Eirulisse

Hi guys! I'm relatively new here. I finally got an engine swap on my 8 because of low compression and it had 120k miles, and so on. The thing would shut off by itself while idle, and so forth.

Anyway, so here I am engine runs, doesn't die on me anymore. Idk how many miles this engine has, but sellers said it's between 48-55k miles or so.

I was driving it and I decided to try a red line. Here I am revving through happiness, 3k, 4k, 5k.... and then... at around 6k-9k, I don't feel anything. It's as if the engine is standing still... it's almost as if I was at 5k the whole time. The needle goes up, I can hear the engine revving higher, but it's not as loud as I would expect an engine to be at that RPM.

Now, I have no idea when the coils were changed on it from the previous owner, so this COULD be a main reason for this from what I'm reading.

Another thing is, the car came w/ an Injen short intake from the previous owner. I'm guessing that could potentially be a cause too, because short intakes don't provide enough power in the higher end ?

Any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

Coils, plugs, wires.
Get rid of the intake for oem.
Check cat converter.
Read the new and potential owners sticky found at the top of the new members forum.

logalinipoo

What he said. stock or aem / mazdaspeed intake. Also take a good look at the vac lines. I'm guessing you have a 6 speed/6port engine and you replaced it with a 6 speed/6port engine?

Eirulisse

Yes, I did get the proper engine for the job lol. And yes, it's a 6-port 6-speed. I was gonna get the AEM CAI, it looks decent, and definitely better than the Injen one I have now. I'll have my mechanic take a look at my cat. He actually took the plugs off the old engine cause they were in good shape. So I guess I need to check if the coils are burned too. Only reason y I would not opt for OEM intake is cause it's made of plastic and it's big and occupies room. Other than that, I know Mazda did a good job w/ the intake. I'll have to wait a bit though. I don't have any tools at home. Is there anything that's really easy to check that I should do myself?

Also, my coolant light is on, even though I have coolant in the darn thing .-.

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

Yes. The easiest thing for you do do yourself is to read the new and potential owners thread. Don't play lip service to it, as it will help you to get more knowledgeable with your car. Many questions you have will be answered in that thread. Furthermore, it will show you a nifty Google search tool to help you with any further questions.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

Coolant light is a bad sensor, very common.
Cabin air filters are easy and often overlooked.

Eirulisse

@BigCajun yea, u're right, cabin filters ARE overlooked, but I didn't mention that at all O.o

anyway, i did some more research. Haven't found a concrete answer from the new member sticky's, but there's a high chance my coils and/or my cat are gone... the cat is probably the bigger issue right now. Mechanic didn't take a good look at it when he swapped the engine, but he did say it looked kind of black and clogged on the side that connects to the exhaust manifold. Only way to really find out its condition is to disconnect the piping, and see how much light gets through if we shine something on one end LOL

But I think I'll replace it. Only problem is, I'm debating whether it's gonna last me until new year's or so. I'm like shot for money... if it needs to be fixed ASAP, my only option is a universal MagnaFlow cat... I only drive the car in the weekends. I would totally go catless further down the road, but only when I have someone (or buy myself) an Access port to delete the CEL from the cat. Here in Illinois apparently they only OBDII check the car if it has any lights and you can be out in like 5 minutes.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

0_o
Have fun.

Eirulisse

OH, THAT XD yes, but that's not what I was referring to. I was referring to things that could cause my power loss that can easily be checked w/out need of a whole car toolbox.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

You can gut the cat until you decide what to do.
You shouldn't drive it at all if it's clogged.
I bought a Walker direct fit for inspection only, less than $200, drive it for a couple of weeks, pass inspection, then install my midpipe until next inspection.
Clear the CEL with my Android Torque app.

Eirulisse

I think right now it had the Walker installed, but it looks rusty, hard to tell. You know what, that may actually be a great option right now. I can just buy myself another Walker (if the one I have now is a walker) when I have money, pass emissions this August (or whenever they will come, bought the car in August this year), and then also have a midpipe. Will have to decide on BHR midpipe or the Agency dual-res midpipe. I don't want it to be too loud, my HKS cat-back is loud enough LOL

I might actually buy that torque app myself now that you mentioned it. How do you connect your phone to the car? Is there an OBDII to USB cord or something?

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

You need a Bluetooth dongle that plugs into the OBD. Amazon has a bunch in different price ranges, mine was $35, App is a one time $5.
BHR on mine, it's probably the best sounding, longest lasting one.

Steve Dallas

You need a Bluetooth interface. Once can be had for around $20 from Amazon.

The BHR midpipe is the bees knees. It changes the tone of your catback very little and adds very little loudness to the exhaust. The resonator is indestructible, whereas most resonators fail quickly. Go BHR. It is by far the best.

Eirulisse

UPDATE:

Ok, so I got a CAT and put it on my car. Now I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news is, my 8 already had a resonated midpipe, and now I put on a CAT just in time for this summer's emissions test. This also means I dont need to spend money for a midpipe, cause the one I had on there is still great.

The bad news is, this means my power loss was NOT due to a clogged CAT... heck, the car HAD NO CAT LOL

I'm gonna get my ignition system checked out soon, and I plan on getting an AEM intake this winter (after new tires, cause I'm basically running on slicks). I also checked the vacuum lines that are connected ro my intake, and they are all fine.

I DID get some check engine lights related to the VAS (forgot exact initials) and something w/ the air solenoid. I had 2 codes, a P2259 and a P0661.

Fuel system seems to be fine, so I think the problem doesn't lie here, as I have not gotten any rich/lean codes.

Any input?

Eirulisse

DOUBLE UPDATE:

Just had my ignition coils checked, and they're fine. They don't show any signs of hickups or not firing properly. I know the cables are good, and the spark plugs should be good, even mechanic said he actually took them off the old engine cause they were in better shape than the ones I had on the "new" engine.

Now, he drove the car again, and I took it for a spin too. It seems as if it's a lot smoother with the CAT, in terms of how the engine feels, but still same issue. At around 5k RPM, it does not want to output anymore power. It can climb to 9k, slowly, but the lack of power is still present. It doesn't want to pull. It's kind of sad, knowing that at this stage, my mom's 2014 Sonata can take me no problem LOL... Sometimes I also get a misfire at the same RPM range.

My only guess right now is that the air solenoid (or something around there) is at fault. Either that, or something that doesn't let the car mix the proper amount of Fuel/Air to get it going...

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

Did you try cleaning the ESS and MAF sensor?

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

You should ditch the intake and try to find an OEM intake.
Possibly the SSV solenoid is bad.

Eirulisse

I personally have not taken a look at those, but I'm sure my mechanic did. I did talk w/ him about the MAF sensor while he was doing the engine swap, and he said it was fine. Plus, a dirty MAF would have other symptoms associated with it.

As for the ESS, that, again, would show other issues, and again I'm sure he looked at it from the time he swapped the engine. He looks at stuff like this, including lines and wires, every time. And I'm sure it's not this, because I don't have trouble starting up and my engine doesn't die by itself anymore. I think it needed some time to adjust to some air/fuel thingies because when coming to a stop, in neutral, it would just die suddenly, as if I left it in gear and forgot it was in gear. That doesn't happen anymore. I also know it's not the compression, because it cold starts and hot starts perfectly fine, and it doesn't have the issue my old engine had, where the car would just die when warmed up because of chamber expansion and low compression.

He still has the old engine, along w/ many accessories, so I was gonna try and swap the air solenoid with the other one, see if that clears some stuff, but it's gonna have to wait a while.

Ya, I'll ditch the darn Injen intake as soon as I get some $. Will post updates again when I get other work done. Ty for the reply. I'll search for videos (or I might just post one myself) of how it behaves, maybe you guys can make a better guess that way.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

OK, you seem to be on top of it.
Dumb question, did you do the 20 brake stomp?

Eirulisse

Actually, as dumb as that question may seem to you, I personally never heard of such a thing until you mentioned it LOL

Not that I know of. It's supposed to clear my old CEL's and a few other things, right? I know my mechanic cleared stuff w/ his OBDII hardware (he has a huge scanner and the software on his laptop), but I don't think he did that. Should I do it for the lols? Just ignition switch set to "ON" w/ the engine still off, press the brake about 20 times in around 8 seconds? There can't be any negative output out of doing this even for the lols, right?

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

Right. I do it after cleaning my ESS.
Which is another easy thing to do that can make a difference.
They've been known to make the car run squirrelly when they get dirty.
I don't think it clears CELs, you can unhook the battery for that.
I do the stomp after unhooking the battery also.

logalinipoo

Don't do it before every time you drive, but every now and then our after you do work is just fine. It resets a learned profile. Some times it just gets out of wack, but with work on the car it is good to reset it and let it learn from scratch.

Eirulisse

Ok, so I did the 20 stomp right now, but after I made this video. I tried recording it to show what happens. I was in 2nd gear, trying to redline, pedal to the floor. I couldn't do too much, wasn't on the highway. It just takes forever to get to redline. What should take 6.x seconds to get from 0-60, it takes probably 20. Granted, I suck at shifting, so I take my sweet time when changing gears, but this shouldn't happen. Watch the video if it helps in any way shape or form detect what is wrong.

I sometimes misfire if I go past 5k RPM. At the moment, the only things I can think of that are wrong are: 1. Spark plugs not working properly under pressure 2. Stupid air intake 3. Air solenoid malfunction? Or all 3... As I said in my previous posts, clogged CAT wasn't the issue. My coils work properly, and compression isn't an issue.

BigCajun

iTrader: (1)

I believe the PO661 is specific to the solenoid, but I haven't had personal experience with it.
If you're getting the same codes, search the Troubleshooting or DIY threads.
I doubt you're the first with that problem.

Eirulisse

Yes, the PO661 is, and I also got a P2259... It hurts to not be able to let her free, but I guess she'll have to wait until I can fix her up.

I already looked through some threads, will look more. At least I know my ABS works properly... XD