J_Owens

just wondering how often you guys are changing these things? i hardley drive my car, maybe like once a week as i keep it garaged and drive a comutter car. but once in a while its a pain in the *** to get it started from not driving it often. wouldnt start again this morning. my car has about 75k miles on it and was thinking maybe i should replace the coils. i have already replaced the plugs and wires not to long ago.

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

sounds like your battery is draining from sitting, has nothing to do with your ignition coils.
As for how often: I change them when one goes bad. There is a simple diagnostic that can be performed to verify each coil, it just requites a multi meter.

Mazurfer

And..............as Ray reminded me. Keep in mind that a bad coil can still pass this test(within spec).
Anyway, yeah...........it's not your coils. Sounds like you may need a new battery.....has it ever been changed?
What year is the car?
If an 04 or early 05, it could have the weak starter.

J_Owens

its an 04, i think the battery may just be draining from sitting all the time, i have a charger on it now, i replaced the battery not to long ago, have a interstate in it, thanks for the info, ill check into the starter, the 04 early 05's have weak starters? maybe i should change mine

J_Owens

forgot to mention, when i went to charge the battery the negative cable came right off, even when it was all the way tight it just comes right off, so for sure maybe a bad connection may be causing the issue as well, i replaced the battery cable terminal then put the charger on it, i would like more info on the weak starters tho

yiksing

Get new starter, install, profit.

Old starter spins at lower rpm, hard to start the car.

Mazurfer

Do a search, there is a thread with the part number of the old starter, you could then check that against yours. I don't remember what the numbers were.

Jon316G

iTrader: (1)

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-yourself-forum-73/diy-starter-change-swap-dummies-189410/

Huey52

iTrader: (2)

You don't drive it much and you have 75k miles on it???

Starter ID:

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

He probably got his car used.

at 75K, just change your coils.

and you might need a new battery and battery post(the connectors)

The starter thing --- see if your car starts after new battery and coils. if it works just fine, leave it alone for now (a new starter rox, however)

peterlemonjello

To answer your question about how often to change the coils. I change mine around every 30k miles. This may seem like overkill but my first set of coils went out at 36k miles. Not to mention my 8 is a daily driver so I need it running. When they went it took my catalytic converter, plugs, and wires out with it. And it left me stranded on the side of the road. Coils degrade over time. Every time I've changed my coils I could tell a noticeable difference in performance.

robsrx82004

would you say that Revi Intake with Ram Air is better that the K&N intake sytem??????? Trying to buy one, but cant make up my mind, any pointners??????

Jedi54

iTrader: (7)

yes.
hell yes
1000 times better
anything's better then K&n

K&N = hot air intake

J_Owens

the battery is new. (good interstate battery to, not no crappy sears or kragens battery.)

i bought the car used a in feb of 07 with 56k miles on it, few months back picked up a commuter so the mazda could be nice and garaged. still at 75k is good mileage for an 04 i think anyway. it was my daily driver before i got the commuter

ill check out the thread for the starter model number.

i think my problem was my negative battery terminal, i noticed it came right off when i hooked up a jumper to it, to try to jump start the car, so there must have been a bad connection, i changed the terminal, charged the battery over night, car started no problem the next morning, im guessing with the bad connection the alternator probably wasnt charging the battery very well if at all, so when i rarely drive it, the battery wouldnt get charged enough to start again when i needed it to, ill find out sunday when i go to start it again and see what happens.

as for the coils ill check those out and see if they need to be repalced, thanks for the imput guys.

as for the intake how the hell did that get brought up in a starting issue thread? haha, its all good tho.