Car seems sluggish in 1st
 

Hi there

I have a 2004 RX-8 GT, and recently the car seems a bit sluggish in 1st up to around 5000rpm.
The engine also turns over (maybe 3 seconds) longer before starting.
Over 5000pm and upper gears it seems fine.
Now, I am taking it in for an oilchange this week, it's been about 2000km since the last one (January).

Any ideas? Maybe a faulty sparkplug? Compression problem?

torque

we haz none

just kidding, what year and how many miles?

check battery and coils / grounds. usually the simplest is best

2004, only has about 31K miles on it - it rarely gets driven in winter.

I changed my 'plugs at 20k and it made a noticeable difference. Start simple as heyarnold cited.

Next battery, especially if it is OEM.

Then check your coils and cables.

All 'plug cables get electrically porous over time, although ours are OEM pretty high quality.

You don't have many miles, but as an '04 your (our) parts are aging from a materials breakdown perspective none the less.

I had the same problem with my 2004 w/ 44k miles that I just bought. Replacing the coils fixed the problem for me.

Another vote for coils.

sounds like coils/plugs to me....

Well this is obviously a problem with your transmission. If the motor performs well at all rev ranges in all gears but first (according to your statements this is true), then clearly it is an issue with having the transmission use first gear. There is no problem with the engine.

Thanks. I guess I should really check to see if the sluggishness is in all the gears, but def. noticeable in 1st gear. Perhaps it's all gears, but I'm only really noticing in 1st
Would a transmission problem explain the slow/hard start?

^No. Its not your tranny, do what others have suggested above w/ regards to coils, plugs, battery, connections ect. and get back to us.

Hmm, sounds like the tranny to me...

He already said the engine performs well in all rev ranges. So if there is something wrong with the coils, plugs or battery, these things must magically fix themselves when he shifts into any gear other than first.

What the hell could be wrong with the manual transmission that would cause poor performance in a gear at low RPMs???????? :lol2: Please tell me.

HAHAH I mean that's a good as saying "my car pulls to the right... must be the power steering fluid is low".

The reason he's seeing it in first gear is because you tend to use the lowest part of the RPM range when taking off from a standstill... not because it's tied to first gear.

I am going by what the OP has stated. please don't pretend that my logic is flawed.


Of course one will spend plenty of time below 5000 rpm in all the gears, not just first. Because the motor seems to be fine in all rev ranges except when the car is in first gear, this allows one to eliminate the motor's performance as an issue. I realize that the OP's ability to notice symptoms in all the gears may be in question, but that is his issue not mine. I am simply going with the data they have given me.


It's not like this is an issue with idle/ just above idle performance. 5000 rpm is pretty high...so bad performance up to that speed in all gears should be easily noticeable if it is indeed present.

Normally, in first gear you use your entire rev limit from 1k - 9k. Since there is considerably low torque below 4k, the op feels that half the time he is in first it is slow. While when he shifts at 6k(im guessing) the revs only drop to about 3500rpm(again, guessing). When starting at 3500rpm, its only a short while before you feel the power from the engine. Here's a simple test. Drive your car in first gear and slowly rev engine to about 3500rpm. Once you hit 3500rpm or so, punch it. Does it now feel the same as the other gears? I dont think this is a tranny issue. More likely a coil/plug issue(if there is an issue) since it has 30k+ miles. Coils and plugs will cost you about $200 and wil take you less than an hour to do.

LOL, hey Spock, yax isnt pretending anything, ur logic is not flawed, its simply incorrect. The tranny would have absolutely nothing to do with a hard start OR a sluggish (percieved) feeling in lower rpms, the car is already IN GEAR when this is happening.

Coils/plugs/wires should fix the starting problem too. Mine dropped from about 5 seconds of cranking to 1-2 seconds.