I rebuild my 11-'05 RX8 and tried to start it today. After some hesitation and a few pumps with the throttle it came to life. It idled fine but I let it warm up holding the throttle at around 2k rpm. When it warmed up I couldn't let it idle or it would die.. Eventually it died out on its own. After waiting a few minutes I tried to start it and it jumped back to life after a couple of seconds. It also has been smoking the entire time it was running. I couldnt really tell if it was blue or white but it smells like oil. The oil seals are brand new.

Does anyone know what I could do?

 

Well, you've got fuel, spark, air and compression so you're most of the way there.

The smoke isn't out of the ordinary unless it's hugely excessive. Assembly lube needs to burn off.

Did you reset the ESS profile? If not, turn the ignition to "ON" but don't start the car. Step on the brake pedal 20 times in 8 seconds. You'll know it worked because the needle on the normally useless oil pressure gauge will move.

Verify that your MAF and coolant temp sensor connectors are correct and that you don't have any vacuum leaks.

 

How long will it take to burn that off? It ran for like 10 minutes and it was still smoking.

I'll try resetting that profile!

I'll put some contact spray on the connectors to be sure..

Vacuum looks fine. Any way to test it?

edit: it idled! I have reset the ESS profile although it didn't show the needle move.
It even idled at warm and got back to normal rpm after revving.
It did smoke even after 15 minutes and worse in the higher revs.

 

Drive it for a couple hundred miles and it should be fine.

It is normal for it to smoke for the first while...10 minutes is more than in the range.

If it continues for over 50 miles or gets worse you might have a problem

Hook a Vac gauge up to the VFAD nipple under the throttle body...

Check your fuel injector connectors if it still idles poorly. The rear Secondary and the rear Primary are really easy to get on the wrong connectors

 

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I took it out for a little test drive and bad news, the car warmed up okay, idle still was kinda rough but it didn't vary more than ~100 rpm. I backed it out of the garage and I stalled it but it didn't really want to start again. After waiting for a while it seemed okay and I slowly started driving it. After a while I hit a road out of town and got back to two and softly started accalerating to around 6k rpm. While getting there I heard a sort of grinding noise and the acceleration was underwhelming.. I eased of the throttle and slowly got back onto it this time no issues other than the slower than expected acceleration. We stopped (I took someone with me) and it stalled while I pushed in the clutch. I tried to blip the gas to keep it alive but was too late. It died and didn't want to start so we towed it back and left it there..
I have to add: the fuel is probably 4 years old and we added injection cleaner to help clean the fuel system.

 

 

If the needle didn't move then the ESS profile has likely not been reset.

The whole point of the needle moving is to confirm the reset.

 

So pumping it out and adding new one will solve it? I mean I was thinking it might be the issue. What about the injector cleaner?

Could be. I read here that it might not move. I pumped the brake like 30 times in 8 seconds so I figured I should be good. Besides, I didn't replace the sensor.

 

4 year old gas is a no-go. If it runs at all it will likely be crap.

Drain the tank....and try new gas. You might want to open the fuel line at the front of the engine and purge the gas out of that as well.

The injector cleaner might have made things worse. Any deposits or crap in the system from the old gas will have been loosened up.

 

That's what I said !

 

Well let's just say it maybe wasn't the fuel.
I got out the spark plugs and put a magnet in the hole. After turning the engine there are a lot of metal shavings on the magnet so one rotor is toast. Seems like I'm sourcing a new engine..