Tank68

I guess I’ll introduce myself and become immersed in this wonderful community. My friends call me Joe so let’s keep it like that. I am new to the 8 community as I literally just purchased my first car as a RX8. I have another car which was given to me but this is my first bought car. I may only be 23 years old but I have a good career and I am in school for nursing which will further my career path. Also I play army one weekend a month as a combat medic. I stay in the Tampa Bay area so hopefully pretty soon I will immerse in that community as well.


Currently my 8 is in at Maztech with Jeff with a hot start problem and an issue with the power steering. I bought my 8 knowing I have these problems with it and I knew if worst come to worst I have to shovel out the high end amount to fix it. I decided to purchase it regardless of the problems because I loved the car and how it felt. When I got it back home I changed out the crappy small battery (it looked like it belonged in a Honda civic) and placed a red top in it, I also ordered a K&N air filter, ignition coils (two coils were beginning to show the white spot), and spark plugs (all four spark plugs were ok so I kept them) in belief it should fix the problem. It did not but starting it up was a lot easier than before. To compensate for that I purchased a new starter and changed that out but clearly it was not the starter (I kept the old starter in the off chance the new starter needs to be replaced in the future). One thing I had to do was change the oil. The previous owner told me he placed 100% pure synthetic oil in the car. Regardless if he changed the oil the day before I bought it or months ago I knew I needed to change it.



So Jeff is now working on my 8 and she indeed has low compression. I understand this will cost me an arm, two legs, and three fingers but to me the ends justify the means. So hopefully by this time next week I will have my 8 in my spot back home because my current daily drive presented with P0705 code. When I have my car back I will indeed take pictures of her and upload it. I also have projects I want to do on her as well.

Williard

iTrader: (18)

Hey, welcome to the club. First off just some knowledge, the white spots on the coils mean exactly nothing. White spots have shown up on good and bad coils. Contrary to what many believe it is NOT a sign of a bad coil. The stock ignition system is weak though so i would suggest replacing it with an aftermarket set up. There are several to choose from such as the ls2 coils among others but IMO and many others standing at the top of the pile is BHR's ignition solution. It is hands down the best plug and play kit by far.

You might want to do some reading on the K&N filters, they are really not as good as most people have been led to believe. Another suggestion im going to make is to purchase the sohn adapter and either make or purchase a mounting kit, I.E. tanks to hold the oil and washer fluid. It's better to pump clean 2 stroke rather than used conventional oil. Any questions or concerns you have come to this forum FIRST. Our little community has the most collective knowledge of the RX8 you will find anywhere.

Anyway, enjoy the car once you get it back. It's a whole lot of fun

Here's some light reading material i think you should go through.

https://www.rx8club.com/new-member-forum-197/
https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-yourself-forum-73/

platano47

welcome homie! i too bought an 8 with a blown motor, rocks and dirt in the interior, but low mileage, great exterior besides a fender dent. little by little i started buying new parts, new rotor housings, rotors, rebuild kit, clutch, flywheel...etc. took interior out piece by piece, cleaned what could be cleaned, bought new what was broken....this was in begining of feb. and i would say in a week or so, she should be running. moral is - take your time, dont cut corners, good luck!!!

blckninja

iTrader: (1)

Definitely what the others said, white spots mean nothing, but doesn't hurt to change out ignition system if you don't know how bad it is.

Read the newbie threads and if you have people local that you know of that have good rotary experience keep them your friends, you'll probably need them more often then you think. :P

Tank68

Here’s the history my 8. It is a 04 automatic and had a fairly clean carfax. I bought it from a kid who was selling it on craigslist. I’m assuming he didn’t want to spend money on it to fix the power steering and he was getting the car starting by jumping it; plus he was a kid (not even 18) so he wouldn’t have the money to repair it on the high end. I got the car at 85k miles and I had two parts in me telling me things. To fix what was wrong and to do any car’s basic maintenance. I didn’t have to change the car’s battery but I wanted to so it will help the car out more. When it comes to the oil I needed to change it because I had no idea when it was changed last. If you’re selling a car would you bother with the maintenance anymore? Same thing went for the coils and the spark plugs. I probably didn’t need to change them but it makes me feel good to have a fresh start with the car. So doing these task did serve trying to rectify the hot start problem (to no avail though) but also place me from the start of the life of each part. I do not want to worry about the coils going bad in two months and have to wait for the part to come in.



Williard I definitely will look into the Sohn adapter. I already have four tabs open and a pdf file on how to install the tank. If it is healthy for my engine I do not have a problem working on it. Only problem is I do not live in a house and only possible place to work on anything would be a family members place. Living in an apartment sucks! I also plan on buying the BHR ignition set just have to wait for more cushion since it will cost a hefty penny after my rebuild. Like any sane person I want to make sure my car can actually run before I make any changes to her appearance so I am going to get her a health screen on her before taking her to the salon (metaphor).


I appreciate the input guys.

blckninja

iTrader: (1)

It is definitely healthy for the engine as compared to 4-stroke oil, 2-stroke will make the engine last much longer hands down, definitely read into it more if you want to lean more.

Also yes living in an apartment sucks. I'm lucky since my brother lives in the same city as me, literally about 2 miles away, and he lets me work on my car at his place. It isn't always bad having family in the same city. :P

04Green

iTrader: (1)

Welcome,

Check out the 2 links in my sig.

Also the Tampa Bay Mazda Club as a pretty active facebook page with meets and social events. There are several 8's in that group. I am in the UCF area.

Again, welcome.