Okay guys! So, my eight is an 05 gt, 6 speed. Engine swapped, has 70k on it. The car starts up, seems all good! Until I start driving... no power. Cold start, rpms raise to just under 3k. There seems to be no power in the car when i open throttle. It takes like 10 seconds to go to 30 km/h which is insane! Coming to a stoplight, my car will just die at idle. When I try pressing throttle, it will have a late response and refuses to rev. My air filter is dirty, and my clutch seems too be slipping. Can a slipping clutch cause a moving car to stall?

 

Sounds like it is in Limp Mode.....

Reset the ECU and see if it revs normally for about 10 sec...and then won't rev after that.....

 

how do i reset the ecu?

 

How many km's on the rebuild? When was it last serviced?

To reset ecu, unplug bat for 5-20ish min, press brake pedal a few times, plug bat back in.

Read the new owners thread to familiarize yourself with the habits of the rx8.

 

i checked my car for codes;
1) misfire cyl 1. im guessing rotor 1
2) intake manifold

the engine has 70xxx km on it. hasnt been serviced for a while. oil change, coolant, etc. but can bad oil cause the sluggish drive? can the ECU trick itself into having a misfire n continue to drive bad because it trick itself into limp mode?

 

When the heck was the oil changed? If you had a fresh rebuild, I'd be changing it every 1k or so. When was the last time you did plugs, coils, wires? Not servicing these cars often or reliably is a death knell for them.

 

when i had purchased the car, all ran well. no cel nothing. car was driving perfect. not sure when the oil was serviced, but i cant even move the car or else it'll die when it warms up

 

How long have you had it? It seems there could be a few things wrong. When you say it takes a long time to get to 30, are the rpms increasing but not the speed or rpms are increasing very slowly?

Misfire usually indicates failing ignition coils/spark plugs. Those are wear items with an about 25k lifetime. If you don't know how old they are, change them.

Intake manifold is not a code, can you be more specific on that?

 

the previous owner said sparks were changed, dont think coils were. ive had the car 3 weeks now. driving the first few weeks, all was good. i then got a misfire reading. car was still pulling a lot of power and speed. rpms raise slowly, causing speed to raise slowly

 

So first you got the misfire, but car drove OK, then you started losing power. Correct?

Since you can read the codes, can you also read engine telemetry? Looking for ignition timing, STFT and LTFT when you try to accelerate.

Something else to check is the catalytic converter. If it has fallen apart and blocked the exhaust, you need to clear that up or replace it.

More info on the intake manifold question could help diagnose.

Needless to say, driving it in this condition risks further damage, so try to avoid.

 

im starting to worry worse, low compression?

i cleared ecus etc, then i went to drive it, put clutch in, car shut off. was idling just under 1k rpms

 

can it be the maf? ignition coils/sparks? cat? intake? im hoping its anything but a new engine.

 

my clutch is also bad. so when im idle and press clutch, car dies. i need to throttle on when changing from neutral to first. any ideas?

 

Nobody said it was your engine, but you need to start eliminating possible causes. I gave diagnostic steps and possible causes above, sooner you have information the sooner this is behind you

 

so the code im sure was the o2 sensor. i cant remember the actual read number. tried driving the car today, wont go up to 30km/h with foot on the floor. as i brought the car home, it idled, and died wouldnt start back. had to wait until it cooled down. going to order some coils today!

 

Thing is it's really difficult to help from here with incomplete information. There are 2 O2 sensors, either of which can have multiple possible codes.

Are you equipped to unbolt the catalytic converter from the car and check it for physical damage?

Also you really shouldn't drive it, you could kill your engine that way.

 

i cannot tell you the O2 sensor read. I don't have the code right now.

I will need to jack it up, or take it to a shop to put hoist it.

I drove the car a bit today, pulls extremely slowly. Like... extremely slowly. I couldnt get out of first how slow i was going. I then brought the car back home, watched it idle at 500... and shut off.

 

Also - when my car dies it wont start back up hot. Low compression I suspect. But, I decided to jump the car to see if it would turn over hot, so it did. Bad starter? Bad wiring? Bad ignition/sparks? What do you guys think?

 

Hot start issues can be a tell tale sign of low compression. I would as suggested, remove the converter section and check it for breakage by listening for rattling and look in it with a light to see if its clogged. Are you running premium fuel?

You need to have a compression test done. If you're in Ohio, I have a rotary compression tester and can do it for you free of charge. If not, you'll have to go to the dealer and pay for one or find someone locally with one.

Do you understand short term and long term fuel trims? Do you know what your af and 02 voltages should be? Do you understand how to read a live data stream? If not we can help you so that if you hook up a nice scanner to the car that reads live data you can understand what's going on with your car.

If compression turns out to be ok, start by replacing the air filter, coils, plugs, and wires. Change the oil, and clean the throttle body. Clean the grounding points in the engine bay (it is very important to have clean grounds) and make sure the converter is in working order. These are musts as you want to eliminate all possibilities before going further. But do not throw parts at the car until you confirm that the compression is within spec.

 

Did you check that the throttle is opening properly?

Take off the rubber bellows. RESET the ecu...... Turn key on....push on gas pedal and the throttle should open wide.

Try to start car and watch throttle plate. If it opens normally and them stops working after about 10 sec the car is going into limp mode. ....likely from the metering oil pump.

If you reset the ECU again it will once again start and work normally until if trips into limp mode again....

Either way this is an easy check...amd a common fault that will make your car act like it has no power.

And it usually doesn't throw a CEL code

 

not sure on how to take off the bellows. will try. i just know my throttle body gets extremely hot

 

Okay so I recorded how the car is sounding at idle. I removed the fuel fuse, cranked it over, now its start hot. Before it didnt. Car still has no power tho. Could that be the coils/sparks still? Or my bad clutch?

 

This is how high revs are for my car to even move...