I recently just bought a 2004 Mazda rx8 automatic which I know sucks *** but it has 82k miles and it was flooded and I deflooded it by discounting the air pump after I deflooded it I got a weird smell from the exhaust and smoke it smelled like burning rubber but I let it run for awhile and the smoke was gone. I let it fully warm up before trying to go anywhere and while I was revving it the rpm was acting funny it acted as if it didn't want to go up. and it was idling as if it was going to turn off. it has new coils and when I put it in drive or reverse it turns off and I tried started it back up it wouldn't start so I had to wait until it cooled down to try again and it still turned off when I put it in drive or reverse. The car has been sitting for about 4 months from the previous owner and it has a new K&N intake. could it be the cat from where I discounted the air pump keeping it from going or the torque convertor?

 

First, get rid of that K&N intake and return to stock. Search this site for examples of the problems it causes.

I don't get how you deflooded it by disconnecting the air pump. Those 2 things are unrelated.

Was it a sweet smell? Was the smoke white?

Since you just bought the car, what does the previous owner have to say about this? Did you get a compression test before purchase? Because the symptoms sound like low compression.

I'd say you have a few next steps: remove, inspect and clean the spark plugs. New coils is good, but they'll tell you what's going on inside the engine. Also see if your coolant level is low and/or if you get bubbles in the coolant overflow tank when the car is running.

Don't drive it til you figure this out. It's not the cat or the torque converter. But you should inspect the cat anyway once this issue is solved.

 

the previous owner has the original intake but is there somehow I can run it without the intake or should I try to buy a original one somewhere also the smoke was not sweet it was a foul smell and the coolant level is fine and I will take out the spark plugs and clean them and get a compression test and get back with you with the results

 

Can you please add punctuations? Hard to read and troubleshoot...

You should have done the compression test before purchase.

As for intake, look in junkyards for a stock one. Make sure it's for an automatic, since the manual and auto intakes are different.

 

sounds good and I apologize for my punctuation.

so I cleaned the spark plugs and removed the barometric sensor and I got it to idle above rpm.

I also got it to drive but when I drove it,it sounded muffled when it was below 4,000 rpm then when I revved it above 4,000 rpm it sounded beautiful and it was responding. And once I tried to park the car I got like this knocking noise on the right side of my car then it turned off and it took me about 8 minutes to start it back up.

I'm going to get a new cat and later this week I'm going to get a compression test and I will let you guys know what it says.

 

That doesn't sound good.

While it's hard to tell without exact compression numbers, it sounds like you have a compression issue with the low-end power loss and hot start problem.

 

Start with the compression test before you spend any more money. No sense buying parts for a car that needs a new engine.

 

 

Get a rebuilt one from a professional. Pineapple racing, Pettit Racing, Rotary Resurrection, Mazda, etc.

There are no completely new engines, only well made rebuilds with new parts.

What were the compression numbers?

 

Well, if you have low compression, it's a bit of a lose-lose situation.

These 4-port engines actually can sometimes cost more than the better 6-port engines, and no, you can't just swap them without doing a lot of changes.

Your other option is just cutting the losses and selling it as-is. If you must have an automatic, go for a 06+ with the 6-port engine(assuming you live in the States).