Alright about 4-5months back i took my car out of storage and realized the battery was dead. I ordered a Optima RedTop battery plugged it in and ZOOM ZOOM. Been about 1 month now the car has been rolling fine. about 1week ago i went to the store to buy a few things, i then jumped back into the rx8 trying to start it and a cracking noise but car would not start. So i poped open the hood and gave the battry connectors a good wiggle and then the car started up just fine. Yesterday i take the car out again and went to the store again. Boom same problem i pop the hood open again, and the car started up fine. On the next corner i slow down at the stop and the car just stalled (weird). I started it over again and the next corner the car died down again. Now i took a wrench and thigtened the screws for the positive and negative battery terminal. Today i took the car out for a drive and the iddle seemed very rought at one corner i even saw the battery light go on, like the car was about to stall. The idlle seems to stay under 1k rpm rougly 500rpm.


i was wondering what could be causing this problem.
im freaking out i have to take the car on a 6hours trip out of state. and dont want to get stuck on the road haha.

 

The first thing I would do is establish that you are getting the appropriate fuel pressure. Typically cars that stall out or miss on corners are starting to experience a failing fuel pump

 

how do i check that?

 

It sounds stupid but how long ago did you last fill up? I've noticed my fuel gauge can read a quarter tank when its on fumes(tore the car apart to find I didn't have fuel pressure because I didn't have gas. Even the ECU said I had 20% of a tank). Also there are shims you can get for the battery. Even when wrenched tight one of my terminals just wouldn't grab right. Anywhere that sells batteries has the shims.

 

Alright i gazed the car up. Added gaz line antifreeze and the car is still acting up i checked the battery poles and theybare very tight. Could the gaz pump cause the car to turn of and when it does i lose all my setting on my radio. Presets and all.?

 

This means it's your battery connections. Don't just "check to see if they are tight". They can be tight, but not secure, and they can be tight, but not making enough contact.

Remove the negative battery cable, then remove the positive battery cable. Clean BOTH battery posts completely, use a wire brush if you can. Clean BOTH battery clamps, or get new clamps.

When you reconnect the battery, connect the positive first, then the negative.

When you reconnect the clamps to the battery, do it slowly and rotate the clamp back and forth on the post to feel for where it wants to sit best. Once you find that, finishing tightening the clamps. MAKE SURE that the clamp is actually tight on the battery, and not just bottoming out on the screw. You can bottom the screw out and still not be clamping on a battery post if the post is corroded too far.

 

well i checked the plugs again zero corosion and i cant even move the wires there holding on solid to what i see!!

hmmm GRsss

 

I don't think you are understanding my point.

Corrosion happens between the posts and the clamps. Physically between them. The clamps can be tight and secure, but only clamping to non-conductive corrosion, and not the posts. Yes, this can indeed happen, and is quite common. Remove and clean the posts and clamps.

If the problem is still happening AFTER you do that, then you will have to repeat that kind of cleaning step on every other grounding point you can find.

The fact that the radio is losing the presets means that you are losing the connection to the battery.

 

ok i get it now sorry stressed out so not reading properly my bad :P ill brush them and see whats up. thx

 

RIWWP = Yoda

 

Alright i unplugged the battery and used a steel brush to clean any corosion there might have been. Plugged it back and gave the wires a good wiggle hehe. Then i thightened it back up. Took the car for a drive rev was fine then i get to the corner and press the clucth go to neutral and stop the car tona dead stop. And my revs dropped below 1k rpm roughly 500rpm. At this point im thinking great atleast i did not stall. About 5-10 corners like that and same story over and over the car aint stalling no more but feel like its very close to it. At this point im thinking i might need to clean the MAF sensor thats what its called i belive. Was reading at some point that this sensor can cause rough idle. Hoping to get input on what you guys think it might be.

Also should i add vasaline or grease to the pole connectors to help with electrical transfer a friend told me to do that.

 

Things should improve after a few days. Disconnecting the battery clears the fuel trims, and sometimes you can have a stumbling idle for a few drive cycles till it re-learns the fuel trims and things smooth out.

 

Thx man ill give it a few days and see what happens

 

++ RIWWP

Start the car cold, and let it idle. It will learn. It should start high, and work its way down. Just let it sit until it idles smooth (5 minutes).

It can learn the rest of the trims on the road, but this is the best way to learn the idle trim.