I drove to school today (30 mi) with no problem. Before taking the trip home, I filled at the same Chevron station I always do near the campus and fill up with 91 octane. As i get on to the highway I immediately notice the car sounds strange. Like its "gurgling" as it accelerates. Coasting it seems fine though. When i make it off the highway and finally get to a light, the car begins to idle hard. The whole car shakes and its still making the loud gurgling noise (kinda sounds like a mustang with an exhaust). Since then the car has been having the same conditions accelerating and idling.

My coils, plugs, and wires are up to date and I no longer have a cat. Since the problem occurred immediately after fuel up I'm concluding it is the fuel.

Am i correct and what can i do to fix this problem?

 

Did you check your MAF screens and ensure one didn't go bad? Maybe one went bad at approximately the same time? Bad airflow through the screens could cause some of that (I'm not driving the car so can't feel/hear what you're experiencing)

 

When was the air filter last replaced? Check that.

 

sounds like it could be from a batch of bad gas. even if you get your gas at the same station all the time, a bad batch can happen.
two options---get good gas in there asap--even 1/4 tank "good" gas will help.
2- drain that tank and fill up somewhere else.
I favor option 2.
91octane? Damn thats pushing octane requirements on this engine.

 

Maybe an octane booster might help as well?

 

Shane, just went to autozone today to get some supplies, and you can get the chevron techron bottles real concentrated buy one get one free. wouldnt hurt to throw one into your tank. make sure whatever gunk is in that crap gas doesnt leave anything behind while you clean your system out. then like everyone else said check your intake maf and screens

 

Ill clean the MAF to be sure. Is there a way to ensure it is still functioning?

I have a mazdaspeed CAI intake and cleaned the filter a couple months ago.

I was thinking about doing option 2 as well. That's just a lot of time my car well be running like crap.

91 octane is the highest they had at the gas station. As far as I know, Sunoco is the only place that will sell higher octane fuels. I tend to stop there before going to an autoXIll see if some octane booster helps and once this tank of gas is done ill get some fuel system cleaner or seafoam like you said to do.

Thanks for the input all of you. I appreciate the quick responses.

 

A quick update:

I cleaned my MAF sensor and jumped in my car today to take a trip to autozone. It had the same touble starting and ran the same while it sat in my driveway. Not even a minute after driving, the gargling and rough idle go away. It only has a slight gargle at idle now (sounds kinda like a small boat engine at idle). I got to autozone and checked the CEL's which were fine and bought some Lucas fuel injector cleaner for good measure. Now im trying my best to get rid of the tank of gas. Overall the car is running alot better but still not at par.

 

the only octane booster that will actually work is
toluene
xylene
Torco
read up.

 

Hey NE RX8 owners, New Jersey State officials did spot checks of gas at 325 stations in New Jersey and found many that were selling gas of much lower octane than the octane number they listed on the pump. So you could be paying for and think you are getting premium gas when in fact the gas being sold is much lower octane. If that is happening here, count on it happening in other states. Lots of extra profit to be made buying lower octane gas and then selling it as higher octane at a higher price.

In my county of Gloucester and neighboring Camden County (near Philadelphia area) the main culprits were Lukoil , US Gas, Citgo, and Gulf and some other off-brand name stations. The report listed names of business owners and sadly many were of Indian and Pakistani ownership , including some who owned Lukoil stations (which is Russian brand). They were all good price leaders in the area, and now I know why. They are subject to thousands of dollars in fines for each infraction and possible 30 day station closures if the results are upheld.

So just be careful what gas you put in your rotary engine, that low priced premium from that off-brand station might not really be premium. Lower octane than true 91 or higher CAN cause serious consequences in your engine.

So just be careful what gas you feed your baby.

 

Ill keep that in mind for future reference. Ill do some reading on the topic