Have you ever had any issues with your RX-8 at altitude or on steeper rodes?

For example, lately we have been going to the mountains to hike and I have had trouble on steaper roads above 3000 feet in elevation. The car seems to spudder and it seems like it has little power, even coming out of first from being stopped.

In addition, I tried to go up a road to Mount Whitney, in CA. A nicely paved road that a lot of vacationers take that goes from 3000 feet to 8000 feet...My RX8 couldn't do it. At about 5000 feet my car started running hot all of the sudden which I noticed because I was watching it then at the same time it blew off some coolant and shut off. As the car was off I just took it down to the nearby town in neutral let it cool off for a couple of hours and then refiled the coolant. No driving issues at all, the next day I tried going up the road in the am when it was cool outside to see if that was an issue. The car didn not over heat this time but it did not have the power to make it up the road. Any ideas why this would be? My 8 runs great at sea level.

I am at 93,000 miles on a early model 2004. I run 5w30 and I change all of my fluids regularly (Diff, Tranny, Coolant Flush (the way to get all of the coolant out, not just the radiator plug), anything recommeded by Mazda and people on theis site.

 

I've never noticed any major issues at elevation since the RX-8 can compensave for altitude.

 

I realize this thread is a bit old but yes I had big issues driving mine in the Tahoe area - power dropped dramatically.

 

There is a specific amount of PSI lost for every thousand feet you go up. Can't remember it right now, but it's a good amount. I imagine altitude would be where you would really want to make sure you have good coils and plugs.

 

Thats weird, I have taken a trip to Denver, Colorado and it drove perfectly fine. Thats over 5,000 feet above sea level.

 

That simply means ur car has issue

 

Sounds like an electrical issue. I live at 4500 ft and regularly go to 10,000 in the summer, granted it feels a bit lower in power but never anything like that.

 

Yea it will always have a minor effect on your car but it should not be any huge power loss.