Hi everyone, I am new to Rx8club.com, I have been lurking around the forums for the last 4 months and have become very familiar with the search feature. I have searched to no end and I am unable to find anything related to what I am experiencing. Thank you RWIPP for your wonderful threads, they were a tremendous help when I first bought my 8. Also thank everyone else that has contributed to this forum and plethora of knowledge. This is my first rotary and I learned a great deal.

I own a 04 VR with about 99k on it. I have only owned the car for about 4 months now. My coils/plugs/wires are on order, and I have been doing the recommended oil top offs/checks. I have not had a chance to do a compression test on it yet but plan to as soon as I get my coils/plug and wires installed. All in all the car seems to run like a dream. Today while I was on the highway in 6th gear at about 83mph, I thought was going to have to downshift and slow down.
I ended up not needing to , went out of 6th and right back in. In that short period of time all of my warning lights came on in my dash then went back off.

The car seemed fine, was still doing 82. I pulled over to check everything out , and nothing seemed out of place. I didn't hear any noises, or see any smoke or leaks. I continued my 1hr long trip and the car didn't do it again.

When I got back into town about an hour after that trip (another hour on the highway). Just as I was getting off the highway and downshifting from 4th to 3rd it did it again!!!! The car drove fine no slipping of gears, or grinding. No loss of power. Took me about 15min to get home from the Highway. The car did it about 2 more times. It always seem to happen when downshifting.

I am really sorry about the novel of a post. I just really need some advice on this, before I take it in for service. I have an extended warranty, just want an idea of what I'm getting myself into before I head down there. Thank you in all in advance

 

Your welcome


It's your battery connections. Disconnect negative then positive, clean posts and clamps thoroughly. Reconnect positive then negative, slowly tightening them as you wiggle the clamp to make you you have a solid seat before it's tight.

 

Awesome! I will do this at first light. Thank you again RWIPP

 

Your welcome.


If, for some reason that doesn't fix it, come back and let us know. It's possible that it's a different grounding point that is being shaken loose by the change in revs. But the battery terminals are nearly always the culprit in this type of case.

 

The first next step is the other end of the ground cable, under the airbox if that does not clear it up. Good luck.

 

Update: Well it seems that the battery terminals were the culprits afterall , I did as RWIPP suggested and the car has not done it since. Thanks RWIPP.

I now have another issue I was wondering if you all could shed some light on?

Seems like I am loosing pressure in my clutch pedal. It goes from nice and stiff to loose and mushy feeling. There is no slipping of my clutch or grinding of gears. Just throughout my drive my shifting point and feel of the clutch will change. At one point I will have to put the clutch pedal almost all the way to the floor at other points i barley have to depress the clutch to change gears. It does seem that if I pump it a few times (5-10 times) it regains pressure. Sometimes pumping it has no effect, and it will just regain pressure on its own. The pedal has not gotten stuck all the way on the floor. I do not have to force it into gear.

Does this mean I have air in my lines and need to bleed the clutch? Is my clutch going bad? Or is it the master/slave? Could it be the bolts to the PP causing this issue? I looked at the pedal and it seems like it is in working order and the welds are in good shape. I tried to read all the treads related to clutch pedal pressure. Seems most of them had to due with when someone had just replaced the clutch or master and slave cylinders. Most advice said to bleed the clutch, but im not sure if this applies to me since I have not replaced the clutch yet. Sorry if these are really stupid questions. I know virtually nothing about clutches any help or advice is very much appreciated.

 

I keep cracking up at your misspelling of my user name BTW



Quick check on the clutch pedal is to get down there by hand and see if you can wiggle it side to side, both when it's in the normal unloaded position and at various points in the range. If it depresses at an angle or gains left/right movement at any point then your clutch pedal assembly is starting to fail.

Do that check anyway, however it really seems like that is going to be a brake fluid problem (clutch hydraulics use brake fluid and are part of the same system). A re-bleed and/or a flush and bleed is probably needed.

 

LMAO! My bad on the misspelling. Ill get it right one of these days I swear. So a flush and bleed eh? I have read the DIY's on this it seems pretty straight forward, but seeing that Ive never done this sort of thing should i just take it in to service or should I man up and give it a go? Thanks RIWWP

 

That's a tough call. The only time I had a shop flush my brake system, they bounced my car on the lift (sticking lift post) and I pretty much had no brakes leaving there because they didn't do it right.

One of those things that I figured a shop would be able to do more cleanly, easier, faster, etc...

It's straightforward to read, though it's a bit more difficult actually doing it. Not hard, just requires some help and being a good judge of timing and when the fluid is good for a line and you can stop, etc... Speed bleeders will make it much much easier.

 

Sometimes the mushy feeling is the clutch slave or master starting to take a dive....try the flush and bleed first...but check the clutch master and slave to see if they are seeping fluid at all

 

Great I will check that out too. Just curious tho wouldn't my brake fluid res be loosing fluid if it was leaking or seeping fluid out of the master or slave? Again sorry for the dumb question. Im just a big stupid when it comes to the clutch lol. Thanks for all the help again everyone!

 

It would have to be leaking a lot to show in the reservoir..

the clutch shares the reservoir with the brake master..and is quite large. And as your brake pads wear the top ups usually can mask small seeps.