Thanks for the insight. I'm going to see if this dyno sheet is reason enough for the dealership to take a look at it.

 

They won't care.
If you show them a dyno sheet, you will get one of three possible reactions:

1) "Oooh, look! Its running. That's normal."
2) "You were 'racing' and took your car to high RPMs. This violates your warranty."
3) "Grrr! Sweet, delicious PAPER!"

 

Ya that's what I'm afraid of but I was thinking I could play it dumb and simply complain about a lack of power. If my problem could be fixed with the Mazsport coils I would consider buying them but if I'm having a problem with ports opening then that is a little over my head.

 

Thanks MM.

gtwr: I've seen this before when a cat. is plugged. I see the two dips when the intake runners open and it looks like it's not breathing well at top end. I tell your dealer you've been hearing that the cat. converters on these cars have been melting and clogging up. You'll want them to physically unbolt the cat. and look inside. It can get clogged without setting off a CEL if the back half of the element is melted after the O2 sensor. Don't let them tell you it would throw a CEL if it were bad because that's not always true.

It's also a good idea to replace the coils if you haven't anyway.

 

I setup an appointment at the dealership for Wednesday. I don't think the service guy had any idea what I was talking about as he asked "when does it happen?" I just said "always." I'm going to write a short letter to the mechanic to help explain it.

Oh, and I had been talking to the manager first (good guy) and I said I suspected it could be a partially clogged cat. His response was "could the Greddy exhaust have anything to do with it?" "No!" said I. I think the worst that could happen in this case is they decide they can't find anything wrong. Should my warranty be voided I think I'll just buy a turbo kit. :P

 

**** me! These people don't work unless there's a check engine light. I brought it in and left it with them, explained (in a letter) what was wrong and attached the dyno chart to illustrate what I was saying, and they just said there's nothing wrong because there's no CEL. I was apparently under the wrong impression that if you say something's wrong and show proof, they should poke around at the usual suspects to check for anything wrong.

I called another dealership to book an appointment about hard starts (which I get occasionally) and the service guy said if there's no CEL they can't help me.

 

Most of the cars that failed the recall don't get a CEL.
Hell, I accidentally turned my E-Manage off while I was driving (which disconnects a bunch of really important things from the PCM, which should **** it off) and didn't get a CEL.

 

Unfortunate for me. I'm not sure what to do now... If it's the cat do I take it off myself and bring it in to show them? Should I buy Mazsport coils? I wouldn't mind so much if this weren't a lease.

 

Tell them to specifically unbolt the cat. and look inside to verify that it's plugged or not. You'd be willing to pay them for their time if there's nothing wrong right? WTF??

Ask them if you'll get a cell when the shocks are dead or you flood your engine or when compression is low as in the recall to replace the motor? If the answer is no then maybe there is a chance there is something wrong with the car that doesn't necessarily set off the CEL and they need to get off their asses and do some work!!

 

I'm afraid that the major problem with getting a dealership to work on the RX-8 is that they don't have a clue about how they work...and unless you get an old rotor head mechanic that liked the rotary....none of the mechanics want to learn

Just my 2 cents.....

 

That's actually a pretty good idea Shaun. Question though... as I've never looked through a cat, what should a functioning one look like? Is it a honeycomb that I should be able to see light through? If it isn't the cat and it turns out to be an intake port this could get expensive.

 

Here's a thread with some good info. Same problem you're experiencing.

PM DMP. I think he has some pictures.

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-trouble-shooting-95/saga-bad-cat-mazdas-inaction-110322/

 

dealerships represent everything that's wrong with America ...

 

The Mustang dyno graph is finally posted at the Cobb Tuning AccessPort thread link below.

The numbers are slightly different than what I recalled:

https://www.rx8club.com/showpost.php...&postcount=414

 

What mods did you have when that was done? if you don't mind my asking.

 

Those "dips" have re-appeared.

 

very nice numbers indeed . Interesting how the torque peak rpm has moved .....

 

... and without any low rpm loss

 

We didn't have time to try and work through them. The intake flow changed considerably between the previous dyno graph and this one. Enough to change the AFRs to the high 14s (14.7 AFR @ 8500 rpm/WOT makes me a bit nervous ), which is why I asked them to accommodate me on the dyno again and dial it back to a safer low 13s range.

 

Pretty impressive when compared to this:

My dyno last weekend. 2500 miles on my rebuilt engine with K&N panel filter, RB flywheel and Mazsport ignition.

 

Racing Beat Catback, Intake and Agency pulley. Stock cat

 

Temps were about 60 degrees in Northern Virginia.
I pulled the abs fuse.
I was happy with 202 HP as the other car owners thought that the dyno read low.
Mods are in my sig

 

Now that's a smooth graph! I can barely see the dips from the APVs.

 

Nice one! I dropped a ruler over those plots, and I couldn't work our wich was my ruler and which was the graph.... LOL

That is what I love about these engines, the linear increase in power delivery from pretty much constant torque.

Cheers,
Hymee.

 

it can greatly depend on what graph smoothing value is used too