Rawrexate

I've had my 2007 Manual RX-8 GT for a week now. I bought it off a dealership, fully inspected, everything working perfectly according to them. It previously had 11,000 KM's on it.

Today before I went to work, I started her up and noticed that the engine light is on. Now I have been very very careful to never flood the engine, to red line it once or twice a day, and to check the oil constantly.

Why could this engine light be on? I'm still at work, and if I cant find a solution tomorrow morning I'll have to take it to the dealership. I have been very careful with this car.

However, I have one question. I typically drive around town at 2500 to 3000 RPM (to try and be more fuel efficent). Is this bad? I do give it a lot of good revs and speed up fairly, but other times I am a lot more conservative and drive it easy. Could this be why the engine light is on?

Will carbon buildup trigger the engine light to come on? Can you partially flood an engine, and if so, does that trigger the light?

Any help someone can give me ASAP is appreciated.

Flashwing

There's going to be very little that we can diagnose without knowing what the trouble code actually is. There's a host of things that can trigger a check engine light. Best bet is to take it to the dealer and have them look it over.

m3pkrobert

iTrader: (1)

did u close the gas cap good>?
cause i went to the dealer with the same problem and it was the fu** gas cap

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

^^+1
I had the same problem where I got home (no CEL) and the next day I came out, started the car, and right away a CEL was illuminating.
I took it to Autozone and pulled the code... P0442 (small EVAP leak) and 99% of the time is the gas cap not tight.
I tightened the gas cap and after a couple days, it went away!
So I would take it to Autozone and have them pull the code (its free).

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

hes talking about KM so he is not from USA. probably Canada.

but yeah, check the gas cap.

Rawrexate

Thank you for the responses so far. Gas cap is fine, ill take it to the dealership tmrw.

Yes, I am in Canada.

Also, could someone try to answer my other questions just for future reference.

Will carbon buildup trigger the engine light to come on? Can you partially flood an engine, and if so, does that trigger the light?

Thanks again for your time

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

How could you tell the the gas cap is fine? Please don't say, "well I just looked at it!"
When my CEL came on, I checked the gasket and didn't see any noticeable cracks/tears and I even screwed it on a few more clicks.
Sometimes the gasket is just barely sealing to where a quick close/click of the gas cap doesn't seal it enough.
Anyway... if you plan on taking it to the dealer... don't worry about it.

I believe that excessive carbon build-up would be more noticeable than just having a CEL! The performance of the engine will be compromised.
I have personally never experienced "excessive" carbon build-up, so I can't speak on how the car will feel.
Just don't baby the throttle all the time, redline it every now and then, and all will be fine!

If you have a flooded engine, the last thing you are probably paying attention to is the dash for a CEL!
When you attempt to start the car and it continues to crank and not start... you know its flooded. A CEL isn't gonna tell you much more!
A "partial" flood... I would say if you see some white smoke coming from the tailpipe, then you had an excessive amount of fuel in the engine...

newport8

Rawrexate, did you ever resolve your CEL issue?

I had a similar issue with the CEL. It was an "EVAP very small leak" problem. Of course, the first thing I checked was the gas cap, which appears to be fine. I had the codes cleared a couple weeks ago, but just today the CEL went back on again. Not sure if it's the same code, but I don't know how it could be a gas cap problem. I screw that thing on with so many clicks, unless the seal is faulty (it doesn't appear to be) there's no way it could be leaking.

The car seems to be running just fine, but being the person that I am, it bothers me to drive with the CEL on all the time.

ken-x8

You really can't tell if the gas cap sealed properly or not. I've had two P0455s. One with the original cap, and one some time after the gas cap recall. With the second, the cap seemed to be on OK. Cleared the code and it did not come back.

One distinct thing about the "gas cap" codes is that the test occurs while the car is off, so the CEL comes on immediately when you start the car. I believe that's the only code that works that way.

Ken

newport8

So, just to follow up on this, I went ahead and got a new gas cap, even though I didn't see how the old one could be the problem.

Got it about three weeks ago, and the CEL has been off ever since. Guess it was the gas cap!

greg985

glad to hear you fixed the problem