Does your RX8 do this?
 

Ok, I have a 04 with the original engine (didnt need a new engine). After a good rev or driving for a while and coming to a stoplight, the RPMs will fall to about 500 and my car will idle rough for like a second then itll go right back up to the normal 750-800RPM range. ITs always done this but lately its been more evident and Im worried about it because my warranty goes up in 2000 miles and I have an original engine! I have no loss of power what-so-ever just a bizarre idle drop for a second when I come to a stop. Next time you guys take your cars out, I would appreciate if you observe and see if yours does this too. Thanks alot

oh, and my dealership says its normal! should have said that before

i dont think its normal, but it sounds like a vacuum problem possibly.

just complain more and say you want something done about it. Say you feel like you're getting brushed off until you're out of warranty.

thats exactly what happened to my car

it starts off like that, now the coils are dead..............

I would definitely complain - you've either got an electrical gremlin or some sort of vaccuum leak that will only get worse most likely.

If the dealer gives you the "they all do this" shit, then insist they take you for a ride in another car and show you that "it does this". That's what it took for me to get my driver's seat fixed, which creaked like an old coffin lid.

Go back, tell them that it stalled in traffic and that you think it's a safety hazard. That'll get them off the dime.

mine did the same thing, just put one of the screens back in the intake, preferably the one closest to the MAF

When I needed a new engine mine would keep going up and down until I started moving again.

If it only does it once I don't think it's anything to really worry about. My Trans Am did that when I came to a stop and it was a great car...Then again it was a piston engine? Not sure if that would make it any less normal for a rotary or not, but that's my 2 cents.

MNAO don't care that it's a safety issue! I already tried that. They are aware of the problems but they don't know how to fix it. The dealers & MNAO are only addressing the slow/no start issues at this time. Yeah I got screwed too on this matter!

mine has been doing this for quite some time now.

i'm feeling the need to change out my coils. i'm on the originals and have been doing auto-x and pca.

That's definitely NOT normal, and mine doesn't do it.

no my rx8 doesn't do that

Nope, on mine revs stay at about 1000-1200rpm coming to a stop with clutch in. Idles normally in neutral with clutch out at light.

nope, not normal, could be a bad sign too. i have an '04 also, never noticed it before -- it has always been sort of a rough idle, but at least constant at 750-800rpms -- over the summer, it started doing that -drop to 500 and then kick back up to 750- a couple times.

THEN ... it stalled at a red light, immediately cranked back over.

THEN ... it stalled again (about a month after the first time) and immediately cranked back over.

NOW ... as of friday, it had power loss in 1st and 2nd gear while driving!! flooring the car and feeling like i was driving a civic, just no power at all but it was still going. i'm taking it in tomorrow - could be coils, cat, blown engine, whatever, but what you're experiencing is the precursor for bad news.

try to keep the mileage down -- i'm at 46k so i'm close to end of warranty too, but my lease is up in january. anyway, keep mileage down and wait it out, it should get worse and hopefully it'll happen within your warranty. all of this happened within 1000 miles and about 4 months for me. up until then the car was spot on, no problems.

well i would say take it into the dealer, have them run a diagnosis

if u still have warranty, go to the dealer

mine is just a simple case of dead coils.......I don't know about you.........

but wells, the coils are 100$ so save as much as you can

i've heard it would probably be coils, 2nd maybe cat.

i was going to buy out the lease, now i don't think i will! is there anyway to "tell" if coils are it? I mean, say my probably is the coils, they replace them under warranty and i'm good to go, then in 5000 miles when i'm out of warranty the engine DOES go out. i guess i'd be sol.

i guess my question is, if my problem right now is bad coils, is there a chance or anyway to tell if anything else is wrong too??

side note: anyone know how much the extended warranty is and what it covers?

Mine will do this from time to time. More when its hot out.

You need to have your engine compression checked or alteast the engine vacuum. My 91 auto would do that and it was do to the engine not being lubricated enough from the Electronic OMP...sound familiar. In my case, it wasn't sealing enough and the engine would die like that. It will get to a point that the car will be hard to start and will do that more often.

I wondered what the wear effect would be on cars that had mileage before the ECU was reflashed for more oil being injected by the OMP. Car would still pass the vacuum test mazda had for the recall but a car with 25K of insufficient lubrication was equivalent to what of normal wear? 50K, 40K, etc. Luckily we've pre-mixed with my wife's RX-8 when we bought it but haven't since the reflash of her car.

Not normal. It may be just a small thing. Check plugs, coils, & wires.

well get a compression test if ur worried, I did......my compression came back good

and easy way to test coils is take them out, look at the bottom, if there are burnt marks or white spots, more than likely, its either dead or dying

all 4 of mine had white marks, and one had a huge burnt mark at the bottom..........

good advice guys. thanks. i'll hopefully be taking it in tomorrow. i'll let them know what's been going on and try to check the coils and get a compression test. hopefully it is just something small. i love this car! hate to get rid of it, but may need more space anyway for my business. wish i had the money to get the hatchback AND keep the 8!!

i live in austin, and when the drop in revs at idle started, it was summer, and it was hot (at least 90 to 95+). the recent loss in power while driving it was not hot out, that was my first real clue to get it checked out. the rough idle didn't really bother me or concern me until now.

Mine has started doing this from time to time as well. Only 6k on the car though. Started I think after I put my K&N V2 in. Could it be the vacuum leak? It was worrying me as well actually, but figured it was semi normal.

My '05 with 5K on it does something similar. Very slightly. ECU is doing its job keeping the idle correct. Other cars have done almost same thing. I'm not concerned... yet.

mines been doing it since ive owned it, its just been worse lately. I tried to have another compression test ran but they wanted to charge me for it. My car is going in sometime this week because im getting a new oil pump under warranty since mine is leaking like a bat out of hell

well maybe thats it, but make sure you have at least 1 screen in you intake, when both my screens were out, my idle was faulty, but then with one in, she purrs

I got one screen and a k & N filter, my car did this when i had a stock filter and both screens, its been doing it for 38K miles now, only in the summer, and even now the last couple times I took it out it hasnt been doing it, probably because its cold ( 38-55 degrees)

Mine AT 04 did this several times then stopped, several weeks later, I'm waiting on a new engine to be installed. NOt sure if the two are related, but considering I've failed a compression test (which leads to my needing a new engine). I wouldn't be surprised.

Good luck with this.

well, LOL, its been ok for 38k miles, I guess I'll just have to see what happens, and check my coils

Mine happend at around 19k miles, just cause you have miles on your car doesn't make it immune from the killer rx-8 plague :p

yea no kidding, LOL.

posted this in a new thread, but just in case some didn't see it ... i got my car back from the dealer, all the tests resulted in good to high results. passed compression test, tested for misfires (coils), and tested cat, all good. i know i didn't imagine the power loss, so i'm just going to keep an eye on it the next couple weeks and see if it happens again. looks i'm following in shini's footsteps - must be a tx thing :lol2:

let's hope i just got a batch of bad gasoline ...... riiiiight ...... :icon_bs:

Just start using a higher octaine and keep your fingers crossed ;)

If it's a problem with the engine it'll happen again. More than likely was just the hot weather. It happens :doh: - Thankfully its starting to cool down...finally!

no doubt! the problems started since i've been in austin, and since i've been here i've only gotten valero, so maybe i should NOT get valero anymore!!

i'm trying to tell my girlfriend (from california -- 1st time living in tx) that it WILL get cold at some point. only in tx in november is it still in the 80s! i'm just hoping the "power train" warranty WILL cover the entire engine for another 14 months so i can keep the 8.

I have no idea about that.

But yeah, it's getting pretty cold at night now so it should start to cool off during the day time aswell.

Hopefully we'll get lucky this year and get some snow :) Seems to only come every other year or so and we got a decent amount of it last year...

Mine also is doing that ... normally idles around 1000-1200 and sometimes drops down to ~600 at a stop. Stalled today when I was pulling out of a drivethru' but it might have been my fault. Started up fine. Noticed it at 600 at a few stops. Now you got me worried but I'll watch it for a while. Only 4000 kM, '07.

i wouldn't we worried. although it can happen to any engine, it seems the majority of issues are with the '04s. def keep an eye on it, but keep in mind the rotary's idle is always a little twitchy. i originally named my car 2 tone (i always wanted red/black interior in a car), but i think i'm changing it's name to twitch for that reason. i kinda like the rough idle, makes me feel like the car is uber-powerful (ha ha). seems a lot of cars have a rough idle withOUT having real engine problems.

it wasn't until over 45k that it started the random stall/power loss. fyi, the stalls i am (we?) talking about are at a DEAD stop, i.e. not while trying to start off ... just sitting there, in neutral, and all of a sudden it dies. if yours stalled when you were "pulling out of a drivethru" it probably was just a driver stall.

usually those ones with a rough idle and high power either have a cam or an incorrectly tuned car...

mine idles pretty rough, but not terrible, it stays at the same rpms and just gives off little vibrations, I think its just because I took out one of those screens and I have a K & N filter and I probably need some new engine mounts!! lol. 50K miles and alot of redlines!!

Oh boy, now I'm worrying about this. Yesterday when I fired mine up after coming out of the gym, the engine was still warm, it fired right up but the rpms immediatly dropped below 750(it very rarely does that), sat there for a split second and climbed back up to 750, sat there for another 5 seconds, and rose to 1000. Does that sound bad? It oscillates(not constantly) between 750 and 1000 regularly.


BTW, I have an 05 with 27k miles

well, from my understanding so far, its normal to an extent and happens in warm weather.

About the screen(s) in the intake ... I know nothing about this. I have the MS intake and don't know what's inside. I think I will go to the dealer next couple of days and ask some questions. I was watching it like a hawk today. Obviously, when it's cold it stays somewhere in the 12-1500 area. When the engines warmed up (even though it's cold here in London, Ont.), it hovers around 800 (normal) but occassionally dips down to maybe 600 and bounces back up. Not a lot, just sometimes. But I'll keep watching. No stalling yet except driver error the other day. And that was when I was at an Arby's drivethru and the cashier just finished praizing the car ... and I go and stall it. Felt pretty foolish.

wow, I'm actually glad to hear that mines not the only one that does this, I just hope were not all screwed!

I am having this problem too.. big time. Dealer doesnt seem to think there is an issue now, first saying I needed a new engine and now I dont....
https://www.rx8club.com/canada-forum-35/another-member-new-engine-club-127685/

I have an 05 GT with 39k. It's happened to me a few times (less than 10) at start up or when I had to make a quick stop. I changed my plugs and wires at 32k so I doubt if they are the issue. I do have a custom CAI with one screen but have never had any problems with the current setup. I plan on cleaning the MAF sensor tomorrow....havent cleaned it in about 4-5 mos.

BTW I met another 8 owner in the local area who has been having problems with his used 05 since he bought it last year. The local dealership he bought it from told this guy Mazda was planning to pull all RX8's off the road due to the issues they are having.....I almost laughed in his face. I told him to research the lemon law and take the car back cause the dealer knew something was wrong with it before they sold it to him. I almost bought the car he now owns but the sales manager was trying to rip me off....wanted $26,999 in June 06 for an 05 GT. When this guy bought the car later that year the dealer was asking $23,999 for it. He ended up paying a little over $18,000 out the door.....that would have been a red flag for me especially on a used one with that mileage. To go from $26,999 to high 18's out the door on a 05 GT with 12k...they knew something was wrong.