Smoke in cabin, Loss of Power (dah!)
 

SO i was driving my '09 RX R3 when all of the sudden i got a decrease in power - like something obvious maybe a fouled spark plug, a bad coil, etc. I quickly pulled over and cut it off. Cranked it back up and it ran fine for a couple of minutes but then again. CEL on so I read the "miss fire 1" code. I figured it was time to change plugs, wires, and coils - so i purchased it all. To do the work i drove it to a nearby DIY garage. I was going slow with what i felt was half power - but i wasn't pushing it. It was about a 2 mile drive. As I get over there i started smelling something and stopped the car right away popped the hood - I saw smoke coming from the back of the engine area and inside the cabin from the seams around the arm rest and rear storage compartment. I letthings cool off for a few minutes and the engine cranked just fine - but still obviously CEL on.

So the mechanic next to my bay said that most likely the engine is blown. I mentioned that it started just fine (assuming blown engines dont start right away due to lack of compression) but he said that the seal sealed but then when warm it loses compression. I ran out of time so I dint even start the plugs and coil change.

Any thougts?

Sounds plausible. I'm no expert, but that's why hot start problems are a symptom of bad compression.
You need a compression test.
Another possibility is a clogged cat.
Might be a good idea to inspect it.

ugh!
of course the engine just went over 100k...

The engine may well be bad, but that doesn't seem like your biggest problem at all.

Lets see, the engine connects to the transmission at the back of the engine, the transmission runs under the center console...hmmm..... If you had anything physically coming up through the center console your transmission is likely very thoroughly f'ed up.

Do not replace the engine until someone with sense figures out what the actual problem is. Any idiot with a computer can look up "RX-8 problem" on the internet and come up with hundreds of engine failures, and assume that that's the only problem. No matter what you seem pretty screwed as those are two of the three most expensive replaceable parts on the 8, and one or the other is most definitely wrecked.

Well - so far so good... I changed the plugs and coils and the car is running perfect. Hopefully that's all it was.

Great DIY instructions on this site.

Thanks.

Since you had both a misfire code and "smoke" of some sort in the cabin, it would be prudent to drop the cat and check it before running the engine anymore. Better safe than to have the car burn to the ground.

I hear you - cause i think the smoke was just from a fuel rich mixture. Ive never touched the cat - what do you mean by "checking it" ? unbolt it and look at it for deposits...?

Unbolt & remove the cat completely.
Check to see if the strata is broken up, empty, melted, or clogged.
If the strata is intact, shine a light through it.
If it is empty, or just little pieces left, the catback exhaust could be clogged, you'd have to remove all of it & try to shake it out to be sure.
If just the front half is broken up, but the back half is not, then just the converter needs to be replaced.

^^^ What he said.


Here are some pictures of failed catalytic converts to help you out:

Posts #9 and #14 here: https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tro...-fails-110363/

Post #5 here (also some potential leads as to what it was that was creating the smoke): https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-tro...xhaust-228889/

Muchas Thanks guys!

Sound advice about the cat. Your car sounds like it has exactly the same fault as mine. I got smoke up the back of the engine and cabin which is from molten plastic around the cat, my whole cat looked like lava.

For a long while my car was getting warm around the cup holder and I thought maybe I hadn't noticed it and it had always been that way.

Mine was caused by a loose plug lead allowing unspent fuel into the exhaust system.

Anyone help with my similar problem?. I have 2005 53k miles. I do 4000 miles yr.

Over the past year and a half :
Loose afterburner plug lead until it was noticed on a service
Changed plug, leads.
During this time the car got slightly Slow at starting up. An extra turn or two.
Another 3000-4000 miles it did with no problems. Still slow starting but not getting any worse or better. I started to assume possible low compression.

Then last week it started idling badly, like a misfire, car was shaking. No power. After a few restarts, the car started smelling of burn, I noticed oil pressure was 0 and engine warning light was on so switched off.

A friend thought I might have overfilled oil as I had filled it just before the fault so he thought could had a blocked exhaust so disconnected the exhaust. No change.
Then stripped down the air intake, cleaned it and got good access to the plugs where one seemed loose. Put everything back.
Car started ok and ran almost perfectly. Thought he had cracked it, it was a little slow on pickup perhaps so he advised to keep steady revs at 3000rpm to burn off carbon and heat things up. Suddenly the engine cut after approx 5 min.
Tried to restart and it wasn't having it - similar to a flooded engine so I kept putting foot down fuel starve and after 10-15 attempts it kicked up.
This time is had gone back to sounding bad and no power - putting my foot down would take several seconds to rev to 5000. Held the revs at 4000 for a couple of minutes when suddenly got smoke from back of engine bay and in cabin. Underneath the cat was glowing and grey molten plastic dripping down from it.

Any ideas on where to start?

Think gut your cat..double check your plugs and wires..the plastic I think is from the body seal spray they use...it comes black an dark gray..its like a rubberised spray I think

Hi I have the exact same problem today
change the plugs and coils can helps?