MADIZM

Have an 04 Rx8 6 speed with 64000 miles on it car is stock had basic maintenance done and had coils replaced under warranty at around 40k miles. Last august I drove the car to vegas and back and no problems what so ever until I got back. Was driving the car and the power cut out and when I restarted it, it would not rev over 2k rpms or something. Restarted again and it was fine but with a CEL.

Continued to drive it with no problems then after a couple months it started taking much longer than normal to start. And it would smoke and and the CEL would flash. But after it warmed up it drove normally. So a friend talked me into taking it to his mechanic friend who said he discovered it had 3 trailing plugs and one leading plug and they were fouled. So replaced with the proper plugs, no CEL started the car fine no smoke. But as soon as I got home the CEL came back on and now the car is smoking again. The mechanic said he did a compression test and it was ok.

So I take it Mazda is pretty strict on that 60k cutoff on the powertrain warranty?




Ok went to Checkers today cause it was just down the block and the code that showed up was "Misfire on cylinder 1" so the guy said it's probably the spark plug but they were all just replaced. Anyone here able to help? I was talkin to a guy and he said maybe to switch around the spark plug wires or somethin to see if it's a problem with the wire or the cylinder or coil I dunno...



Update - took out all 4 coil packs and bought a cheap digital multimeter and one of the coils read way low on the meter than the other 3 so i bought a new coil pack from the dealer and put it in. Car started right up and now CEL or flashing CEL on startup. Drove it around and definately can feel an increase in power that was lost. When I get more money I'll replace the other 3 coils.

Other problem is not fixed car still smokes at startup and it's leaking coolant out of somewhere...after parking somewhere there's a small puddle of coolant say about the size of a cookie after being parked for hours. So if it was just leaking like that and not smoking out of the engine I wouldn't be worried but since it's smoking white that could mean one of the engine seals is leaking coolant right?

Been reading around and some people said they had water pump failures, if it was the pump would that cause white smoke?



***thread had been copy / pasted from another forum which is not as active as this one

Go48

Does the car continue to smoke after it's warmed up? What does it smell like? If it smells sweetish, that is likely burning coolant and you probably are in deep kimchi. Are you adding coolant to the radiator on a regular basis?

If not, it is unlikely there is a leak. If the smoke goes away after a brief "burst", not to worry. Just an over rich, start-up, fuel-oil mixture burning off.

To the leak. Locate the origin of the leak. Like put a piece of cardboard under the car overnight and let us know where in the car the leak is coming from. If it seems to be coming from the front of the engine, it may be from the water pump weep hole. You will need to replace the water pump in that case. If it is not from that area, then where? BTW, A leaking water pump will not cause smoking at the tail pipe.

About the compression test. What kind of a tester did he use and was this done by someone who knows rotary engines? If not, disregard the results and have it done by a rotary tech.

Nubo

When you say "smoking out of the engine", where exactly are you seeing the smoke? Is it coming out of the tail pipe, or from the vacinity of the engine itself?

MADIZM

White smoke comes out of the tail pipe and only when the car is cold not after startup. But yeah I am having to add coolant to the resevoir. The smoke is definatley white but it doesn't smell sweet to me it just makes me cough lol. I will try the cardboard thing. And the mech was not a rotary mechanic so I guess I'd have to get that re-checked.

I was wondering it would be be worth it to just take it to a dealer and pay them to diagnose the problem and if the engine needs to be rebuilt / replaced then send a letter to to Mazda NA I've heard of some getting the engine replaced even after warranty is up.

Go48

If you are adding coolant frequently, you almost certainly have a leak--either internal or external to the engine. However, based on what you say about the smoke, it sounds like fuel-oil vs. coolant. Your coolant loss may be due to the leak you mention and not to an internal engine coolant "leak" problem.

If you have had dealings with a reasonable Mazda service department, I would recommend you do that. If you need an engine replacement, probably the best you can hope for is to negotiate a cost sharing arrangement with Mazda. Something like you pay the labor and they supply the engine.
Good luck!

pred8tor

Hi anyone can help, My 2006 RX8 231bhp was driving lovely has a straight through sports exhaust was driving quite slow along the road and something went pop engine management light came on and car sounded rough and growly lost power wouldn't drive turned off it was hard to start wouldn't idle. Realised that a coil had gone replaced the coil and all 4 plugs, now have sparks out of all coil leads and new plugs. But car starts perfect just have a lot of white smoke and it is really growly popping and smells bad like unburnt fuel. Only other thing had off was the air filter and pipes and wires to the throttle body to get some room to work. Have i not put something back together right or as it got some other problem. I have tried the brake pedal reset. She now idles fine and goes through her reset procedure the error code (misfire on cyclinder 1) has now gone and it will idle fine just wont rev correctly verry grouchy and popping out exhaust with white smoke. Cant believe it has blown something else as well as plug and coil because only code was misfire and it would not start or drive. Now it starts perfect any advice anyone? There are no error codes at all now. This car drove beautiful has just under 60k on the clock never had a problem with it. Just dont believe that a coil and plug went and something else all in the same second. Misfire code pointed to coils or plug changed coil because had no spark on T2 still had code and engine light so changed all plugs. Code has gone and she idles fine just a lot of white smoke unburnt fuel and popping very grouchy and growly wouldn't drive right the way it revs now HELP PLEASE
PS name is LEE

200.mph

iTrader: (9)

i always change all coils, plugs and wires together. are you sure you changed the right coil? did you test them?

pred8tor

I am now getting good sparks from all 4 leads the T2 coil was 100% dead and no spark and the misfire code has now vanished. It would't start and now starts great and idles fine even goes through the brake pedal rset revs up revs down revs up revs down sequence. The 4 sparks are real good and must be correct coil because it would not start now starts perfectly straight away. Just have this white smoke problem that stinks of unburnt fuel bad

pred8tor

reason i only change one coil is the motor shop only had one in stock i could order another 3 for 3-4 days time but because only had single misfire and single coil not sparking i bought set of plugs and the one coil they had

200.mph

iTrader: (9)

you said you have a straight exhaust right? meaning no cat? no cat is gonna smell like unburnt fuel. thats the nature of an uncorked rotary. if it smells sweet and white smoke thats usually a coolant seal

pred8tor

could this be a rotar tip or rotar seal? I just cant see a plug and coil going exactly the same time as a seal or tip? Advice most welcome

pred8tor

Yes she always smells a lot of fuel anyways but this is real bad choking the life out of you bad with huge clouds of white smoke def smells like unburnt fuel not sealant. She normally chokes anyone driving behind me but now she would kill anyone behind me lol

200.mph

iTrader: (9)

do you have any oil in the intake?

pred8tor

I was thinking maybe i've not plugged something back in on the airfilter or throttle body causing it i saw another thread where a guy left an AFM off and got white smoke and a small pipe to throttle housing. It's just so strange because it usually drives so nice no loss in poower no start problems ever and full of power my other RX8 i sold last year gradually got slower and slower and eventually used to cut out at stop signs and wouldn't start for 5 minutes until cool. Lack of compression i think or oil mixer problems. But this one has been running great till coil went and plug

200.mph

iTrader: (9)

how many miles on the car? when was last comp test? mods? history?

pred8tor

not sure about oil in intake. It was never moved after the coil went plugged tool in got misfire on cyclibder one code took air filter off and surrounding leads to move it out the way. Found coil on T2 not sparking changed coil and plugs which should have resolved the problem. The error code vanished the car now starts and idles just this smoke and very growling and popping through the revs. It would be weird for a plug a coil and the engine to fail all in same 5 minute drive

pred8tor

59k on clock only mod is sports exhaust straight through and lowered suspension. i've had it for years never had a problem previous RX8 i had 10 years sold it with 89k on clock. This one is mint starts mint drives mint never had a single problem with it.

pred8tor

Any idea what could cause that white smoke after a plug and coil change? I did see another thread a guy left AFM off air intake and lead on throttle body and he had similar issues so was thinking i haven't put something back correctly. Funny thing is if i take back two plugs leads off i get very little change in tick over if i take front to leads off again very little change in tick over but all spark with very good strong sparks that jump couple inches

pred8tor

Plus zero error codes now all gone misfire gone

pred8tor

PS never done a comp test never needed to it has always had great power. My old one slowly lost power over time it was just not as quick as it used to be i had the comp tested and it was low a bt another year later that used to cut at stop signals. Change the OMP switch fixed itself for a few months then started doing it again. This RX8 never had it in a garage apart from service it usually strts first time even if i dont drive for a month it strts every time drives beautiful thats why i cant believe its just killed a plug coil and the engine all in same 5 mile trip at 30mph

200.mph

iTrader: (9)

coils usually fail over time but will foul a plug if the coil is dead. possible you mixed up leading and trailing wires?

UnknownJinX

What do you mean by sport exhaust? Is there a catalytic converter? If there is one, it doesn't take many misfires to destroy it.

White smoke is either coolant or oil. Check your coolant level and see if there is any oil in the intake.

Go48

Seems like it's time to stop guessing. Have a proper compression test done by a Mazda mechanic or other rotary professional. That will either reveal failed rotor seals or it will eliminate that as the cause of the "smoke". Either of which is worth the cost of the test.