I just got back from the dealer and they handed me this article from a M-tips brocehure.

The rx8 airbox and intake system is specifically designed to eliminate restriction and create a smooth airflow over the MAF. If a customer has installed an aftermarket air filter or intake system, the airflow stream to the MAF element may be disrupted and cause an improper MAF signal. An erratic signal may result in a rough idle condition. Also, some aftermarket air filter elements are coated in oil to improve air filtering. The oil coating may damage the MAF resulting in a poor idle or MIL illumination related to the MAF. If a customer complains of a rough idle, inspect the car for an aftermarket air filter or intake system and replace with factory componets.

what do you guys think?

 

I have the rough idle and was strongly considering putting back the stock filter. I'll have to go with a new exhaust to get the cool sound I want, I guess.

 

I have the K&N intake and I have noticed a rough idle very once and a while but I have to say that recently it has become few and far between.

 

I just wanted to share this info
the tech told me if anyone I would lose HP from the intake and to toss it.

 

this is getting harder and harder to mod.. im thinking ima keep it stock and sell my civic and get a WRX for moddding and daily driving

 

I know
the tech told me the intake will make me loss HP and cause damage

 

This may be correct but I would like to hear from people who have done both the exhaust and the intake. Also if you are careful and don't over oil the filter it should be fine.

 

I have exhaust and intake and I've had no problems
but the tech handed me this info and now I'm worried

 

Well Mike if you are that worried, I can modify the K&N intake pipe to the Stock Cone and box.......or something?
Maybe that will help with the ruff idle and still give it a deep sound

When do you want to do this?

 

I think BOOSTED7 has some work to do and should start testing some of these intakes on a dyno so I can read about them in an upcoming issue of RXTuner!

 

Some companies said RX-8 is going to be a favorite on the Mod list... Also it was the most MOd friendly.. i quess they were talking out of there as$... cause i thought the rx-8 would be restricted from power.. with simple bolt on i thought it would increase alot of power...

 

Not to trash the K&N intake, but this problem seems to be prevalent with this filter. I haven't heard of any problems with the RE intake or AutoExe or any others on the market. Anybody with one of the others have any idling problems??

 

does anyone even have the autoexe intake on their 8

 

you've got me... I was just tossing out names. I could name Greddy as well...

 

I've only seen k&N and Re intake

this announcement is a problem for aftermarket intakes all together not just K&N if its true

 

"Not to trash the K&N intake, but this problem seems to be prevalent with this filter."

When I bought my Tundra people were putting these on their trucks and were having all sorts of problems with the sensors. I think it was the MAP sensor. They had idle problems and the gas mileage went down and the performance went down. Save your money and get a proven product. I think most intakes are well designed for every day driving. If it was that simple to get hugh improvements they would already done it.

 

I have the Rotary Extreme Intake installed, and I haven't noticed any rough idling, except in the morning when I first start the car, the first 30 sec of idling seems a bit eratic. The engine idles around 2K - 2 1/2K for 30 sec, But afterwards the idle drops down to normal (1K) when the car is somewhat warm, everything seems fine. And throughout the day, everything is fine as well - no rough idling. As far as losing HP (according to the tech), I haven't dyno the car so I wouldn't know, but if it does (which I don't think so), prolly a few?

 

Not to question anyone's installation, but did you disconnect the battery before installation? The ECU then resets itself to the new intake/airflow. Might cure the rough idle for some?

BTW, mikeb I wouldn't worry about the K&N "damaging" your 8. I would agree, though, that it *might* be robbing HP (low end rpm) with it.

 

mikeb...

well if I was Mazda, I'd put out a general warning about all intakes. That's really the safest route. To specify one, means to test them all and then name which are ok and which are bad... which then means you are supporting one aftermarket product or another. So as you can see... a blanket statement just works better.

SO. This means our homework is to figure out if it is only K&N...which there have been some complaints on the forum about, OR if this really does apply to them all. I'd like to think that with everything that Greddy makes that theirs is ok and as far as AutoExe goes... Mazda dealerships (which are maker owned in Japan) sell and install their products. So I'd like to think they also know what they are doing as well.

 

OK first of all the RX-8 uses a MAF system with a very well tuned intake from the factory. The older rotaries (3rd gen RX-7 excluded) as well as many other cars used an air flow meter. These things killed power. Cone filters on the 2nd gen RX-7's didn't hardly do crap either. Don't mention that on the RX-7 forum though. I've had 2 of them(1 turbo and 1 n/a) so I can verify this. Many cars that do get gains from a simple filter also come equipped with really crappy intake systems. Of course they'll get gains. Even other cars that also use a MAF typically don't have a very nicely designed tuned intake. Mazda spent lots of time in developing a Helmholtz tuned system. Sure it gets a couple (read a few) less horsepower than the aftermarket systems. They also design them to be quiet. Even though the power is very comparable, the total intake area into the stock airbox is smaller than the MAF or the throttlebody. Through good tuning they designed a system that can get nearly as much power but with less total area. That's a pretty good system. If they would tune it with a larger intake area, it would be untouchable.

The exhaust is also not that restrictive to begin with so gains will be few there as well. There are a few cars out there that get good gains from an aftermarket exhaust but this is because the worthless pile of pipes connected to their engines from the factory sucks really bad. This is bad engineering so why does the manufacturer always get crdit for a good car? This confuses me. When someone designs an exhaust system that can compensate for the damn siamesed center port, we'll see some fantastic gains. This was one of the Renesis design lowpoints and the engine still makes tons more power than the older rotaries.

A simple ecu retuning (bolt on) will yield upwards of 20+ hp. Bolt on's can do good. Why do people always buy a vehicle because it has aftermarket potential? A Civic has tons of aftermarket products but not much potential compared to other cars. That is a losing proposition to me. The RX-8 is also so new that there hasn't been enough time to get all of the mods to market yet let alone develop them properly. Anyone can make a new exhaust or cone filter system. Not everyone can develop a product that works very well.

 

I went to my mechanic and asked him questions about tuning the 8. He said that he had heard that the 8 was bad out of the box. The price for the punch of alot of mods are just that Pricey. And the performance gaines not worth the price. plus you could only take advantage of the mods on a track (Mainly suspension). The only viable mod would be an ECU mod. I am not trashing anyone that wants to mod, because I am right there salivating at all of it, but this just goes to show what a complete car we have purchased. The stock 8 rocks.

max

 

Well if we can't mod the 8 like we really want to, then its body kits and rims all the way! I can deal with that. I think. Lets hope more tuners spend more time and research, and come up with something good in the future!

 

yea in other threads, people were saying that canzoomer stage 1 was having trouble with the K&N intake. wait alittle while till the spring and i am sure there will be more of a selection for intakes. the car is still rather new but there are more and more mods coming out every day

 

I second this.

 

well, I'm keeping my K&N intake on the 8
I've had it for over a month with no problems