression (I Think) for a while longer!

Great news!

Do keep an eye on the coils. Even genuine OE coils can fail rather quickly. I had a B revision coil fail completely in under 20K miles with no CEL. I got tired of worrying about coils and spent the money on a BHR kit in 2012. No worries since then.

Update
 

so i flew home for thanksgiving and left my car at school for the week, when I can back it ran fine for a day but I’m now back to having to wait 15 minutes after pumping gas for it to choke and start, it is cranking very slow so it might be a starter? And also there’s a leak on the positive terminal of my battery and it has all the fuzzy blueish green shit covering it, I try to keep it clean but i dont know if a bad connection there could be the cause?

Have your battery tested. That could well be the reason the starter is turning slow. If the battery is fine (the load it can drive, not the voltage),. then your starter is slow.

That corrosion could also cause it. Clean all of that up with wire brushes and sandpaper and install some felts to keep it from happening again.

Okay thanks for the help guys I’ll try to get it figured out!

Okay so after a grueling, long process i have fixed it. Between flying back and forth from school and having to do work with limited tools in my schools parking lot this project took way longer than needed. In the end after replacing my terribly corroded batter and battery terminals/connectors my hot start problem is fixed. For anyone who is having the same problem and wondering if the batter is the cause here are some symptoms i experienced that led me to believe that the battery was the problem:

I had already replaced ignition coils, spark plugs, and wires.
My starter was cranking very slow (this could be a bad starter but it can also be caused by a weak battery)
When cranking on hot starts my car would seemingly lose power after a few cranks (big giveaway that my battery was weak)
i had a ton of corrosion caused form a leak on my positive terminal
Finally, when i returned from winter break and my car had been sitting for nearly 3 weeks without being started the starter would free spin, even when being jumped (my battery was dead and needed jumped) I figured this meant a bad starter but it must not have been as a batter fixed the issue, I am guessing that my voltage was off and was causing the starter to just free spin.

I hope this helps anyone having the same issue and as always thanks fir all the help along the way!