So my check engine light came on today while getting on the highway, got it checked out and it was MISFIRE, the cat, rear oxygen sensor. I have the BHR ignition kit that i bought last year and the plugs were changed 3530 miles ago. Could my coils be going bad?

 

It's possible.

Have a look at this, hopefully it helps: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tec...t-here-222280/

Misfires will destroy your cat very quickly, so it's best to resolve the misfire issue before putting any miles on the car (these cats are quiet pricey).

 

Is there any chance that this is as a result of bad plugs or coils. I'm in Michigan and have been letting the car sit for a few days but I've never not revved it up to shut it off. Today I went drive it around and it started alil rough and the yellow check engine was flashing. I let the car warm up revved it up and turned it off. Shortly after I tried to start it up and it refused to turn over. Do you think its flooded or that I need plugs and coils?

 

It's probably flooded because you need coils, plugs & wires, for starters.
Search the link poacher posted above. Your answers are there.

 

If you have a cat failure code, then worry about the cat first, not the BHR coils. A failed cat CAN cause misfires all by itself, though yes, misfires can cause cat failures, which can then cause misfires even if the original reason for the misfires was resolved. It's possible that the damage to your cat happened on the last set of plugs, and you have since resolved that, but the damage was done and it's been sinking further since.

Have you read the misfire troubleshooting thread? There are LOTS of reasons for misfires. Coils, plugs, and wires are by far the most common for new owners, since new owner's aren't often aware of the need to change them regularly. However there are still lots of other options.

 

I'm only assuming it misfired because that yellow light was flashing. But yeah I read that. Should I try starting it again?

 

Well i ordered the BHR midpipe today lets see how that turns out when it arrives.....Whats this power loss that i've been reading about when the flashing engine light appears? My car starts normal, it drives normal, the only thing thats different is the exhaust smell from time to time.

 

I wouldn't try to start it if you know it was misfiring the last time it was running (and from the sounds of it, possibly flooded now). Replaced the plugs and wires (unless you've done that already within the last 5-10k miles, in that case I would pull them and visually inspect them before ordering replacements) and test each of the ignition coils to see if they are all healthy. Remember the white spot on the ignition coils is not an indication of the coil being good or bad - it's just a discoloration, nothing more. Test the battery while your at it (just replaced mine the other day after 5 years of duty). Pull the cat off and visually inspect it to see if the mesh looks good or if its just one big melted-together mess.



If the engine is misfiring, i.e. the fuel isn't being burnt as intended, I wouldn't expect it to be making the power it could/should be making. Could you describe the exhaust smell more definitely?

 

I did a test run and coasted at 70MPH and sure enough after 5min of driving my cel starts blinking then it stops, after riding for 30min going 70 the cel never blinked again. Since it was already night i parked in a dark spot at a gas station and checked out the cat for the glow but nope nothing, Charles told me to try the Inductive Timing Light on the plug wires so thats my next step today....

 

I checked all spark plugs and all were brown except the trialing that' s close to the firewall it wasn't tighten down all the way but it wasnt loose either. Would that have been the problem for the plug to be black or is it something else?

 

If the plug wasn't tightened properly, it may not have been in a good position to fully ignite the fuel. Have you driven it since correcting that?

 

There are service manuals available on-line. It has very detailed troubleshooting flowcharts for determining the problem for various DTC codes. I think these charts are intended for Mazda technicians. It will require patience to go through it. Mine has an engine light came on recently and I just ordered the scanner to read the code.

 

I had a misfire and it kept calling it up even though it was not misfireing do the 20 brake pedal tap to clear it from the memory. This fixed the recall of the misfire after the original problem was fixed. Misfire CEL free ever since.

 

[QUOTE=poacherinthezoo;4560994]I wouldn't try to start it if you know it was misfiring the last time it was running (and from the sounds of it, possibly flooded now). Replaced the plugs and wires (unless you've done that already within the last 5-10k miles, in that case I would pull them and visually inspect them before ordering replacements) and test each of the ignition coils to see if they are all healthy. Remember the white spot on the ignition coils is not an indication of the coil being good or bad - it's just a discoloration, nothing more. Test the battery while your at it (just replaced mine the other day after 5 years of duty). Pull the cat off and visually inspect it to see if the mesh looks good or if its just one big melted-together mess.

I think it is flooded but I have have ordered plugs wires and coils. I'm going to attempt to try that sometime this week. My garage is not heated and I honestly have no idea what I'm doing. But I have places to go so I gotta fix this thing.

 

I just purchased my first rx8 yesterday, and it has the cats cut out and the check engine light is on. is their anyway to cut it off and does it have any power loss due to the light being on

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You can take it to an auto parts store and get the codes read for free to confirm it's the usual code for running catless, PO420, cat below efficiency.
You can disconnect the battery, use a Cobb Access port to mask it, or if you have an Android phone, you can get the Torque app and a Bluetooth OBD dongle to read codes and clear CELs.
If the CEL is just for no cat, then you probably don't have power loss, but you have to get it checked to be sure you're not having any other issues that could cause power loss.
If you have not yet done so, read the new owner stickies at the top of the new owner section.

 

Ok thanks, I will do that

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Well i got the compression results from MAZDA and the paper shows there all above 720 but that the misfires could be my coils or the wires so i already ordered new wires from BHR to see if it helps any, but i also found out that my transmission internals are getting jacked up which explains the grindage at high rpms in 3rd gear. for a brand new trans and labor will be $2800 but i wont be getting that for another few weeks.......

 

ohhh SNAPPSS!!! I miss read the description honestly my eyes saw the words " These are the very same MSD and Moroso spark plug wires that are included with the BHR Ignition Upgrade" Got to excited and bought them without reading twice........smh

 

Even the water tank head (i dont know the exact word) can pop the check engine light on actually happened to me some time before

 

It's a software issue. Mazda released a bulletin to all service advisers about the issue. You just need to schedule an appointment to get the software update. Driving with it on, will not damage your car.

 

What? Care to explain?

 

Please do..