I just bought a Mazda RX-8 2005 from Japan which I collected last weekend in Zimbabwe. The car drives well however I have noticed some problems as i use it each day. It has 86515 km on the mileage. When I turn it on it sometimes does some irregular idling when heating up and when stationery at intersections and sometimes its okay and doesn't have that problem. When i collected it it had a slow start which improved after i had topped up the car with some magnatec oil from castrol. This morning i got the CAT removed as in Zimbabwe our climate is relatively hot year round. The car also seems to get really hot up front in the engine bay area. How can I fix this problem before it gets worse?

 

first read the new owners thread about 12 times no really read this!

second slow hot starts and low compression go hand in hand, I'm guessing you did not get a compression check before purchase

 

Thank you I read. From personal experience from what I mentioned is my engine just suffering from low compression or there is more that can be going wrong?

 

The only way to know if your engine has low compression is to have a rotary specific compression check done(covered in the new owners thread) I don't know the price of that for where you are located.

There could be a lot of things that would cause an odd idle. But if you feel like just throwing money at the car a good place to start is coils, wires, spark plugs, air filter(oem), oil change, upgraded starter and an OBDII scanner to watch coolant temps. You already removed the cat so that's a good start.
As I said before read all of the new owners thread.

 

Welcome.

That thread and the other one in my signature are recommended.. Especially with an early one.

And, if running hot. This one... https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tro...o-i-do-258334/

Let us know how it goes.

 

I came for the robot invasion. My RX-8 wants to idle at them too. Much disappoint.