Wont rev over 6RPM on cold start
 

When i first start up my 8 and take off ive noticed if its been cold out when i get to about 6rpm the car just stops accelerating. When i let off the gas and then try again its fine. Is this normal....? Another thing is my engine light keeps comming on and then goes off usually after i fill up my tank. Ive made sure to really seal up the gas lid. Any thoughts on that?

There is a cold engine lev limit...you hit the cut-off. Wait til it warms up :D:

yeah, dont fvck up your block with revving it high when cold

Behold - automotive genius at work

It takes a while for your oil to reach operating temperature... so don't flog it when it's cold... give it 10 minutes of gentle driving before let 'er rip. There have been cases of coolant leaks caused by flogging the car when cold. Your engine casing is made from two different materials which expand at different rates... heating them up too quick can cause cracks.

they did it that way just for people like you, aren't you special :D:

Be gentle. ;)

Yeah im 19....thats my excuse. Kinda thought thats what was going on. Any Ideas about the engine light?

:spank: :sad: :wallbash: :boxing_sm :flamed: :moon: :greenchai :balls: :Kill1: :Kill2: :tank: :pfanndina :smileysho :uzi: :op: :tool: :uh:


what more can i say...

It's in the manual.

Man, harsh crowd.

Really any car should be warmed up before flogging it. The newer ones protect themselves. It only takes a few minutes to warm up.

Yeah, but forcing it to rev high by going into 2nd gear... not good man!

For a given throttle position, going into 2nd gear would lower the RPMs.

Yeah i just always shift late...ill stop doing that now. And i follow the age of manly tradition of not reading manuals....Maybe i should stop doing that too. Thanks for setting me straight. Any ideas on the engine light though? Its bothering me and there aint no Mazda dealer for almost 100 miles from here.

its most likely your gas gap. it may have alittle leak. but without knowing the code its really difficult to make a call. does it come on when you first start the car? are you sure its the CEL? there was a person not long ago that was confusing the TPMS light witht he CEL. that could come on in the cold morning and then go off after a few minutes of driving.

Revving an engine when it's cold can be potentially dangerous to the engine, especially a rotary. The rotary engines housings are made up of alternating cast iron and aluminum. Both of these metals have very different heat expansion properties. When you rev up a cold motor, you are creating lots of heat in the combustion chamber. Since the heat is mostly on one side of the rotary, this leaves half of the engine hot and the other half not. The hot side can expand faster due to this heat difference which will really affect the aluminum housings the most. They can warp and when they do, they won't go back to normal. This will lead to coolant leaks between housings and you'll need an engine rebuild. You absolutely need to warm the engine up gradually. It is very important.

Ooof, I hope you were kidding about manly tradition of not reading manuals. Do you really trust us - a bunch of folks who don't use their real names on the internet - first and foremost to tell you truthful and accurate information about your car? Read man, read.

My most trusted dealer is ~100 miles away too. I feel your pain, but when the car is under warrenty the dealer is your best bet. In 4 months I've been to see them once for warrenty service and once to have them repair some accident damage. I need to make another trip because my airbag light comes on from time to time, but that'll keep until I find a convenient day to drive up there.

I'd get that airbag thing fixed semi soon.

It could be serious.

I hate to get too far off topic from the thread, but, yeah, I'm gonna get it fixed pretty quick here. I talked to the dealer and had planned to go there last Friday, but was busy at work and sick so I post-poned to this Friday.

The light is likely flashing because there is some problem with the new airbag modules they installed after my deer-strike. I *used* my airbag system once already - I fully intend to keep it fully functioning at all times. ;) However, it's not on all the time so I have fair confidence the system is online. Once or twice while driving the light came on and stayed on or flashed and then stayed solid on. Didn't happen at start-up, only after several minutes of driving. Since the light did stay on at least once the dealer is confident the computer would have stored a code so they'll look into it.

When you filled up your gas tank and the check engine light came on, how many times did you keep filling after the first click? When I purchased my 8 the dealer told me a number of quick tips and one was not to go past the first click while filling up gas or you will get a CEL.

I am always amazed at the BS the dealers spew out these days. What he may have meant to tell you was that when you reinstall the gas cap, screw it in until you hear it click at least once. A non-sealing gas cap will cause a CEL.

Whatever, just saying what they told me.

To flame, or not to flame?! (About filling the gas cap - I think the original poster has been flamed enough about how stupid it is to rev high and run hard a cold engine, about not reading manuals, and about having so much money at age 19 that he can afford to ruin an engine through deliberate abuse) Nah, no flames this time -

Overfilling a gas tank beyond the auto shutoff CAN cause a CEL - if you overfill, you risk having raw fuel get into the evaporative emissions system, which can flood the charcoal canister, which definitely will light the CEL. There was a discussion about this subject here almost 2 years ago, and I posted links to several articles that discussed this - here's that discussion

Regards,
Gordon

Here's why. The RX-8 has a fuel shut-off valve in the line to the charcoal canister that closes during refuelling, fuel sloshing or vehicle rollover. You can't get fuel into the charcoal canister.

Ah, so many experts, so many opinions. Thank you for clarifying that Steve.

I finally did have the light checked out and it turned out my electric converter was busted. Luckily warranty covered everything cause the dealer said it would have been a few grand. They did some other stuff to but as long as i didnt have to pay for it i was cool with it.

Put a lock on your sock before you rock your block

is that the alternator you mean? aka electric converter???

A few grand ... must be one helluva electric converter.

:rollingla thats some funny stuff

Perhaps "catalytic converter"??

I particularly enjoyed this part.

well he is lucky at 19, i had a shitty ass jetta when i was 19 and that bitch broke down every day...so compared to that, we are all in heaven.....vw's suck...well they used to....don know abt now...

one confusion i have, we can start driving off when cold right?as long as we dont rev it hard? I know we cant shut her off cold....

He said Electric converter, the other stuff was just some spark plugs. Yeah i wasnt really paying attention, i heard warranty will cover it and it wasnt may fault so i stopped paying attention. I really do love my car.....

I'd say it was most likely the catylitic converter, from what you're telling us. When they're fouled, the dealer almost always replaces the plugs as well. This of course can happen because of flooding among other things.

It takes some time to learn the 8's clutch, but I would advise learning to shift at low rpms most of the time. High rpm shifting all the time will eventually kill your synchros, put lots of stress on your engine, and of course eat up a LOT more gas. If you go a tank with the manufacturer's recommended shift points (in dreaded manual), you'll see what I mean.

Don't get me wrong- this car is definitely for driving hard- just not every trip to the Circle K.

:dubs:

Engine light problem: Don't fill up with the car running. Sounds rudamentary, but if you are doing it, that will cause the engine light to come on. Problem on many new cars these days.

one confusion i have, we can start driving off when cold right?as long as we dont rev it hard? I know we cant shut her off cold....[/QUOTE]

You can start off driving when its cold (I let the rpms drop below 1500 before moving which is about 25-30 seconds in mild temperatures) but you can risk flooding if you stall out. But I don't think flooding would really be a problem, especially on the newer models, if you immediatly turn the car back on. I think its just if it sits after its been turned off cold. But yes, do not rev/drive hard until the engine has been fully warmed up at least 10 minutes.