Heres the story, I was driving home from work on a rural back road, speed limit is 25, so I was driving around in first gear at around 7k rpm, keeping it constant. I haven’t done this for about a month so I figure it’s due for a little high RPM action. Suddenly my Borla exhaust (the only mod on my car) starts sounding a little funny, like air is rushing out of it. Next thing I know I'm having a hard time keeping it at 7k rpm and the rpms are dropping due to loss of power.

So I stop, and try again, it does it again and this time the check engine light starts flashing and then goes away. At no point did the car stop, or slow down too dramatically, you could just feel it wasn’t right and was loosing its power. I decided to stop playing around and then out of curiosity I pushed it again on the highway ride home, taking it slowly to 7k rpm, and this time no problems, in fact I drove out of my way home today to test it for an extended period of time. No problems.

Should I be concerned?

 

sounds like misfire with a bit of knock retard or over temp safe mode thrown in.

 

I checked the temp on gage, which I know is pretty useless, but it looked normal. Plus it was only 45 degrees out. Maybe your right, a misfire, but it did sound like a lot of it had to do with the muffler…like a whoosing sound of air out the back, at first I thought it might have been fire (because ive seen the video ) but it wasn’t.

 

ooooh get someone to see if the code set- could be a cat problem.

 

My dealership isn't open until monday, and it's about 15 miles away. I wondering if I should drive it there, or get it towed...I don't want to do any additional damage.

 

If the CEL is on and flashing--don't drive it. If not, and it otherwise is running fine, drive it. Try reading your owners manual.

 

This just happened to me! I was pushing it on a highway, slowed down on the exit, shifted hard to 2nd gear then pushed it again. Then the CEL started blinking and I just went into cruising. After a bit it went away. No problems

 

cel blinking = bad

 

Most probable is you overheated the cat. It has a sensor and the PCM gets worried when it gets too hot. 7000 RPM and not moving fast will overheat it. You would notice a slight drop in power because the PCM switches you to "safe mode" and at 7000 RPM and 25 MPH the drop in power wouldn't be dramatic. At 60 MPH+ you would really notice it "throttle you back". It's hard to maintain 50 MPH in this state.

 

It went on again and this time it stayed on. It happened when I had just started the car and started pulling away. So I decided to take it in, thinking it would take a long time to fix, i was amazed to receive a call 3 hours after dropping it off that it had been fixed. Their diagnosis? A new flash update....

Seems hard to believe that something that was casuing the kind of problems I was having was due to a past date flash on my car. Oh well, all I can do is hope they fixed it right.

 

man, that's pretty scary man. something very similar happened to me about a couple months ago. though, when it happened to me i was passing a few people up on the freeway pulling like 8k RPMs. i looked down at my gauge cluster and saw my CEL light blinking at me. soon as it happened, i upshifted to 6th and kept the RPMs under 4k. it didn't happen anymore after that, but i think it was due to my gas cap not being securely tightened (i thought it could have been the problem after a girl brought in her mazda 3 to the dealer with her engine light flashing. turned out her problem was the gas cap wasn't on tight enough). ever since then it hasn't flashed back at me, so i'm assuming that was the problem.

 

It happened to me again... I was stuck in a lane and decided to pull into the other lane but had to gun it. Had me and 3 passengers, I don't know, it just seems this engine is tempermental and you can't push it too hard .

 

Yes, you dont know.

 

Weird... The EXACT same thing happened to me today. No other noticeable effects; just the light blinking for about 10-20 seconds. I've not seen it before or since. Hopefully it is just a cat-related issue... Guess I'll find out after I take it in next week.

 

^^^ or just tighten your gas cap ???

 

If you were at high rpm, the CEL may be signalling a misfire. Not uncommon. If the light blinked and then went out, it is not likely to be a gas cap problem. If your gas cap is not sealing the light would probably remain on until the problem is resolved. Of course, the dealer can pull the error code(s) and then you should know what the problem is.

 

Cool... Is there anything I need to do about the misfire? Do they cause any sort of damage?

 

^ every engine misfires occasionally. Wont do any damage. But if it becomes more frequent then service is required.

 

^^^What he said. If it is a misfire, the dealer will be able to tell that by pulling the error codes from the ECU. Again, if it is a misfire, they will likely replace the spark plugs, maybe update the ECU and send you on your way.

You could actually read the error codes yourself if you had a CANbus-compatible, OBDII scanner. However, they are not cheap. Do a search on the forum for Hymee to see his device.

 

*phew* Major relief. Thanks guys! (and sorry for hijacking the thread, Rupes!)

 

Old thread - but +1 for the blinking CEL...mine happened today. Downshifting from 6th to 4th, preparing to exit the freeway. Blinked 20? times...went away. I didn't feel any power loss/safe mode.

 

8000 then shifting into 6th! that's pretty fast for driving on the freeway.

Well over 100 eh?

 

RX-8s love to throw CEL's. I have been driving with one for like 3 months on and off! ahahahahaha

 

https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...3&postcount=22

beers

 

i think so. i don't remember exactly what speed 8k in 4th gear is. you're probably right, though i think it may have been faster than that

i'll find out later today and post back