Kane

iTrader: (1)

Possible - my car would not hold an idle with the brake booster line disconnected (I was seafoaming).... once I reconnected it all was well.

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

When the MAF is out of it's norm. It will seem like a blown engine. Ray and I had an experience in Las Vegas where my MAF went out of range. Well it wasn't pretty.
It wouldn't be that hard to swap a MAF out and check it.

Mazurfer

We may just do that this Saturday. Think I'll take some contact cleaner this time and give it a clean while we have the intake tube off.

zoom44

i should move this to the tech area.....

Bastage

iTrader: (1)

Do it, to my knowledge she's not going to sell her car, since it's definitely not the engine and hopefully an inexpensive fix

Mazurfer

Yes sir......please do. I don't think she'd mind.......and we might wanna change the title.
I suggested it somewhere above after we got back and gave results and started asking for help/opinions.

Dave

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

So what happened? Awful quite here.

Mazurfer

We have lives, families, and jobs.
Bastage and I have tentative plans to go for round two on Saturday.
Developing plan of action, etc.
Stay tuned.

Easy_E1

iTrader: (2)

That's kinda what I thought. Keep us posted.




No pun was injured in the making of the previous post.

Mazurfer

Round two............coming up today at 11:00am..........wish us luck!

Think the plan will be: (but must see if Bastage can think of anything else).

1.) Get the intake squared away and fix those hose connections.

2.) While intake is off, clean the MAF.

3.) Look into the throttle body and check to see if valve is stuck and/or free to operate smoothly. Might have to initially do this and then look while cranked?

4.) See if that fan was really turning......obstructed......or burned out.

5.) Hook up the scangauge again and see if any codes are present.

6.) Probably have to go through the de-flood yet again.

7.) Try to get it cranked and see what idle does this time? Do we still need to keep it floored in order to even idle?

8.) Try to get some kind of a guage on there and try to at least do some form of a compression check.

Then will go from there. Thinking if it still won't idle, then may have to pull the cat off and see what happens?????

The good data on what's been done starts at this post and below:

https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...22037#poststop





Any other ideas?
Not taking my laptop today, but they have internet at the house, so I might check in while over there if no luck and see if anyone left and idea(s).

mysql

Hi Rachel, I'm going to send you a PM. I know someone who's looking for a RX-8 with a blown engine (He's doing a 20b install). So if you're still interested in getting rid of it and the engine turns out to be non functional, please give him a call.

Kane

iTrader: (1)

Check the Throttle Position on the Scangauge.... make sure it moves with the pedal.

04RX8man

damn if i wouldhave seen this before today i would have gladly lended a hand today...It also sound like an air problem....unmetered air will make this and any car run like hell!...hopefully yall get it figured out

Rachlayyy8

Its fixed!!!Its fixed!!!Its fixed!!!
The guys are my angels!!! They fixed my car and i no longer have to get rid of it!!!

Thank you!!! Thank you!!! Thank you!!!

Kane

iTrader: (1)

What was it?

Rachlayyy8

hahaha no clue youll have to wait for the guys to say it because they keep saying oh maybe it was this or that, lol...sooo well have to wait :]

Mazurfer

Full report coming.
Bastage and I stopped for a late lunch at the best damn Puerto Rican restaurant this side of Rincon PR!.
I just got home, put all tools away, got rid of a what seemed to be a gallon of Dr. Pepper,and took a shower.
I'll be typing up what we did and one or two small questions for everyone right now!

While I'm conservative by nature...........................

Victory sure tastes sweet!

Bastage

iTrader: (1)

I just got home. Pictures and videos to follow.

Mazurfer

Okay................here we go.

First started by simply hooking in the scangauge and turning on the car(not starting). Remember we couldn't restart it last weekend after limping(severely) back into the driveway. No CEL present and scangauge was clean(no codes).

We knew we had to do something with the intake situation so we pulled out the air box, took off the accordion tube. Since some of the plastic hose connectors were broken off and apparently welded to the holes in the tube, it took screwdrivers and prying to break those pieces up enough to get them all out. Bastage had brought two elbows from his old intake, so we replaced those.

While everything was out, I took out the MAF and cleaned it with contact cleaner.
Spray only.............no rubbing. While I was at it, I sprayed some on both sides of the MAF connector(The MAF side and wire side).

Reinstalled MAF, intake tube, connected all hoses, put intake box back in. Oh.......before that I did spin both fans by hand to make sure no obstructions(There were none). Looked around at a few of the other harnesses, but really didn't mess or clean any.

We already had the wheel off and car was on jack stands, and we decided to go ahead and pull the plugs again at this point and go for the de-flood again........just in case. Pulled the fuel relay and Bastage turned the car over twice........no more. About ten seconds each time. I was looking at the plug holes and saw no smoke, no spits, no drippage like last time.

At this point we decided that since it was already on the stands, we would pull the cat. We actually didn't pull the cat, we just un-did it at the front three bolts and taking off the mid-brace, we were able to just let it kinda hang down a little bit. We decided this because we wanted unrestricted exhaust flow. While it was hanging there, we kinda shook it and also peered inside where I was surprised that it looked really clean, almost like looking at a shiny screen, not tears, no holes. Not ever seeing the inside of a cat before and for 146k miles, I believe this is not the original cat???? Anyway, it looked good to both of us.

Okay, cat hanging, re-install plugs and get the order right. Wires on.....yep. Nothing left but to try it.

Car started right away(no gas pedal) and idled on it's own. I slapped the fuel relay in and Bastage began to cycle through the scangauge to see if any codes............again there were none. Worked the accelerator and was responsive, verified that with scangauge..........why......I don't know, but all was fine. Looked at other parameters and all were as you would expect.

At this point we shut it down. Climbed back under and reconnected the cat. Once done, we fired it back up, and once again it idled on it's own, sounded fine, and while Bastage ran through the scangauge again, I re-installed the wheel and brought it to the ground.

Bastage and Rachael took it for the first drive and as soon as he put it in reverse it was apparent that we was gonna beat the **** out of the top end we saw last time( a blistering 3mph). Anyway.............off they went and it appeared to be running fine. Five or ten minutes later the were back, pulled into the driveway and he reported still no CEL or codes. Bastage commented that he heard some rattling at about 5k rpm(in second....I think) and would go away after that. He wanted me to hear it, so I jumped in and drove and I think he actually recorded some video so you guy could hear it.

So..............as we are going down the road, It would rattle a little bit at that rpm right before the shift to third. I wouldn't do it all the time and might have been how much I was on the throttle. But then other times I was on it, it wouldn't????
Well............we were in city limits and took it kinda on a back street and let's just say that we took it from a stop with the accelerator to the floor and took it through at least the first three gears............in drive, not manual shifting. I mean I just mashed it to the floor and let it do it's thing. I know I more than tripled the speed limit for the road we were on................shhhhhhhhhhhhhh....it had to be done!
I did this several times and also played the the accelerator at other times, just to see how responsive it was. After one of these spirited runs and numerous other times, I would consult the scangauge and no codes. No CEL on dash either. It's an auto, but it felt okay with me. At one point Bastage used the word can in a sentence............and I said "Hey..........marbles in a can" Maybe that's what we are hearing? I've never heard it, but Bastage then said....."yep, I've heard it and I believe that's what it is.

Anyway..............we get back to the house and all is good. Still no codes or CEL.
We shut it off and begin to school Rachael and her mom about rotary do's and dont's.

While talking, we actually added some oil(topped if off), checked the coolant level(see question below), and did a couple more small items.

So................we believe all is good now. I'm not sure how it initially got flooded, and I don't know when in her process of debug the intake elbows go broken, but all appears to be good now!

We made her promise to download the manual and read it, check the oil every two fill-ups, never shut it down cold, wash the car(maybe claybar) and then take pics and out them in this thread. Oh.............and get some new brake pads!!!!!!!

Okay, just a few questions:

1.) While both fans would operate, the temps on the scangauge read about 209 before the 2nd fan would come on. Is that a little high? We never saw anything over 213 and that was only a short time. At one time she did have a coolant leak in this car and after fixing they filled it up with something(but we couldn't read the label), it was a white bottle. I know we are supposed to use FL-22, but do you guys think she should get that other stuff out of there and get the correct stuff? What was in there wasn't like Prestone green, it looked more like washer fluid type very diluted blue.

2.) I can't remember the other question right now! I may have to edit this in a few. Oh, it was the marbles in a can question............does that sound about the right rpm for those getting it? I know it doesn't hurt the car. but is there a cure?

Damn...what a book I just wrote!

Anyway, the car seems to run okay, and acts and sounds like it should. For 146k miles it's doing pretty good. She wanted to leave the cat off, we said "No".

Bastage will be adding some pics from the day here at some point........I believe. If I missed anything, I'm sure he can fill in. Oh............and his car is wicked quick and fast! I'd ridden in it before, but it's even faster now!

Thanks to all for all of your input! It really did help!

04RX8man

CONGRATS...glad to see it's running fine! 150k miles and still running like a champ....(after some TLC of course)

cjkim

great job guys.
146k miles and still running!
now get her to premix! i have that marble sound when im not premixing... dunno if it's actually related, but i swear it helps.

Kane

iTrader: (1)

Marbles in a can; bad fuel? Can you flush it and refill?

Mazurfer

So here is what I believe, although I'll never be sure.

I don't know the cause of the original no start over a month ago, but it could have
been the tag light that they had to wire directly to the battery after she got stopped for no tag light. She didn't even have the plastic socket holder back there, so they had to get something, mount it there and then ran a wire all the way to the battery. This never shut off, so it could have just drained the battery and when they first tried to start it after that, is when the initial flooding occurred. I now know the timing of the above was incorrect, Rach confirmed the did this AFTER the car wouldn't start.

Then as they debugged.......plugs, coils, and wires, it just never got de-flooded or even worsened it. Then during the course of all that is when the air hose broke.

Enter Bastage and I. We got it de-flooded after many attempts, and started................but then we were either handicapped by a dirty MAF, the connections, or the broken air line...........or all three. Oh.....and her tag light is no wired into the fuse box and I think we put it on the ACC circuit. I know it's off when the car is off! That's all we cared about!

Mazurfer

Good call Kane. We discussed that actually I think she's been running 87 and we advised her to step up at least to 91. I'll re-affirm that with her. She could try 89, but why...really.....gas has come down.
I don't care..........mine sees nothing but 93.

Mazurfer

We were scared after possibly getting her hopes up. I just couldn't see how that mechanic said she had no compression, need a new motor. and he never started it! WTF???????????????