Car is turning off at red lights. Engine light on help plz
 

Its a 2004 AT 4 speed. I have a cold air intake on it and no resonator. nothing more. My check engine light is on and at low rpm for example when im stopped at a red light my rpm is wayy too low and it turns off. I pumped gas 3 days ago i turned on my car and it just turned off. Whats happening!!!

Call your local auto parts store and see if they will get your CEL code and give you some ideas.

whats a CEL code?

try this.... get a bottle of fuel injector cleaner. throw it in a near empty tank... fill up the tank and drive it around a little....

most likely its a loose vacuum line...

again... auto zone... pep boys ... etc... will use a code reader on your car for free.

when your car triggers a CEL, theres a code that goes with it than can be referenced. thats how mazda and other dealers know what the problem is with the car before they work on it. im not sure how you can get it checked though without mazda doing it.

Go to auto zone and ask for a CEL read, how is the car driving? Any lose of power?

not really power is there. Actually preety good too. Except under 3k rpm its weak. And if i rev to like 4k or 5k and let go my rpm goes to like 200-400 and i feel like its going to turn off but then it goes to like 750 rpm and Idles. I'll go to pep boys and ask for a CEL read.

its turned off on me about 6 times. once a day.

i suggest a compression test.. it is an 04 auto unfortunately

taking it to mechanic tomorrow. unfortunately i know its my fault because every second Im redlining and shifting between 1 and 2. I love this car but it has high maintanance and I gota relax with gasing it so much.

also wen i rev slowllyyyy up to 6000 its like it hit redline. i dont know why. but if i rev with the pedal all the way pushed its fine. goes to 8.

but that's when engine light is on. Another problem is it doesn't start good. takes a good 3 seconds.

it's not your fault, its GOOD that you drive the car that way... that's the way its MEANT to be driven.

Unfortunately though the 2004 4 port automatic engine was the one with arguably the highest number of failures and replacements. It could just be that your engine needs to be replaced in which case it should be free due to the extended warranty. If you search the forums you will see COUNTLESS cases of the engine dying at a stop light or while idling and you can read what happens with them.

thank you so much for saying that lol i always thought nothing would happen to my engine and kept saying the same thing. Its MEANT to be driven like this. but then it happens. Do all the rx8s have that warranty? and what does it cover?

Back in August, my car started having that problem. After I drove it for a mile and it started to warm up, it would die at idle (04 MT 47k mi.). The dealer said that 2 of the lobes on one of the rotors had very low compression and the engine needed to be replaced. It was covered under the Extended Drivetrain Warranty (5y/60k mi).
The engine ran pretty good while it was cold. The first time it happened, I replaced the plugs and one suspect coil. The engine seemed to run better. I also found a lot of oil in the intake.
A rotary engine is meant to be driven hard. It keeps the carbon from building up. Remember "A redline a day, keeps the carbon away." Carbon is what jams up and wears out the apex, corner and side seals on the rotor.

compression test you may be entering the new engine club......get the code read see what it is and i reccommend a compression test asap

I so hope i get a new engine. i did a CEL test today it gave like 3 or 4 different problems. one was with the cat. one said I'm "misfiring". one said I'm running too rich. other said spark plugs.

well the only way to know if you need ot get a new engine is go get a compression test.....

I have an appointment at mazda on Monday. Any ideas what to say to them? Do I just say I need a compression test? I only have the warranty left on the engine.

tell them what your problem is that it is shutting off etc etc and see what they say....they most likely say u need a compression test...just talk to them and see what you all can figure out!

air intake....mass flow issue....running too rich is my guess....

exactly what the CEL test said. running too rich. Now I'm not sure about taking it to mazda tomorrow. Is it bad if i have mass flow? would it mess anything up?

I went to the "DIY" section and learned how to clean it. It's really very easy....takes five minutes from when you open the hood.

My car was doing the exact same thing before the engine quit.

Does mazda still cover it after the engine quits? did it cover for you?