So, I am a relatively new RX8 owner, just having joined this club.

Just a brief Info about my car:I bought a 2005 RX8 from a private owner, with 39K miles on it. I have been driving it for past 6 months and I decided to use it for winter. I live in lower Michigan, in the metro Detroit area.

Issue: I did not start my car over the weekend of Feb 13-15 and the weather was frigid outside. After not having started the engine at all for more than 2 days, when I tried to start it on a very frigid Monday morning, It took a while in starting and I could sense multiple misfires and the engine was defaulting to 3k RPM and after a while the engine stalled. I tried starting the engine again and I have had a steady Yellow "Check Engine' light on since then. I looked up the codes and it showed up 3 codes for: 1) Random Multiple Misfire 2) Evap 3) Throttle Position Sensor

I am suspecting it to be a case of worn out Apex seals, owing to thickening of the engine oil. I have been using SAE conventional 5W 20.

I'd like to know what all you guys have to think about this issue?
And, what would you suggest? A compression test or just a regular Diagnosis?
Also, would you advise going specifically to a Mazda dealer?

I'd really appreciate your inputs!

Thanks!!

 

misfires usually are ignition related. how old are coils, plugs and wires?

 

I bought it from a private party in Aug 2014. He had changed the coils, plugs and wires around a year ago.

 

i always changed mine yearly and i put about 5k miles a year on my car. its way overkill but why not lol. on the high side coils only last ~30k

 

Cold weather will do strange things to cars....I wouldn't freak out for a while

The evap code could be from water vapor freezing up the evap solenoid or a line...and it should correct itself when it warms up.

You might want to add some gas line antifreeze to your gas to help with the water problem.

For cars that get a first dose of freezing weather this will happen often

 

"first dose of winter" . Yeah, you are right. The previous owner did not use the 8 in winter. So, I guess I'm the 1st offender with this car. I should've better prepped the car than just putting on winter tires.

 

The symptoms you listed are pretty normal.
My daily driven 8 does the same thing on crazzy cold days.
Just make sure your coils, plugs, wires and battery are in good order.
Once the car is warmed up drive it around a little bit, redline it and all the codes should clear up.

As mentioned above, misfires is normally caused due to weak ignition; my suggestion would be replace your coils,plugs and wires.

All the best

 

Luckily the Check Engine light went off this morning. And I did not sense any kind of engine misfire today. However, I checked with the previous owner and turns out its been close to 18k miles since the coils, plugs and wires were replaced.
Would you guys suggest replacing them as a preventive measure or wait till the Check engine light shows up again?

Thanks!

 

Search here. There is a thread, I think from TEAM, on how to test the coils. The device is $15.

I plan on doing it soon, definitely before I buy coils again.