Small update.....


I had a chance to disconnect the battery today between ice storms and decided to install the new coils as well. Here is a pic of the old ones.....they look original to me and since the car has 130k on it they seem to be way past due for a change. Only one does not have the heat scoring visible......



Here is the new one for reference......




I probably wont be able to do anything til the weekend so that should be long enough for the ecu to be reset.

Whats your thoughts guys?

PS: They are layed out in LF.TF.LR.TR

 

Those white marks don't represent a degrade in coil performance themselves. There was a TSB issued for that. The only way to properly test the coil is with a timing light or a spark tester.

That said, given the age of the coil, might be a good idea to replace them.

 

Any idea where I could find that TSB? When searching on here a lot of people have indicated that the white marks are a sign of the coils needing to be replaced. Not doubting you.....just want to see what the reason for the TSB is.

 

https://www.rx8club.com/attachments/...ion-update.pdf

Here is a complete list of all TSB's.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tro...letins-183774/

 

someone has said that anything under $20.00 for the ELM 327 is for a knock off or imitation ,but who knows anything can be said on net .Im in same predicament not sure what to buy ,my take is buy the cheap one if it doesn't do what you need trow it away and get a better one . you can get them for $5.00 buck or so ,prob china.

 

Rmazda8 I followed the link from Steve and bought the cheaper one from Amazon. I figured if it does not work back it goes.

 

Thanks!

 

I just bought one on amazon for 16.99 hope its ok, didnt read the post before and would have bought same ,so if its not good am i able to return it ,thanks

 

was able to cancel so tried to buy same one but doesn't ship to Canada ,oh well

 

Ok tried to get the old girl fires again today but no luck. I pulled the plugs and this is what they look like.......keep in mind these are new plugs .....



Also if you look at this pic showing the trailing port of number one dorito you will see the oil/gas mixture leaking out as I removed the plug.



So I cranked it over for a few seconds to get whatever else may be in there and I will let it sit for a couple of days and try to refire it again.

 

Been a bit cold for the past week so tried to get a bit of stuff done today.......bought a replacement panel from pineappleslicez to get rid of this eyesore.......



and after about 20 minutes, it looks like this now. Its a shame Mazda never stepped up to the plate and replace this like Toyota ans Lexus did.



Also cleaned up the new plugs in an attempt to get the old girl fired again this week......



I really hope it starts now.

 

Trying to start a flooded rotary when it's cold is even harder than usual. If you had it started and it won't stay running with your foot in it... something else might be going on. Sometimes if it is really flooded and you back off even a little on the gas it will die.

I'm still a big follower of the tow it philosophy to start a flooded car. They always start if that is the issue... and you can keep them going easier.

it's a bit difficult in the winter to do that though 😐

 

Dan....is the tow method documented here? I mean I know the obvious part but is there anything that needs to be done specific to RX8s?

We have not been over 40 degrees in 6 weeks and I think that may be the issue too. The pics I post above was the new plugs and I was able to get it to run for about 30 secs before it died again. It smoked quite a bit which led me to believe that it was really flooded. I have new wires and coil packs installed now so we will see. The plugs have been out for at least a week now.....but hopefully I can get them back in tomorrow and give it a go again.

Thanks for the info.

 

Put the front tow hook in... they are in the trunk in that little fold up flap at the rear of the trunk. It screws into the access panel on the front grill. Attach to your tow vehicle... preferably with a proper tow strap.....

Turn on the key...put the car in second gear and foot on clutch.... tow the car to about 10mph and slowly let out the clutch until it starts to fire.... rev the crap out of it until it stops the big smoke show. If it's really flooded expect other drivers to stop and offer you fire extinguishers 😎

if it doesnt stay running try again a little further.

If it won't stay running after that you have other issues.

I had to tow mine once about 300 yards once when the body shop flooded it really bad. They took it to the dealer and they couldn't get it started either and were going down the fried ECU road. Usually it will start up fairly quickly...less than 100 yards. If you want it to spin faster you can use first gear...but I found 2nd usually works better. The body shop was very happy when I started it with a tow and all I charged them was for a set of new plugs. A lot better than the $1500+ or more bill the dealer told them it was going to be.

That was even with a big note on the dash that said not to start it and shut it off without letting it warm up.

After that they just started pushing it around the shop instead of the usual short start/stop body shop procedures

 

Thanks again Dan if the weather is good next weekend we will give it a go......

 

Well not a good weekend.

Tried to pull start the old 8 and while we did get it to fire it would not stay running. Again it had no throttle response when it fired and slowly died off again. It had a huge smoke cloud when it stated the first time but not after. We tried to tow start it for over a mile....so no luck. The last few times it tried to run but had a few backfires......and never came to life.

So with that said im thinking I may just have to get a new motor in there

 

Does it have fuel pressure? Spark?

Now you have to do the full troubleshooting and diagnosis.

Compression test is a good place to start...

 

Dan that is a good question. I figured it had spark with all the backfires. But the fuel pressure may be a good point to start. When I have had it running both times the revs would start off fine and then would not respond with pedal effort.

So maybe the fuel pump is done.

I have been trying to find someone local with a compression tester. But so far no luck. I may just have to break down and get one

 

where do you live??

 

Greensboro NC

 

Bit far for mine 🙂

 

 

How are you watching the plugs? They need somewhere to ground to, they're not going to spark on their own if you just let them dangle (and trying to do so will damage the coils).

 

So back at this.........the more I think about this the more Im wondering if I have a fueling issue. Are the fuel pumps in these cars prone to failure?

 

yep 70-100k miles